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.
Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) · Los Angeles
Discovery Flights Near Me: Ours Leave From Van Nuys
$229 buys sixty minutes in a training aircraft with your hands on the controls and an instructor in the right seat. No medical certificate. No experience. Enroll within 24 hours and the whole $229 comes off your training.
$229 · 60 minutesYou fly the aircraftCredited in full on enrollment355 flyable days a year
Hands-On From The Left Seat
You Fly The Airplane. Not A Ride Along.
50–80%Of the flight is flown by you
Your instructor takes off and lands. Almost everything in between is yours: turns, climbs, descents, holding a heading over Los Angeles. How much depends on you and the conditions on the day.
Your instructor flies the takeoff from Van Nuys and talks you through it while you listen to the tower in your headset.
You fly the airplane. Turns, climbs, descents and holding a heading over Los Angeles, for roughly 50–80% of the flight depending on you and the conditions. Your instructor has an identical set of controls and handles the radio.
Your instructor lands and narrates the approach. Have your own logbook? Your instructor will be happy to sign it. Want to fly less and look more? Say so at the briefing.
Tap Takeoff, You Fly or Landing to see who is flying.
- No license, experience or medical certificate needed
- Bring your own logbook and your instructor will be happy to sign it
- 100% credited toward training if you enroll within 24 hours of landing
The Route You Fly
Your Discovery Flight Route Over Los Angeles
About an hour from Van Nuys Airport: Universal Studios, the Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory and a full circle around Downtown LA, then west just north of SoFi Stadium and LAX to the coast, from Venice Beach up to Malibu. Your instructor takes off and lands. You fly 50–80% of it.
- About 1 Hour From Van Nuys
- You Fly 50–80%
- From $229 All-In
- No Experience Needed
Stop 01 Of 11Van Nuys Airport
Loading The Map
You’re FlyingInstructor: Takeoff & LandingWe Stay North Of LAX & SoFi
The San Fernando Valley Over The Wing 01Instructor Takeoff
Van Nuys Airport
Wheels Up From Van Nuys
Your instructor takes off from one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world and talks you through every step. Once you are clear of the field, the controls are yours.
Universal Studios Hollywood From The Air 02You’re Flying
Universal Studios
The Backlot From Above
The studio lots turn out to be far bigger than they look on TV, with the soundstages lined up like a small town.
The Hollywood Sign On Mount Lee 03You’re Flying
Hollywood Sign
Nine Letters On Mount Lee
The most famous sign in the world, seen from where almost nobody gets to see it: level with the hilltop.
Griffith Observatory From The Air 04You’re Flying
Griffith Observatory
The Domes On The Ridge
The white domes of Griffith Observatory on the slope of Mount Hollywood, with the whole Los Angeles basin laid out beyond them.
Circling The Downtown Towers 05You’re Flying
Downtown LA
A Full Circle Around Downtown
In on the south side, then a full counterclockwise circle around the towers: up the east side, over the top and back around. The San Gabriel Mountains stand behind the skyline.
SoFi Stadium From Just North 06You’re Flying
SoFi Stadium
The Roof You Know From TV
We pass just north of the stadium and never fly over it. Its huge translucent roof, home of the Rams and the Chargers, sits right off your left wing.
LAX From The North Side 07You’re Flying
LAX
Airliners On Final, Off Your Left Wing
Jets lining up for one of the busiest airports on Earth, off your left wing. We stay north of LAX and never fly over it.
Venice Beach Over The Wing 08You’re Flying
Venice Beach
Right Turn Up The Coast
The boardwalk, the skate park and the sand, then a right turn up the coast with all of Santa Monica Bay opening up ahead of you.
Santa Monica Pier From The Air 09You’re Flying
Santa Monica Pier
The Pier And The Ferris Wheel
The pier, the Ferris wheel and the beach, straight out of a thousand films.
The Malibu Coast At Sunset 10You’re Flying
Malibu
The Mountains Meet The Pacific
Up the coast past the Palisades to Malibu, where the Santa Monica Mountains drop straight into the ocean.
Heading Back Across The San Fernando Valley 11You’re Flying
Warner Center
Over The Hills To Warner Center
North over the Santa Monica Mountains to Warner Center in Woodland Hills, then east across the San Fernando Valley with Van Nuys straight ahead.
12Instructor Landing
Back At Van Nuys
Your Instructor Lands, Then A Quick Debrief
Have your own pilot logbook? Bring it and your instructor will be happy to sign it. Enroll within 24 hours of landing and 100% of what you paid is credited toward your training.
Book Your Flight · From $229
Typical route. Weather and air traffic control set the final path on the day.
$229discovery flight for one, 60 minutes, you at the controls
100%credited toward your program if you enroll within 24 hours
5.0★120+ Google reviews
355flyable days a year measured at Van Nuys
Start Here
What Is A Discovery Flight?
A discovery flight is a single introductory flying lesson, sold one at a time, that you fly yourself. You sit in the left seat, you hold the yoke, and a certificated flight instructor sits beside you with a second set of controls as the legal pilot in command. Ours cost $229 for sixty minutes and leave from Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles.
It is flight training, not a ride. That is the distinction the word “discovery” hides, and it is the one that matters: the hour is logged, it is instruction, and it counts. This page covers where the nearest one is, what happens in the hour, what it costs and whether you should book it. The longer background sits on our full discovery flight guide.
The hour is loggable. Your instructor signs it into a logbook as dual instruction received, and it counts toward the 40 hours FAR 61.109 sets as the minimum for a private pilot certificate. People search for a discovery flight near them expecting a sightseeing seat. What they get is lesson one.
That distinction is the whole reason the price is what it is. A scenic tour puts three strangers in the back of an aircraft and lands 25 minutes later. A discovery flight books an instructor, an aircraft and a full hour of Hobbs time to one person. You cannot do the second thing for the price of the first, and we would rather say so than pretend.
If you have never flown in anything smaller than an airliner, that first hour answers a question no amount of reading will: do you like being in control of an aircraft, or do you like the idea of it? Some people find out they love it. A few find out they do not. Both answers are worth $229.
The Part Nobody Advertises
Does A Discovery Flight Count Toward Your Pilot License?
Yes. The hour is logged as dual instruction received and it counts toward the 40 hours of flight time that 14 CFR 61.109(a) sets as the minimum for a private pilot certificate. You do not have to enroll, come back, or fly with us again for that to be true — the entry is in your logbook and it is yours.
1
What Actually Gets Written Down
Date, aircraft make and model, the tail number, from KVNY to KVNY, the duration in tenths of an hour off the Hobbs meter, and a column tick for dual received. Your instructor signs it and writes their CFI certificate number beside the signature. That signature is what makes the hour count.
2
What The 40 Hours Are Made Of
14 CFR 61.109(a) requires 40 hours of total flight time for a private pilot certificate, of which at least 20 hours must be flight training with an instructor and at least 10 hours must be solo. Your discovery flight lands in the dual column, which is the column you fill first.
3
Forty Is A Floor, Not An Average
Almost nobody finishes at 40. The national average sits between 60 and 75 hours, mostly because people fly once a fortnight and spend the first fifteen minutes of every lesson recovering what they lost. Frequency is the single biggest lever on total cost, and it is free.
4
The Logbook Travels
It is not our logbook, it is yours. If you decide to train somewhere else, in another state, three years from now, that hour still counts. We would rather say that plainly than pretend the entry is only good here. See how many hours it really takes to become a pilot for what the rest of the column looks like.
Van Nuys, KVNY
Why Does It Matter That Van Nuys Is A Class D Field?
Because you talk to a control tower from the first minute of the first hour. Van Nuys is a towered Class D airport with two parallel runways, sitting underneath the shelf of the Los Angeles Class B airspace that surrounds LAX.
That geography does something useful to a student. You cannot fly out of here without a clearance to taxi, a clearance to take off and a handoff on the way back, so radio work stops being a thing you are afraid of and becomes a thing you have done. A pilot trained at an uncontrolled field has to learn all of it later, usually while also learning something else.
The Class B shelf above adds altitude discipline on day one. There is a hard ceiling over parts of the Valley and you fly under it, deliberately, while the instructor shows you where the floor is on the chart. If you want the rules themselves, we wrote them up in Class D airspace explained and airspace classes A through G.
None of this is on a discovery flight brochure anywhere, and it is the reason a Van Nuys-trained pilot sounds calm on a radio at an unfamiliar field. You learned in the noisy place.
Minute By Minute
What Happens On A Discovery Flight, Minute By Minute?
Ninety minutes on the ground and in the air for a sixty-minute flight. Here is the whole thing in order, so nothing on the day is a surprise.
01
You Arrive At 7900 Balboa Blvd
Suite 108A, on the east side of Van Nuys Airport. Come twenty minutes before your slot. Bring photo ID. Parking is free and it is directly outside the door, which in this city is worth mentioning.
02
The Pre-Flight Briefing
Fifteen to twenty minutes at the table. Your instructor draws the route, shows you the four controls that matter, and tells you exactly what you will be doing and when. Ask everything now. There is no such thing as a stupid question at this table and the instructors have heard all of them.
03
The Walkaround, With You Doing It
You go out to the ramp and preflight the aircraft together: fuel drained and checked for water, oil level, control surfaces, tires, pitot tube. This is not theater. It is the same inspection every pilot does before every flight, and you will do it yourself on every lesson afterwards.
04
Start, Taxi And Run-Up
You get the headset on, you hear Van Nuys ground for the first time, and it sounds fast because it is. Your instructor works the radio. You steer with your feet, which is the first thing that feels genuinely strange. Run-up happens at the hold short line, engine checks complete, then the tower clears you.
05
Your Takeoff
Hands on the yoke, feet on the rudder, throttle forward. The instructor is on the controls with you for the first few seconds and then, somewhere around 200 feet, they let go and you are flying an airplane. Almost nobody expects it to happen that early. It does.
06
Twenty To Forty Minutes Of Actually Flying
Climbs, turns, level flight, and the view. Depending on the day and the traffic, you will be somewhere over the Santa Monica Mountains, the Sepulveda Basin, Malibu or the coast, sometimes with the Hollywood Sign off the wing. You hold the heading. You make the turns. The instructor talks, corrects and lets you fly.
07
Back To Van Nuys And Shutdown
Your instructor takes the landing on a first flight, and narrates it, because landing a light aircraft into a Class D field with two parallel runways is the one part that genuinely takes practice. Taxi in, shut down, and the propeller stops.
08
The Debrief And Your Logbook
Back at the table for ten minutes. What you did well, what you would work on next, and a signed logbook entry with the date, the aircraft type, the tail number and the time. If you enroll within 24 hours, that is when the $229 comes off the program price.
The Part Most People Miss
Does The $229 Come Off Your Training If You Enroll?
Yes, in full, if you enroll within 24 hours of the flight. Not half, not a voucher, not store credit — the whole $229 comes off the program price.
It applies to the Standard private pilot program at $10,900 and in exactly the same way to the Comprehensive program at $15,900, the Premium program at $22,500, the Sport Pilot program at $8,400 and the teen program at $4,200.
The 24 hours is real and we do not extend it quietly. It exists because the decision is easiest to make while the flight is still fresh, and because people who sleep on it for three weeks tend to sleep on it forever. If you already know you want to train, book the flight and bring your questions to the debrief.
If you do not enroll, nothing happens. You paid $229 for an hour of dual instruction, you keep the logbook entry, and it stays valid toward your 40 hours whenever you come back or go anywhere else.
"Near Me", Honestly
Where Is The Nearest Discovery Flight To You?
We are at Van Nuys Airport, 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406. There is one of us, not a branch near you, so here are real drive times rather than a map pin and a promise. These are typical off-peak numbers. Add fifteen to thirty minutes if you are crossing a canyon between 7am and 10am or 3pm and 7pm.
| Where you are starting from | Distance | Typical drive, off-peak |
|---|---|---|
| Sherman Oaks | 7 mi | 15 min |
| Woodland Hills | 9 mi | 15 min |
| Northridge | 7 mi | 15 min |
| Encino | 5 mi | 12 min |
| Burbank | 12 mi | 20 min |
| Calabasas | 13 mi | 20 min |
| Glendale | 17 mi | 25 min |
| Santa Clarita | 22 mi | 25 min |
| Thousand Oaks | 24 mi | 30 min |
| Beverly Hills | 14 mi | 30 min |
| Santa Monica | 19 mi | 35 min |
| Downtown Los Angeles | 22 mi | 35 min |
| Pasadena | 25 mi | 35 min |
| Malibu | 28 mi | 40 min |
| Long Beach | 40 mi | 55 min |
| Irvine / Orange County | 55 mi | 70 min |
Most discovery flights book for late morning or early afternoon, which puts your drive outside the worst of it in both directions. If you are coming from the Westside or the South Bay, take the 405 north and come off at Roscoe or Sherman Way rather than Victory.
Eligibility
Who Can Take A Discovery Flight?
Almost anyone. There is no minimum age to receive flight instruction, no medical certificate required, no license and no experience — the only genuine constraint is the aircraft’s weight and balance envelope. Here are the four things people ring up to check.
1
You Do Not Need A Medical Certificate
None. A third-class medical or BasicMed is required before you fly solo, not before you fly with an instructor. Plenty of people take a discovery flight first and then find out where they stand medically. If you want to check anyway, our guide to the FAA medical certificate in Los Angeles lays out what an AME actually looks at.
2
You Do Not Need Any Experience
Zero hours is the normal starting point. You do not need to have flown a simulator, read a book, or know what a magneto is. The briefing assumes you know nothing, because roughly nine out of ten people who book one have never touched an aircraft control.
3
Age: No Minimum For Dual Instruction
The FAA sets no minimum age to receive flight instruction. You must be 16 to fly solo and 17 to hold a private pilot certificate under FAR 61.83 and 61.103. If a child can see over the panel and reach the rudder pedals, they can fly the airplane. Under 18 we ask a parent or guardian to come along and sign.
4
Weight Is An Aircraft Limit, Not A Policy
The booking form asks your weight before it shows you a calendar. That is weight and balance, not a judgment: a light training aircraft has a maximum gross weight and a center-of-gravity envelope, and fuel is the only variable we can trade. If the form flags you, call us. A different aircraft in the fleet or a shorter fuel load usually solves it.
Honestly
Who Should Not Book A Discovery Flight?
Two groups, and we would rather tell you now than take the booking. Someone whose response to flying is a genuine panic attack should not start in an aircraft, and someone who wants to sit back and look out of a window is buying the wrong thing.
If Flying Frightens You Badly
Fear of flying is common and it is not stupid. But aerophobia is a real clinical condition for some people, and if yours produces a panic response rather than nerves, an aircraft is not the right first step. A qualified therapist is, often through cognitive behavioral therapy or graded exposure. We are glad to be step two, and we say so without any pressure attached. If it is nerves rather than panic, read what fear of flying actually is and what helps, or start in the Redbird simulator, which has a stop button and the ground still underneath it.
If You Want A Ride, Not A Lesson
A discovery flight books an instructor, an aircraft and an hour of Hobbs time to one person who is going to fly it. If what you actually want is to look at the Hollywood Sign from a comfortable seat with nobody asking you to hold a heading, book a sightseeing flight over Los Angeles instead. It is a different product and it is a perfectly good one.
If Your Stomach Is The Worry
Turbulence in the Los Angeles basin is thermal — the ground heats, the air rises, and it builds through the afternoon. A late-morning slot is measurably smoother than a 3pm one in summer. Eat something light beforehand, go easy on coffee, keep your eyes outside on the horizon rather than on the panel, and tell your instructor early rather than late. If you already know you get motion sick in cars, say so when you book and we will plan the profile around it.
Practicalities
How Far Ahead Should You Book, And Can Someone Come With You?
Book the slot you want rather than the soonest one available, and yes, someone can come with you — that is the two-person flight at $299. We are open 9am to 9pm, seven days a week, and the calendar on this page shows real openings rather than a request form you wait on.
Pick a late-morning slot if you can. It is after the marine layer has burned off and before the afternoon thermals build, which makes it the smoothest hour of a Los Angeles summer day. If the day you want is not on the calendar, call (818) 290-8249 and ask; the schedule moves.
On the two-person flight one of you flies and one rides along in the back. You cannot swap seats in the air, because weight and balance is computed on the ground before you go and the aircraft is loaded for the configuration you booked. If both of you want to fly, book two flights or ask us to put them back to back on the same morning.
Anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian present to sign. If you are buying this for somebody else, the discovery flight gift certificate lets them pick their own date. Cancellation and rescheduling terms are published on the discovery flight terms page — weather cancellations are rebooked and not charged.
Before You Come
What Should You Bring To A Discovery Flight?
Bring photo ID and sunglasses. That is the honest list. Headsets, charts and the aircraft are ours. You do not need a logbook because we will start one for you, and you do not need to buy anything before you know whether you want to keep flying.
Wear closed shoes with a flat sole, because you are on the rudder pedals and you will feel the difference. Bring a light layer even in August: it is comfortable at 3,500 feet over the Valley and noticeably cooler over the coast. Eat something first and go easy on coffee. Turbulence in the Los Angeles basin is thermal and it builds through the afternoon, so an early slot is smoother if your stomach is a concern.
Your phone works fine for photos. Bring a strap or a pocket for it, because a dropped phone in a cockpit ends up somewhere under the seat rails and nobody enjoys that conversation. If you want the flight filmed properly, tell us when you book and we will mount a camera.
If you are not a US citizen, you do not need TSA approval for a discovery flight. That requirement under 49 CFR 1552 attaches when you begin training toward a certificate or rating, which is a step we handle with you at enrollment. Our page on TSA flight training approval explains the process. Bring your passport regardless.
Weather
Will The Weather Cancel It? 355 Flyable Days A Year At Van Nuys
Rarely, and if it does we rebook you and you are not charged. We counted: twelve months of NOAA ASOS observations at Van Nuys, from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2026, scored against a 3,000-foot ceiling and 5 statute miles of visibility, which is the bar most schools apply to early instruction. The answer was 355 days. Against basic VFR minimums of 1,000 feet and 3 miles it was 363.
The interesting part is not the annual number, it is the time of day. In June, only 40% of 7am observations at Van Nuys met training minima. By 11am that was 93%, and from 1pm it ran 97 to 100%. June gloom is a morning problem and it burns off. If you are booking a discovery flight between late May and early July, book it for the afternoon and you will almost certainly fly.
Compare that with the coast: in August at 7am, Van Nuys met minima 84% of the time against Santa Monica’s 48%. Being eight miles inland is worth a lot of flying hours. The method and the raw tables are published in our flyable days flight training study, which covers 15 US training airports.
If your day does get canceled for weather, we rebook it, we do not charge you, and we will usually offer you the $189 Redbird full-motion simulator session instead if you have driven in and want to fly something.
Choosing
How Long Should Your First Flight Be?
The honest answer for a first flight is sixty minutes. Here is what the extra time actually buys, so you can decide against something concrete rather than a feeling.
| Duration | Where you get to | Who it suits | For one |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 minutes | The Valley, the Sepulveda Basin, the Santa Monica Mountains, often downtown or the Hollywood Sign. You stay inside the Los Angeles basin and under the Class B shelf. | Anyone who has never flown a light aircraft. This is the "is this for me" test and it answers the question completely. | $229 |
| 90 minutes | Out of the basin. Malibu and the coastline, Point Dume, Lake Sherwood, sometimes as far as Camarillo. Enough time to fly the aircraft properly rather than sightsee. | People who already know they want to train, and people who want to bring a camera and not feel rushed. | $299 |
| 120 minutes | A genuine cross-country. Santa Barbara, Lake Cachuma, the Channel Islands coastline, or east over the mountains. You handle real airspace transitions and talk to more than one controller. | Anyone deciding between schools, or anyone who wants to see what a training flight in month four looks like. | $399 |
Two-seat and Cirrus options are priced separately below. If you are bringing someone who wants to come along rather than fly, book the two-person flight rather than the one-person one.
The Fleet
Which Aircraft Will You Fly?
Discovery flights are flown in our single-engine trainers — Cessna, Piper and Diamond. The luxury option is flown in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo with its glass cockpit and whole-airframe CAPS parachute. Every one of these is ours, inspected on our schedule under FAR 91.409(b), and flown by our instructors daily. Full details on the training aircraft at Van Nuys Airport page.
Redbird MCX
Can You Do A Discovery Flight In The Simulator Instead?
Yes, and it is $189. The Redbird MCX is FAA-approved, fully enclosed and it moves. A $189 simulator discovery flight is a genuine alternative on a marginal day, and it is the one we recommend to people whose nerves are the real obstacle.
A simulator session runs on the ground at Van Nuys whatever the weather is doing outside. More on the Redbird MCX full-motion simulator at Van Nuys.
Your Instructor
Who Sits Beside You, And Who Is Legally In Command?
Eleven instructors on staff. Every one holds a commercial or ATP certificate, a CFI, and a current medical, and every one is legally pilot in command on your flight. That is not a formality: it means the person next to you carries the responsibility, and you get to concentrate on flying.
The reason we mention the number is scheduling. A school with two instructors reschedules you when one of them gets a job offer. Eleven means your discovery flight happens on the day you booked it, and if you enroll afterwards you are matched to an instructor rather than assigned whoever is left.
If the fit is wrong, you change. We would rather move you than watch you quit at hour nine because you and your instructor do not communicate the same way. It happens perhaps twice a year and nobody takes it personally.
What People Say
5.0 Stars, 120+ Google Reviews
We hold 5.0 stars from 120+ reviews on Google. Three things come up again and again, and none of them is the airplane.
★
The Debrief, Not The View
The compliment that repeats most across our 120+ Google reviews is not the airplane or the scenery. It is that the instructor sat down afterwards and explained what happened.
★
Lessons That Actually Happen
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own and maintain. Reviewers keep mentioning that the aircraft was there, the instructor was there, and nothing was rescheduled.
★
The Price Does Not Move
The number you book at is the number you pay. Nobody in 120+ reviews on Google has written about a surprise charge, because we do not add any.
Book It
How Much Does A Discovery Flight Cost?
$229 for sixty minutes with one person flying. Ninety minutes is $299 and two hours is $399; the two-person flight starts at $299, the Cirrus SR22 Turbo for two starts at $599 and the multi-engine Seminole is $499. Book instantly on the left button of any card, or take the free consultation on the right if you would rather talk to a person first — both open on this page. Every duration is also listed on the discovery flight prices in Los Angeles page.
Most booked
Discovery Flight For One
$229 / 60 min
One seat, one hour, you at the controls. The straight answer to whether flying is for you.
- Sixty minutes, Hobbs time
- Cessna, Piper or Diamond
- Logged as dual instruction
- Credited in full on enrollment
Discovery Flight For One — 90 Min
$299 / 90 min
Long enough to get out of the basin and over the Malibu coastline, and long enough to fly rather than sightsee.
- Ninety minutes, Hobbs time
- Coast and mountains
- Logged as dual instruction
- Credited in full on enrollment
Discovery Flight For One — 120 Min
$399 / 120 min
A real cross-country. Two hours, two or three controllers, and airspace transitions you will fly again in training.
- Two hours, Hobbs time
- Santa Barbara or Channel Islands
- Logged as dual instruction
- Credited in full on enrollment
Discovery Flight For Two
$299 / 60 min
You fly, your passenger comes. One hour, three seats used, the same lesson.
- Sixty minutes, Hobbs time
- One flies, one rides along
- Logged as dual instruction
- Credited in full on enrollment
Luxury Cirrus
$499 / 60 min
Cirrus SR22 Turbo. Glass cockpit, air conditioning, and a CAPS whole-airframe parachute above your head.
- Sixty minutes in the SR22 Turbo
- Full glass panel
- Two seats occupied
- Credited in full on enrollment
Redbird MCX Simulator
$189 / session
Full-motion, fully enclosed, FAA-approved. Never canceled for weather and the one we suggest if nerves are the obstacle.
- Full-motion Redbird MCX
- Fly it yourself
- Weather-proof
- Ideal before a first flight
Multi-Engine Seminole
$499 / 60 min
Two engines, retractable gear and a Piper Seminole. The one people book when they already know they want a career, not a hobby.
- Sixty minutes, Hobbs time
- Piper Seminole twin
- Logged as dual instruction
- Credited in full on enrollment
Luxury Cirrus — 90 Min
$699 / 90 min
Ninety minutes in the SR22 Turbo, far enough to reach the coast and back without watching the clock.
- Ninety minutes in the SR22 Turbo
- Full glass panel and CAPS parachute
- Two seats occupied
- Credited in full on enrollment
All prices include the aircraft, the fuel and the instructor. There is no fuel surcharge, no booking fee and no landing fee added afterwards.
Back to School: $500 off any private pilot program through 31 October 2026. Standard $10,400 · Comprehensive $15,400 · Premium $22,000. Your discovery flight comes off the top of that as well when you enroll within 24 hours. Ask when you enroll.
Next Step
The Nearest Discovery Flight To You Leaves From Van Nuys
Sixty minutes, $229, you fly it. Open 9am to 9pm, seven days. Book the slot yourself below, take a free consultation first, call us, or send a message and we will come back to you.
Read the full discovery flight guide, see what a first flight lesson involves, or if nerves are the obstacle read what actually helps with fear of flying. You can also contact us with a question.
Discovery Flight For One
$229
60 minutes · you fly the aircraft · credited in full on enrollment within 24 hours
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FAQ
Discovery Flight Questions, Answered Straight
Ours fly from Van Nuys Airport at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406. That is 15 minutes from Sherman Oaks, Woodland Hills and Northridge, 20 minutes from Burbank and Calabasas, 30 minutes from Beverly Hills and about 35 minutes from Santa Monica or downtown off-peak. Discovery flights start at $229 for 60 minutes.
$229 for 60 minutes for one person at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles. Ninety minutes is $299 and 120 minutes is $399. A two-person flight starts at $299, the Cirrus SR22 Turbo for two starts at $599, the multi-engine Piper Seminole flight is $499, the 90-minute Cirrus is $849 and the Camarillo lunch flight for two is $699. The full price is credited toward your training program if you enroll within 24 hours.
Yes. You sit in the left seat with your hands on the controls and you fly the airplane, including the takeoff. A certificated flight instructor is beside you with a second set of controls and is legally the pilot in command. The instructor normally takes the landing on a first flight.
No. A discovery flight requires no FAA medical certificate of any kind. A third-class medical or BasicMed is only required before you fly solo, which is typically 15 to 25 hours into training. You need nothing but photo ID to take the flight.
Yes. Your instructor logs the flight as dual instruction received and signs it, and it counts toward the 40 hours of flight time that 14 CFR 61.109(a) sets as the minimum for a private pilot certificate. Of those 40 hours, at least 20 must be flight training with an instructor, which is the column a discovery flight fills. The logbook is yours and the entry stays valid whether you train with us or anywhere else.
There is no FAA minimum age to receive flight instruction, so there is no minimum age for a discovery flight. You must be 16 to fly solo and 17 to hold a private pilot certificate under FAR 61.83 and 61.103. Anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian present to sign.
Budget about 90 minutes at the airport for a 60-minute flight. That is a 15 to 20 minute briefing, a walkaround, 60 minutes of Hobbs time in the air, and a 10-minute debrief with your logbook entry at the end.
We rebook it and you are not charged. Van Nuys has 355 flyable days a year measured against a 3,000-foot ceiling and 5 miles of visibility, so cancellations are rare. June is the exception: only 40% of 7am observations meet training minima in June, rising to 97-100% by 1pm, so book an afternoon slot in early summer.
No. On a scenic tour you are a passenger. On a discovery flight you are the one flying, the time is logged as instruction, and it counts toward a certificate. That is why a discovery flight books an instructor and an aircraft to you for the full hour.
Yes, and the $189 Redbird MCX full-motion simulator session exists for exactly this. It is FAA-approved, fully enclosed, it moves, and you can stop it at any point. Many people fly the simulator first and book the aircraft afterwards. If your response to flying is a genuine panic attack rather than nerves, start with a qualified therapist instead; we are glad to be step two.
No Cost, No Obligation
Get The Full Training Plan And Price Sheet
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.
- Every package price, itemised
- Financing from $2,500 down
- A timeline based on your schedule
Loved On Google
Over 120 Reviews. 5.0 Stars.
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
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...
See Discovery Flight Details — $229
Reviews shown verbatim, exactly as each reviewer published them.
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Notes from the flight line at Van Nuys — weather, regulation changes, checkride questions and the cost of training, written up as they come.
Van Nuys Airport · KVNY
(818) 290-8249
7900 Balboa Blvd. Suite 108A
Van Nuys, CA 91406 Get directions →
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Open 7 days · 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Los Angeles Flight School7900 Balboa Blvd. Suite 108A
Van Nuys, CA 91406 Get directions →
★★★★★
5.0 · 120+ Google reviews