We sell a small number of programs at set prices. You buy the certificate, not a quantity of hours, and the number you enroll at is the number you finish at. This page explains why we build it that way, what it protects you from, and exactly what is inside each of the three private pilot packages.
Book It Or Gift It
Every discovery flight below can be booked for yourself in the next few minutes, or bought as a gift certificate that is emailed within minutes and never expires. Same flight, same price, either way.
Most Given
One person, one instructor, and no audience. Hands on the controls from the left seat, briefed before you go and debriefed after you land.
Hands-On Stick TimePre-Flight BriefingLoggable Flight Time
Flight Length
$229Book Or Gift
Same Price
Two Seats
The same flight with a passenger in the back seat, briefed and on the intercom. Couples book it; so do parents who would rather watch than hear about it.
One Passenger SeatPiper Warrior Or ArcherHeadsets For Both
Flight Length
$299Book Or Gift
Same Price
The Nice One
The nicest airplane we put a first-time flyer in. Glass cockpit, air conditioning, leather seats, and a parachute built into the airframe rather than strapped to the person.
Turbocharged Cirrus SR22Air ConditioningWhole-Airframe Parachute
Flight Length
$499Book Or Gift
Same Price
Twin Engine
Two engines, and the airplane instrument-rated pilots move into when they start thinking about a career. Flown from the left seat with a multi-engine instructor.
Piper Seminole TwinMulti-Engine DepartureCareer-Track Instructor
Flight Length
$499Book Or Gift
Same Price
Gift It issues a real gift certificate, emailed within minutes, which never expires and credits in full toward training. Flights are limited to 180 lb per person, 370 lb combined. Questions: (818) 290-8249, 9 AM–9 PM, seven days.
SAFETY FIRST
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
SAFETY FIRST
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
Flight training has historically been sold as a meter. The aircraft has a rate, the instructor has a rate, the ground lesson has a rate, and the total is whatever those three add up to by the time you pass. Nobody can tell you the total in advance, because nobody knows how many hours you will take, and the school has no particular reason to help you take fewer.
We sell programs instead. The Standard Private Pilot Program is $10,900 and it contains 38 hours of single-engine aircraft, 2 hours in the Redbird full-motion simulator, 30 hours of dual flight instruction, 3 hours of ground school and your books and training materials, for 40 hours logged. The Comprehensive is $15,900 and contains 55 aircraft hours, 5 simulator hours, 50 hours of dual instruction and 10 hours of ground school, for 60 hours logged. The Premium is $22,500 and is the Standard structure flown in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo.
That is a genuinely different product. A meter leaves the total cost of your certificate open-ended and puts the whole risk on you. A program fixes the number, which means part of the risk of the training taking longer sits with us. That is the point, and it is also why we care so much about how often you fly.
Each of these is a real thing that happens to students at schools that bill by the hour. None of them can happen to you on a program.
Fuel moves and hourly rates follow it, which is how a certificate quoted in January costs more in September. Your program price is fixed at enrollment for the duration of that program. If our costs move, that is our problem.
Ground school, pre-flight briefings and post-flight debriefs are inside the price — 3 hours of ground on Standard and Premium, 10 on Comprehensive. When the debrief has a meter on it students cut it short, and the debrief is where most of the learning happens.
Every hour we fly is wet, so fuel is already in the number and there is no separate surcharge. Books, charts and training materials are in there too. There is nothing left that can be added to your invoice after you have committed.
A set price is a number you can take to a partner, a household budget or a lender and defend. Financing starts from $2,500 down with monthly plans through Stratus Financial or an in-house plan, and it finances a fixed figure rather than an estimate.
Same FAA certificate, same regulations, same instructors. What changes is how many hours are written into the package and which flight deck you learn in.
| What is inside | Standard $10,900 | Comprehensive $15,900 | Premium $22,500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-Engine (Cessna · Piper · Diamond) | 38 hrs | 55 hrs | — |
| Cirrus SR22 Turbo, glass cockpit | — | — | 38 hrs |
| Redbird full-motion simulator | 2 hrs | 5 hrs | 2 hrs |
| Dual flight instruction | 30 hrs | 50 hrs | 30 hrs |
| Ground school | 3 hrs | 10 hrs | 3 hrs |
| Books & training materials | included | included | included |
| Package flying rate, wet, single-engine | $179 / hr | $179 / hr | — |
| Price fixed for the duration of the program | yes | yes | yes |
| Financing from | $2,500 down | $2,500 down | $2,500 down |
| Logged flight time on completion | 40 hrs | 60 hrs | 40 hrs |
Choose on your calendar rather than your ambition. If you can genuinely fly twice a week, Standard is the right package. If your honest answer is once a week, Comprehensive gives you 60 logged hours and 10 hours of ground school for one price, and that margin is worth more than the difference.
A program is not the same thing as an account with money sitting in it, and the difference matters.
A program is a defined set of training at a defined price. It is not a pot of money you draw down until it runs out and then top up again.
There is no twelve or twenty-four month clock on your program, and no clause that quietly converts unused value into nothing. Life happens and we would rather you came back.
Because the price is fixed and the hours are defined, the risk of the training running long is partly ours. That is the structural reason a program is different from anything built on an hourly meter.
From $2,500 down with monthly plans through Stratus Financial or an in-house plan. That moves the timing of your payments without you handing over a large balance up front.
Whether the price is fixed, what happens if you pause, what is included. We will put all of it on paper at the free consultation, and you should ask every school you visit to do the same.
The Solo Certificate program is $5,500 and takes you to the point of flying the aircraft alone. It counts toward the private certificate if you carry on, and it is a real answer for anyone not ready to commit to the full program.
A fixed price is only possible because we own and maintain the aircraft. Nothing here is a broker's rental, and nothing here is a tired trainer with 12,000 hours on the airframe.
Single-engine training on the Standard and Comprehensive programs is flown in the Cessna, Piper and Diamond aircraft. The Premium program is flown in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo with its full glass cockpit.
The clearest illustration of what package pricing changes. Simulator hours are already bought, so nobody has to weigh a session against the aircraft on price. FAA-approved, fully enclosed, and it moves.
Simulator hours are built into every private pilot program — 2 hours on Standard and Premium, 5 hours on Comprehensive. A standalone Redbird session is $189.
The commercial logic of a program is that we do better when you finish efficiently, which is only possible with instructors who teach properly. Every one of ours holds a commercial or ATP certificate plus a CFI and a current medical, and is legally pilot in command on every flight.
There are eleven of them, which is what makes twice-a-week scheduling a promise rather than an aspiration. A school with two instructors cannot deliver the pace that the Standard package assumes.
They fly here as a career rather than treating the school as a waiting room for an airline class date. You are matched to an instructor at enrollment and can change if the fit is wrong, without cost and without restarting.
On Google, the same three things come up again and again.
The number you enroll at is the number you finish at. On a page about pricing, this is the review line that matters.
The most repeated compliment in our reviews is not the aircraft or the price — it is the debrief.
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own means lessons happen when we say they will.
All three produce the same FAA private pilot certificate with the same privileges.
Forty hours logged at one fixed price. The right package if you can fly twice a week or more.
Sixty logged hours and ten hours of ground school. The right package if your honest answer is once a week.
The Standard structure flown in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo, with its full glass cockpit and airframe parachute.
Every program is one fixed price with the aircraft, the instructor, ground school, simulator time and your books and materials inside it. Enrolled students fly at the $179 an hour package rate, wet, single-engine. Financing is available from $2,500 down with monthly plans, through Stratus Financial or an in-house plan.
The smallest sensible first step is an hour in the aircraft, or half an hour at a table with an instructor. Both tell you more than a price list.
Sit down with an instructor, look at your calendar, and leave with a written plan and a package recommendation. No obligation and no sales pitch.
You fly the aircraft, the time is loggable dual instruction, and the full price is credited against any program if you enroll within 24 hours. 90 min $299, 120 min $399.
One fixed price, 40 hours logged, ground school, Redbird simulator time and materials included. Financing from $2,500 down with monthly plans.
Sixty minutes over Los Angeles with your hands on the controls, logged as real dual instruction. Enroll within 24 hours and the whole $229 comes off your package. Call (818) 290-8249, 9am to 9pm, seven days.
You buy a program at a set price rather than paying by the hour. The Standard Private Pilot Program is $10,900 and includes 38 hours single-engine, 2 hours in the Redbird simulator, 30 hours of dual instruction, 3 hours of ground school and your books, for 40 hours logged. The price is fixed for the duration of the program.
Enrolled students fly at the $179 an hour package rate, wet and single-engine. Wet means fuel is included, so nothing changes when the price of Avgas moves. That rate exists inside a package rather than as a standalone charge.
Choose on your calendar. If you can genuinely fly twice a week, the Standard at $10,900 with 40 logged hours is right. If your honest answer is once a week, the Comprehensive at $15,900 gives you 60 logged hours and 10 hours of ground school for one price.
Twenty logged hours and seven hours of ground school, for $5,000. Standard covers 38 aircraft hours, 2 simulator hours, 30 hours of dual instruction and 3 hours of ground school for 40 hours logged. Comprehensive covers 55 aircraft hours, 5 simulator hours, 50 hours of dual instruction and 10 hours of ground school for 60 hours logged.
No. The price you enroll at is the price you finish at for the duration of that program, whether that is the $10,900 Standard or the $22,500 Premium. There is no fuel surcharge, no ground-instruction surcharge and no mid-training rate rise.
No. Financing starts from $2,500 down with monthly plans, through Stratus Financial or through our own in-house payment plans. What you finance is the fixed package price, which is why the monthly figure does not move either.
No. We sell programs, not balances, so there is nothing sitting in an account waiting to be drawn down and nothing that expires after twelve or twenty-four months. You buy a defined certificate at a defined price.
Yes. The Solo Certificate program is $5,500 and takes you to the point of flying the aircraft alone, and it counts toward the private certificate if you continue. The Sport Pilot Program is $8,400 and produces a real FAA certificate with no medical required.
The three private pilot packages, what each one includes, the financing options and a realistic timeline built around how often you can actually fly. Sent to you in one email. Nobody will pressure you.
Loved On Google
Every review below is real and shown verbatim, in the reviewer’s own words — written by the people who learned to fly here, not by us.
SAFETY FIRST
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
SAFETY FIRST
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
Reviews shown verbatim, exactly as each reviewer published them.
Aviation News
Notes from the flight line at Van Nuys — weather, regulation changes, checkride questions and the cost of training, written up as they come.
Open 7 days · 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Los Angeles Flight School
