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
Discovery Flights For Pasadena, Flown From Van Nuys
Pasadena sits at the far eastern end of the basin, which is why most bookings from there are the ninety-minute flight rather than the hour.
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.
5.0★120+ reviews on Google
2,000+introductory flights flown safely
90 minthe usual booking from Pasadena
15+ yearsbehind every instructor
Local
Why People From Pasadena Book The Longer Flight
Pasadena is an engineering town with a canyon down the middle of it. The Arroyo Seco splits the city, the San Gabriels close off the northern sky, and a good share of the people who ring us about a first flight work at JPL, teach at Caltech, or spent a career adjacent to both. They tend to arrive with questions about angle of attack rather than questions about whether it is safe. That changes what the hour is worth to you.
A discovery flight is a lesson you are allowed to enjoy. You sit in the left seat with an FAA-certified instructor beside you and a second set of controls between you. After a briefing at the table and a walk-around of the aircraft, you handle the taxi with your feet, follow the instructor through the take-off roll, and then fly the airplane yourself: climbs, descents, turns onto headings, the whole business of holding an altitude while the air moves under you. Nobody narrates at you.
Distance is why we push Pasadena bookings toward ninety minutes. Van Nuys is twenty-five miles west of the Arroyo, and the sixty-minute flight is good but spends its time over the Valley and the Santa Monica Mountains. At ninety minutes there is room to run east past the Verdugos, follow the foothills along the front range and come back down the far side of Griffith Park, which means you see your own street and the Rose Bowl sitting in the bottom of its canyon.
The hour is not a ride you buy and forget. Your instructor signs it into a logbook in your name and the time counts toward a certificate whenever you decide to start one. If you enroll in training within twenty-four hours, the entire cost of the flight comes off your tuition, which makes the introduction effectively free. Prices are $229 for one person for sixty minutes, $299 for two, and $399 for two in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo with its glass panel and airframe parachute.
Training Packages
What You Can Book, And What Each One Costs
Five options, all real prices, all flown from the same ramp on Balboa Boulevard.
Most Popular
Standard Private Pilot
$10,900
The full FAA Private Pilot Certificate. Where most students start.
Learn MorePremium Private Pilot
$22,500
The widest margin of hours for students who want no surprises.
Learn MoreInstrument Rating
$11,700
The rating that makes a license useful in Southern California weather.
Learn MoreEvery course above is a package, not an hourly rate — the price covers the aircraft, your instructor, ground school and the simulator time in that package. Financing is available through Stratus Financial and through in-house payment plans, and a discovery flight is credited in full against any package if you enroll within 24 hours. All training is flown from Van Nuys Airport (KVNY), 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A.
Discovery Flights
Try It First — A Discovery Flight From Van Nuys
You fly the aircraft from the left seat with an instructor beside you. The time is loggable and counts toward a certificate.
Luxury Cirrus For Two
$499/ 60 min
The SR22 Turbo, glass cockpit. 90 min $699, 120 min $949.
Learn MoreRedbird Simulator Session
$189/ 1 hr
FAA-approved full-motion MCX, on the field at Van Nuys.
Learn MoreGetting Here
Pasadena To 7900 Balboa Blvd: The Honest Version
The default is the 134. Pick it up wherever you normally do, at Colorado, Orange Grove or Del Mar, and follow it west along the foot of the Verdugos through Glendale and Burbank. Where it meets the 101 at the Ventura split, stay with the westbound lanes for another eleven miles and come off at Balboa Boulevard. Turn north and hold Balboa for two miles until the airport fence starts on your right at the 7900 block.
Mid-morning that is thirty to thirty-five minutes. Between four and seven the Glendale stretch and the Sherman Oaks curve can both bite, and fifty is realistic. The northern alternative is worth knowing: the 210 west out of Pasadena past La Canada and Sunland, which becomes the 118 at the Sylmar interchange, then west to Balboa and south through Granada Hills and Northridge. It is a few miles longer and often calmer in the evening, and it avoids the 101 entirely.
Parking is free in our own lot immediately outside Suite 108A. There is no terminal, no shuttle, no gate arm and nobody to pay, which surprises people whose only experience of an airport is Burbank or LAX. Come fifteen minutes early with photo ID, wear closed-toe shoes, and bring sunglasses, because the light above the basin at 3,000 feet is harder than it looks from the Arroyo. We supply headsets. Call (818) 290-8249 if the entrance is not obvious.
Why Van Nuys
Why The Flight Starts At Van Nuys
1
A Booked Slot Is Time In The Air
Van Nuys runs two parallel runways and a control tower staffed around the clock, so light aircraft are not queueing behind departing jets. That matters when you have driven twenty-five miles for a ninety-minute slot. You are airborne within a few minutes of start-up, and the time you paid for is spent with your hands on the controls.
2
The Good Scenery Is All Eastbound
From Van Nuys the Verdugos are ten minutes away and the San Gabriel front range opens up just beyond them. That puts Pasadena, the Arroyo and the whole mountain wall inside a normal flight rather than at the edge of one. A departure from further south would spend that time getting past other people's airspace.
3
You Choose The Aircraft
Five types sit on one ramp: the Cessna 162 Skycatcher, Diamond DA20, Piper Warrior, Cirrus SR22 Turbo and the twin-engine Piper Seminole, plus a Redbird MCX simulator indoors. You book the aircraft you actually want rather than whatever is unbooked that morning, which is not true at most fields this side of the county line.
4
It Is A Lesson, So It Counts
The time is entered and signed in a logbook with your name on it and never expires, and it counts toward the forty-hour minimum for a private certificate. Enroll within twenty-four hours and every dollar of the flight comes off the course price. Nothing about the hour is a novelty ride dressed up as training.
The Fleet
The Aircraft You Will Be Flying
Most first flights go out in the Cessna 162 Skycatcher, the Diamond DA20 or the Piper Warrior. They are light, forgiving, honest airplanes with modern radios and GPS, chosen because they make a beginner's mistakes into small ones. A discovery flight in any of them is $229 for one person or $299 for two, and the aircraft and the instructor come together. The DA20 has a bubble canopy and the best downward view of anything we operate, which is why photographers ask for it by name once they have been told about it.
Above them are the aircraft people book for an occasion or a specific reason. The Cirrus SR22 Turbo is turbocharged, air-conditioned, flown on a glass panel and fitted with a whole-airframe parachute, and the Luxury Cirrus For Two flight is $499 for sixty minutes. The Piper Arrow II has retractable gear and a constant-speed propeller for complex training. The twin-engine Piper Seminole flies the Multi-Engine Discovery at $499 for sixty minutes, and it is the aircraft the $5,100 rating is flown in later. Indoors, the Redbird MCX full-motion simulator is $189 for a sixty-minute session, and it is a genuinely useful place to spend a windy afternoon.
From The Air
What Pasadena Looks Like From 2,500 Feet
Four things you will pick out on the eastbound leg without anyone pointing at them.
🏟️
The Rose Bowl In The Arroyo Seco
An oval sitting in the bottom of a wooded canyon with the golf course wrapped around it, unmistakable from ten miles out. From above you finally see why it floods: the stadium is built inside a watercourse.
🛰️
JPL And Devil's Gate Dam
A dense block of white laboratory roofs pressed against the mountain front where the Arroyo leaves the range, with the dam and its dry basin below. It is the tidiest piece of ground in the foothills.
🌉
The Colorado Street Bridge
A curved line of concrete arches stepping across the Arroyo just south of the 134, with the freeway bridge alongside it. The two together make the clearest single landmark in Pasadena from the air.
📡
The Antenna Farm On Mount Wilson
White masts and dishes crowded onto a 5,700-foot ridge directly north of the city, usually above the haze even when the basin is not. On a clear morning the observatory domes sit beside them.
FAQ
Common Questions
Thirty to thirty-five minutes for the twenty-five miles, taking the 134 west and then the 101 to the Balboa exit. In the evening peak allow fifty. The 210 to the 118 across the top of the Valley is the better bet after four o'clock. We hold your slot if the freeway misbehaves.
El Monte and Whiteman are both nearer in miles, and we operate from neither; every flight leaves from Van Nuys Airport. Neither offers this range of aircraft on one ramp, and neither puts a full-motion simulator, a Cirrus and a twin in the same booking system. If any hour in any airplane will do, closer will do. If you want to choose what you fly, the extra twenty minutes is the price.
On the ninety and two-hour flights, yes, weather and traffic allowing. The route runs east over the Verdugos and along the front range, which puts the Arroyo, the Rose Bowl and the mountain wall in the window. The sixty-minute flight stays closer to Van Nuys. Tell us at booking what you want to see.
You fly it for most of the flight. The instructor handles the take-off and the landing and stays on the controls whenever it matters, and everything between is yours: turns, climbs, descents, levelling off on a heading. There are two sets of controls. People are usually surprised how quickly the aircraft does what they intend.
It does. The time is logged and signed by the instructor in a logbook that belongs to you, and it counts toward the forty-hour minimum for a private pilot certificate. It has no expiry date. Enroll in a program within twenty-four hours and one hundred percent of what you paid is credited against the tuition.
Yes, and a lot of them are gifts. The recipient books their own date, which avoids choosing a Saturday for somebody else three months out. Discovery Flight For One is $229, For Two is $299, the Cirrus is $499 and the twin-engine flight is $499. Call (818) 290-8249 and we will set it up.
We will not fly you in conditions we would not fly ourselves in, so we move the booking instead. Southern California gives us most days of the year, but a summer marine layer can hold the morning down and a Santa Ana event brings turbulence off the San Gabriels. Ring the day before if it looks doubtful.
Adults testing an old idea, teenagers being pointed at a career, and a fair number of people who model flight for a living and have never held a control column. Children can fly with an adult present, though what matters is whether they can comfortably reach the controls. Call us with an age and we will tell you what makes sense.
Talk To Us
One Flight, Twenty-Five Miles West
Drive the 134, park outside the door, and spend ninety minutes flying an airplane over the Arroyo you have walked under all your life. Call (818) 290-8249 to book, or ask us which aircraft suits the day you have in mind.
Discovery Flight For One
$229
60 minutes, hands on the controls, fully loggable
Book A Discovery Flight
Or Call (818) 290-8249
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.
Aviation News
Latest From The Field
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