We train pilots from Simi Valley at Van Nuys Airport, about 22 miles east on the Ronald Reagan Freeway. Every rating from a first discovery flight to commercial multi-engine, flown in aircraft we own, at a field with 355 flyable days a year.
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, 360 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...
Thirty minutes outside peak. Forty-five if you leave at the wrong hour. The 118 runs straight east out of Simi Valley through the Santa Susana Pass, past Chatsworth, and into the west valley, and it is one of the more predictable freeways in this region once you are clear of the commute.
Exit at Balboa Boulevard and turn south. Three miles of ordinary valley surface street and you are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, on the airport itself. Park on site. There is no structure, no validation and no shuttle from a remote lot. If the 118 is doing something unusual, drop down Topanga Canyon Boulevard and cut east on Roscoe instead — slower, but it never surprises you.
Worth knowing before your first lesson: a flight lesson is a three-hour commitment. Preflight and weather, the flight, then the debrief, which is where most of the actual learning happens. Against three hours, a thirty-minute drive is about a sixth of the morning. It is not what decides whether you finish.
Scheduling is what decides that. Because you are covering 22 miles each way, we push Simi Valley students toward longer blocks less often instead of an hour twice a week. Two three-hour blocks will beat four one-hour lessons, and the gap widens once the drive is counted. You fly more per trip and each lesson runs long enough to get past the warm-up and into something new.
The 118 is directional at peak like everything else here, but it recovers faster than the 101 does. Mid-morning and early afternoon are the slots to ask for, and for most of the year the weather agrees with the traffic.
Simi Valley has no airport of its own. That turns out to be less of a problem than it sounds.
We train pilots from Simi Valley at Van Nuys Airport, about 30 minutes east. Wood Ranch, Santa Susana Knolls, Box Canyon and the Chatsworth side of the pass are all inside the same drive, give or take a few minutes.
Search flight training near me from Simi Valley and the results scatter three ways: Van Nuys east, Camarillo west, Whiteman northeast. The instinct is to pick whichever is closest on the map. The better question is which one you can still be training at in three years, when you hold a private certificate and you want an instrument rating, then a commercial certificate, then a multi-engine add-on.
One ramp, every rating. You do a discovery flight, you enroll in a private pilot program, you add the instrument rating, and none of it means changing schools, changing instructors or learning a new airport’s procedures from scratch. The aircraft you make your first landing in is parked near the Seminole you will eventually do multi-engine training in.
The honest exception: if you only ever want a sport pilot certificate and a light airplane for weekends, a closer field is a fair call, and we will say so on the phone.
Simi Valley sits in its own valley between the Simi Hills and the Santa Susana Mountains. Pleasant to live in, impossible to put a runway in. The nearest field running a full training operation is Van Nuys, 22 miles east, and it is a Class D airport sitting directly under the LAX Class B shelf.
That combination is the reason to be pleased about it. From your first lesson you are on the radio with a control tower, reading back clearances, sequencing behind other traffic and holding short while a business jet runs up. Pilots trained at quiet fields learn that later and usually with more anxiety attached. You get it in week one because there is no version of Van Nuys where you do not.
The trade-off is worth stating. Van Nuys is busy, and there will be mornings when you hold short for five or six minutes while part of your lesson goes to taxiing. In return you get radio confidence that works at any towered airport in the country, and a field that does not run out of instructors, aircraft or maintenance when you need a slot.
Camarillo is the alternative most Simi Valley students weigh up, and it is a good airport. It recorded 346 flyable days in the twelve months to August 2026 against 355 at Van Nuys, the gap coming from its position closer to the coast and the morning marine layer that comes with it. Over two years of training, nine days is a couple of lost weekends.
There is a smaller benefit that Simi Valley students only notice later. You transit east over the west valley twice a lesson day — the Santa Susana Pass, Chatsworth, the northwest corner of the San Fernando Valley — and that same ground shows up under the wing on your early practice-area flights. Pilotage is mostly pattern recognition. You already have the pattern from the driver’s seat.
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own rather than broker is what keeps the schedule honest. That matters when a canceled lesson costs you 44 miles of driving.
Two different weather problems, at opposite ends of the summer, with opposite answers.
Van Nuys recorded 355 flyable days between 1 August 2025 and 1 August 2026, measured from NOAA ASOS observations against a 3,000-foot ceiling and 5 statute miles of visibility — the minima most schools apply to student solo and early dual instruction. The method and the raw tables are published.
| Airport | Flyable days, Aug 2025 to Aug 2026 |
|---|---|
| Van Nuys (KVNY) | 355 |
| Camarillo (KCMA) | 346 |
| Santa Monica (KSMO) | 343 |
| Whiteman (KWHP) | 334 |
| Torrance (KTOA) | 332 |
Marine layer is close to a non-issue where you live. Simi Valley is inland and dry, with hills on both sides of it. But you are not flying from Simi Valley. The airport is in the San Fernando Valley, and in June the San Fernando Valley gets the same low cloud as everywhere else on this side of the hills. In June at Van Nuys only 40% of 7am observations met training minima. By 11am it was 93%, and from 1pm it ran 97 to 100%. So the June rule applies to you even though you will drive in under blue sky: book the afternoon in early summer.
The other half of the trade is heat, and this is the part that genuinely matters for a Simi Valley student. Your summers are hot and the San Fernando Valley is hotter. Hot air is thin air. On a 100-degree afternoon the airplane climbs worse, the takeoff roll runs longer, and the performance charts stop being an abstraction. Density altitude is a real training consideration at Van Nuys in July, August and September, not a chapter you read once.
That is not a reason to avoid summer. It is one of the better things about learning here: you get taught density altitude with the airplane demonstrating it, rather than memorizing it for an exam and meeting it later with passengers on board.
So the scheduling advice flips with the calendar. In June, take the afternoon and let the layer burn off. From roughly late July onward the mornings come back — at 7am in August, 84% of Van Nuys observations met training minima — and the early slot is also the cool one, which is the better airplane. Ask your instructor to plan around that rather than booking the same hour all year.
Read the flyable days study, with the method and the full tables →
Every figure below is a package price. No starting-from numbers, no second invoice halfway through. The rate for enrolled students on single-engine aircraft is $179 an hour, wet.
| Course | Price |
|---|---|
| Discovery flight, 60 minutes — you fly, and the hour is loggable | $229 |
| Discovery flight, 90 minutes | $299 |
| Discovery flight, 120 minutes | $399 |
| Discovery flight for two, extended | $499 |
| Luxury Cirrus discovery flight for two | $699 |
| Redbird MCX full-motion simulator session | $189 |
| Teen aviation course, ages 10 to 15 | $4,200 |
| Solo Certificate | $5,500 |
| Sport Pilot certificate | $8,400 |
| Private Pilot — Standard, 40 hours logged | $10,900 |
| Private Pilot — Comprehensive, 60 hours logged | $15,900 |
| Private Pilot — Premium, Cirrus SR22 Turbo | $22,500 |
| Instrument Rating | $11,700 |
| Multi-Engine add-on, Piper Seminole | $5,100 |
| Zero to airline, no experience to airline-ready | $89,000 |
Financing starts at $2,500 down with monthly plans, through Stratus Financial or in house.
Eight courses, one ramp, one set of instructors who know your file.
$229 for 60 minutes and it is a lesson, not a ride. You are in the left seat with your hands on the controls and the hour goes in a logbook as dual instruction. Enroll within 24 hours and the whole $229 comes off the program price.
The certificate that lets you carry passengers and fly where you like in day and night visual conditions. FAR 61.109 sets the 40-hour floor; the national average is 60 to 75. Standard $10,900, Comprehensive $15,900, Premium $22,500.
$11,700. This is the rating that makes a private certificate useful in June rather than something you use in September. Training under the LAX Class B shelf puts you in the airspace where instrument procedures are worth having.
$89,000 for the zero-to-airline track: no experience at the start, airline-ready certificates and ratings at the end. If you already hold a private certificate we price the remaining steps rather than restarting you.
$5,100 as an add-on in our Piper Seminole. It is a short course and an intense one — engine-out work is most of it, and it changes how carefully you think about performance for the rest of your flying.
$8,400, fewer hours, lighter medical requirements, and real limits afterwards on aircraft and conditions. For some people it is exactly right. For most who ask about it, the private certificate is the better buy and we will say so.
$4,200 for ages 10 to 15, with real ground instruction and real logged flight time rather than a summer-camp experience. There is no minimum age to log dual instruction. Solo comes at sixteen and the certificate at seventeen.
$189 for a Redbird MCX session. FAA-approved, fully enclosed, full motion. It is where instrument scan, procedures and emergencies get cheap to practice, and it is the one booking that never gets canceled on a hot or cloudy day.
Every airplane on this ramp belongs to the school, is inspected under FAR 91.409(b) because it flies instruction for hire, and is flown by our instructors daily.
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.
FAA-approved, fully enclosed, and it moves. Procedures, instrument scan, radio work and emergencies all transfer straight to the aircraft — and it is never canceled for weather.
Simulator hours are built into every private pilot program — 2 hours on Standard and Premium, 5 hours on Comprehensive. On a June morning when the layer has not lifted, a sim block is the lesson that still happens after you have driven the 118.
Eleven instructors on staff. That is the number behind the promise that a Simi Valley student can hold the same Saturday morning block for six months.
Every one of them holds a commercial or ATP certificate plus a CFI and a current medical, and is legally pilot in command on every flight you fly together. The person next to you carries responsibility for the airplane, which is what lets you make mistakes and learn from them.
The common industry pattern is an instructor who teaches for eight months, builds hours, then leaves for a regional airline a fortnight before your checkride. Ours fly here as a career rather than using the school as a waiting room.
You get matched to an instructor after your discovery flight, and if the fit is wrong you say so and we change it. Flying is hard enough to learn without also working around a personality that does not suit you.
On Google, three themes repeat more than anything else.
The compliment that shows up most often in our reviews is about what happens on the ground afterwards. Twenty minutes of taking the lesson apart is where the flying actually improves.
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own means the slot you booked is the slot you fly. If you are driving in from Simi Valley, read that category of review first.
What you enroll at is what you finish at. Reviewers keep mentioning it, which says more about the industry than about us.
What separates them is hours and aircraft, not the standard of instruction. Fly twice a week and the Comprehensive package is usually the one that ends without a top-up.
40 hours logged flight time. The FAR 61.109 minimum, and the right pick if you can genuinely fly consistently.
60 hours logged flight time, which is roughly where the national average lands. The realistic package for most people.
40 hours logged in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo, with a glass cockpit and a whole-airframe parachute from the first lesson.
Financing from $2,500 down, monthly plans available. If you are not sure which package fits your calendar, book the free consultation and we will work it out on paper.
Twenty-two miles, an hour in the air, and you fly the airplane yourself with an instructor beside you. Enroll within 24 hours and the full $229 comes off your program. If you do not, you still logged an hour of dual instruction.
The questions we actually get on the phone from Simi Valley, with the numbers attached.
Yes. LA Flight School operates from Van Nuys Airport at 7900 Balboa Blvd, about 22 miles and 30 to 45 minutes east of Simi Valley on the 118. Simi Valley has no airport of its own, so Van Nuys is the nearest field running a full training operation, and we teach every course there from a $229 discovery flight to the $89,000 zero-to-airline track.
Thirty minutes outside peak, about 45 at the worst of it. The route is the 118 east through the Santa Susana Pass and past Chatsworth, then south on Balboa Boulevard for roughly three miles to 7900 Balboa Blvd. The 118 is one of the more predictable freeways in the region once you are clear of commute hours.
At Van Nuys Airport, 22 miles east on the 118. A lesson is a three-hour commitment once you count preflight, the flight and the debrief, so a 30-minute drive is about a sixth of the morning. Because of the drive we recommend Simi Valley students book longer blocks less often rather than short lessons twice a week.
$10,900 for the Standard program with 40 hours logged, $15,900 for Comprehensive with 60 hours logged, and $22,500 for Premium flown in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo. Financing starts at $2,500 down with monthly plans. Enrolled students train at the $179 an hour package rate, wet, on single-engine aircraft.
$229 for 60 minutes, and it is a real lesson rather than a sightseeing ride. You fly the aircraft from the left seat and the time is loggable dual instruction. 90 minutes is $299 and 120 minutes is $399. The full price is credited against any training program if you enroll within 24 hours.
Yes, and it is worth planning around. Simi Valley summers are hot and the San Fernando Valley is hotter, and hot air is thin air: the aircraft climbs worse and the takeoff roll runs longer on a 100-degree afternoon. From late July onward, book the morning slot. It is cooler, and at 7am in August 84% of Van Nuys observations still met training minima.
Not at home, but it does at the airport. Van Nuys is in the San Fernando Valley and gets the June low cloud everyone on this side of the hills gets. In June only 40% of 7am observations met training minima, rising to 93% by 11am and 97 to 100% from 1pm. In early summer, book the afternoon even if it is clear over Simi Valley when you leave.
355 at Van Nuys between 1 August 2025 and 1 August 2026, measured from NOAA ASOS observations against a 3,000-foot ceiling and 5 statute miles of visibility. Camarillo came out at 346, Santa Monica at 343 and Torrance at 332 over the same period. The method and raw tables are published in our flyable days study.
It is a good airport and a comparable drive the other direction. On weather it recorded 346 flyable days against 355 at Van Nuys, because it sits closer to the coast and catches more morning marine layer. The bigger difference is that Van Nuys is a Class D field under the LAX Class B shelf, so you work with a control tower from your first lesson.
Yes, all from the same ramp. The instrument rating is $11,700, the multi-engine add-on in our Piper Seminole is $5,100, and the zero-to-airline commercial track is $89,000. Sport pilot is $8,400 and the Solo Certificate is $5,500.
Yes. The teen aviation course is $4,200 and takes students aged 10 to 15, with real ground instruction and logged flight time. There is no minimum age to log dual instruction with an instructor; the FAA sets 16 as the minimum age to solo an airplane and 17 for the private pilot certificate.
$189 for a Redbird MCX full-motion session. It is FAA-approved and fully enclosed, and it is never canceled for heat or cloud, which matters when you have already driven the 118. Simulator time is built into every private pilot program: 2 hours on Standard and Premium, 5 hours on Comprehensive.
Book longer blocks less often. Two three-hour blocks a week will get you to a checkride faster than four one-hour lessons, and with 44 miles of driving in a lesson day the arithmetic is not close. Students who fly twice a week usually finish near the 60 hours built into the $15,900 Comprehensive program.
Yes, from $2,500 down with monthly payment plans, through Stratus Financial or in house. The price you enroll at is the price you finish at, and we do not re-quote a package partway through training.
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
