The Airplane Your First Logbook Gets Written In.

Enrolled students fly the Skycatcher at $179 an hour, wet, on package pricing. Wet means fuel is included, so there is no separate fuel bill waiting after a cross-country. Most people never buy hours one at a time — the aircraft time is built into the course, so the Sport Pilot ($8,400) or Private Pilot ($10,900) price is the real answer to what it costs.

Five: N60225, N7030B, N6039M, N179LC and N5208V. All five are owned by us, not brokered rentals. They are configured identically, so a checkout in one is effectively a checkout in all five, and they are maintained by our own shop on the field at Van Nuys Airport. Practically, it means when one airplane is in for scheduled maintenance your lesson still happens.

It was purpose-built to be. The 162 is a two-seat, high-wing light-sport trainer with a 100 hp Continental O-200-D and deliberately predictable handling — it does not surprise a student. That forgiveness lets you spend attention on the radio, the traffic pattern and the landing instead of fighting the airplane, which is exactly why most of our students solo in it.

A Garmin G300 glass flight display — a modern PFD/MFD presentation with synthetic attitude, moving map and GPS navigation. You learn the glass instrument scan from your very first lesson rather than learning round gauges and having to re-learn glass later, which matters because the Arrow, the Cirrus and every airline flight deck you will ever see are glass.

Both. The Cessna 162 meets the aircraft limits in 14 CFR 61.316, which is what makes Sport Pilot ($8,400) training possible in it — but it is also a fully capable Private Pilot ($10,900) trainer, and most of our Private students complete the entire course in it, including night and cross-country requirements. On a phone call we will tell you honestly which certificate fits how you actually want to fly.

It cruises at about 118 knots — roughly 136 mph. That is genuinely useful for training cross-countries out of Van Nuys: Santa Barbara, Camarillo, Bakersfield and Palm Springs are all comfortably in range, and those are the trips your Private Pilot cross-country requirements are built around.

For Sport Pilot training in the Skycatcher, most applicants can use a valid U.S. driver's license in place of an FAA medical by day, provided they have never had a medical application denied or revoked. Night flying as a sport pilot is permitted under 14 CFR 61.329, but it needs night training, a logbook endorsement and either a part 67 medical or BasicMed under 14 CFR 61.113(i). For the Private Pilot certificate you will need at least an FAA third-class medical from an Aviation Medical Examiner. We can point you to AMEs near Van Nuys — call (818) 290-8249 and we will walk you through it.

Different personalities, same package rate of $179 an hour. The Skycatcher is high wing, yoke controlled, glass panel and deliberately gentle. The Diamond DA20 is low wing, has a control stick and a bubble canopy, and cruises faster at 130–138 kt. The 162 is the easier airplane to land badly and get away with; the DA20 gives you the visibility and the feel. You can fly both — many of our students do.

Yes, two ways. A discovery flight puts you in the left seat with an instructor over Los Angeles, and 100% of the cost credits toward your training if you enroll within 24 hours. Or start on the ground with a 1-hour Redbird MCX full-motion simulator demo for $189. Neither requires any prior experience.

Los Angeles Flight School is at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) — 7900 Balboa Blvd. Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406. We are open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, which is how students fit lessons around real jobs. We serve Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita and the greater Los Angeles area.