We are a flight school first, and rental is a small part of what we do. Aircraft are available to qualified pilots who have checked out with us — call (818) 290-8249 for availability. Most of the people who fly our airplanes are enrolled students on a training program, flying single-engine at $179 an hour, wet.
LA Flight School is not a flying club: it charges no dues and sells no shares. Licensed pilots who complete a checkout can fly its aircraft from Van Nuys Airport, where the school is based in Suite 108A at 7900 Balboa Blvd. Call (818) 290-8249 for availability, any day from 9am to 9pm.
Source: FAA Order 5190.6B, Chapter 10, flying clubs; 14 CFR 61.31, 61.56 and 61.57, checked October 2026.
Our Courses
Ten programs flown out of Van Nuys Airport, with real pricing on every one. Start with an hour at the controls, or go straight through to airline-hireable qualifications — it is the same ladder either way.
5.0 Average Rating
120+ Google Reviews
Start Here
The first hour at the controls, over Los Angeles, with an instructor beside you. It is the entry point to every course below — and the cheapest way to find out whether flying is actually for you.
From$229
Open 9 AM–9 PM, Seven Days · (818) 290-8249
CertificateMost Popular
The one most people mean by “learn to fly.” Fly with an instructor, fly alone, then carry passengers on your own certificate.
Fly With An Instructor Fly Solo Carry Passengers $10,600 Enroll Now
Youth Program
Ages 10–15. For young people who want to start before they can legally solo.
$4,200 View Course
Milestone
Enough training to take an aircraft around the pattern alone. The day everything changes.
$5,500 View Course
Certificate
A real certificate with fewer hours and narrower privileges. The shortest honest route to flying yourself.
$8,400 View Course
Bundle
Private Pilot with flight time, ground instruction and study materials bundled into one price.
$14,900 View CourseBundle
The same certificate as Private, with the most flight time before your checkride. Eighty logged hours, ground instruction and materials, all in one price.
80 Logged Hours Ground School Included Materials Included $21,300 View Course
Rating
The rating after Private. Turns a fair-weather pilot into a useful one who can file, launch and land in cloud.
$11,700 View Course
Rating
For pilots already certificated who are adding a twin. Trained in our own Piper Seminole.
$5,100 View Course
Our Fleet
Diamond DA20, Cessna 162, Piper Arrow II and our Piper Seminole twin — all on the field at Van Nuys.
View The FleetThe Full Route
Zero experience to airline-hireable qualifications, in one continuous program rather than nine separate ones. Financing is available, and every hour of it is flown out of Van Nuys.
$82,000Financing Available
Free In-Person Tour Before You Commit
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 WarriorHeadsets 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 200 lb for one flyer, or 360 lb combined for both flyers, not counting your instructor (200 lb per person in the Cirrus and multi-engine). 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...
Aircraft are available to qualified pilots who have checked out with us — call (818) 290-8249 for availability. That is the honest version and it is the whole policy.
What you will not find on this page is a rate card. We do not publish one, and we are not going to invent one for search engines. We sell flight training, we own the airplanes, and the aircraft time inside a training program is billed at $179 an hour, wet, single-engine, for students enrolled with us. That is the only hourly figure we publish anywhere on this website.
If you have arrived here looking for somewhere to hire a Cessna by the hour with no strings, we would rather tell you now that we are probably not it. A working flight school schedules its airplanes around a syllabus and a roster of instructors, and a rental customer who wants a Saturday morning is competing with eleven instructors and their students for the same airframe. Some schools pretend otherwise. We would rather be direct and let you spend your afternoon somewhere useful.
If you are already certificated and you want to keep flying — a flight review, an instrument proficiency check, an endorsement, a rating you have been putting off — that is a conversation worth having, and it usually ends with you flying our aircraft. It just starts with a checkout rather than a credit card.
A checkout is not an FAA requirement. It is ours and our insurer’s, and it exists because we own these airplanes and fly them every day. Nothing about it is designed to be difficult.
Call and tell us what you fly, what you hold, and when you last flew it. Bring your certificate, medical or BasicMed documentation, and logbook. There is no application fee and no queue.
Aircraft systems, our procedures, the local airspace and how we handle scheduling, fuel and squawks. Van Nuys sits under the LAX Class B shelf inside the Mode C veil, so the airspace briefing is not a formality.
Normal and short-field work, slow flight, stalls, emergency procedures and a handful of landings. How long it takes depends entirely on how current you are, which is why we quote it after the conversation rather than before.
Aircraft are available to qualified pilots who have checked out with us — call (818) 290-8249 for availability. Aircraft are scheduled around instruction, and we will tell you honestly what is realistic for the days you want.
Flight review — 14 CFR 61.56. To act as pilot in command you need a flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months, consisting of at least one hour of flight training and one hour of ground training with an authorized instructor. There is no pass or fail; there is a logbook endorsement or there is not.
Passenger currency — 14 CFR 61.57(a). Three takeoffs and landings in the preceding 90 days in the same category, class and type, before you carry passengers.
Night currency — 14 CFR 61.57(b). Three takeoffs and landings to a full stop in the preceding 90 days, flown between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise, before you carry passengers at night. The full-stop requirement is the part people forget.
Instrument currency — 14 CFR 61.57(c). Six instrument approaches, holding procedures, and intercepting and tracking courses, within the preceding six calendar months. Let it lapse long enough and you need an instrument proficiency check with an instructor to get it back.
All four are flown here with one of our instructors, quoted as a block covering the airplane and the instructor together. Call and tell us what you need and how long it has been; the figure depends on your currency, not on a price list.
A flying club is a membership organization: you buy in, you pay monthly dues, you share a small fleet with a fixed group and you get a say in how it is run. That is a real and good product, and for some pilots it is the cheapest way to fly a lot.
We are not that. There are no dues here, no share to buy, no board and no waiting list to join. We are a Part 61 flight school that owns its airplanes, and access to them runs through training rather than membership.
Where a club usually wins: you fly two or three times a month for years, you want the same airplane every time, and you are happy to be part of running it. Where a school usually wins: you are working toward a certificate or a rating, you want instruction attached, and you want somebody else to deal with the maintenance.
If you searched for a flying club near Van Nuys and this page came up, that is the honest comparison. What we have is a fleet we own and maintain and eleven instructors on the field seven days a week. Aircraft are available to qualified pilots who have checked out with us — call (818) 290-8249 for availability.
Every airplane on this ramp is ours. We own them, we maintain them in-house, and 14 CFR 91.409(b) puts them on a 100-hour inspection cycle because they are used for instruction for hire. Single-engine trainers are Cessna, Piper and Diamond.
The Piper Seminole and the Cirrus SR22 Turbo sit outside the $179 single-engine package rate. The Seminole is flown on the $5,100 multi-engine add-on, the Cirrus on the $21,300 Premium program. Full details on the training aircraft page.
For a pilot getting back into it after a gap, a full-motion Redbird session is the most useful money you can spend before you go anywhere near a runway. Procedures, scan and radio work all transfer.
A standalone Redbird MCX session is $189. Simulator hours are also built into every private pilot program — 2 on Standard and Premium, 5 on Comprehensive.
The airplanes are the easy part of this business. The instructors are the thing that makes a lesson happen on the day you booked it, and that is what most people are really buying.
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 training flight. They teach here as a career rather than as a waiting room for an airline class date. You are matched to one at the start and you can change if the fit is wrong.
For a certificated pilot, this is also why the flight review or the IPC gets flown this week rather than next month. Somebody is on the field from 9am to 9pm, seven days.
Over 120 reviews on Google, all of them five stars, and the same three things come up again and again.
The most repeated line in our Google reviews is about the debrief after the flight, not the airplane.
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own and maintain. A booked Saturday morning stays a booked Saturday morning.
The price you enroll at is the price you finish at. Reviewers mention this more than they mention the flying.
This is the part of the business we do advertise, because it is the part we are actually built around. Aircraft are available to qualified pilots who have checked out with us — call (818) 290-8249 for availability.
If you are not yet certificated, this is the honest first step. Sixty minutes, your hands on the controls, loggable dual instruction.
40 logged hours in the Cessna, Piper or Diamond. Where most people start.
60 logged hours and 10 hours of ground school. Where the national average actually lands.
The rating that makes a certificate useful under a Los Angeles marine layer, and the one most returning pilots come back for.
The rating flown in the Piper Seminole. The Seminole carries no hourly figure and is flown on this add-on.
Flight reviews, instrument proficiency checks, complex and high-performance endorsements, and checkouts. Quoted as one block after we know how current you are.
Sport Pilot $8,400 · Premium Private Pilot $21,300 · Solo Certificate $5,500 · Teens 10–15 $4,200 · zero to airline $82,000 · Redbird session $189. Financing from $2,500 down. Full breakdown on the pilot training cost page.
Aircraft are available to qualified pilots who have checked out with us — call (818) 290-8249 for availability. If you are not certificated yet, the $229 discovery flight is sixty minutes with your hands on the controls and it is credited in full against any program if you enroll within 24 hours. If you would rather sit down first, the consultation is free and there is no pitch attached to it.
Aircraft are available to qualified pilots who have checked out with us — call (818) 290-8249 for availability. We are a flight school first and rental is a small part of what we do, so the honest answer depends on your experience and on which days you want. Most of the people flying our airplanes are enrolled students.
We do not publish a rental rate card. The only hourly figure we publish is $179 an hour, wet, single-engine, which is the package rate for students enrolled on one of our training programs. For availability and anything outside that, call (818) 290-8249.
Wet. Fuel is included in the $179 hourly package rate and in every program price on this page. There is no fuel surcharge and nothing is billed back afterwards. Instructional hours sit inside the program price you enroll at.
No. There are no dues, no share to buy, no board and no membership. We are a Part 61 flight school that owns and maintains its own aircraft, and access runs through training rather than membership. If you want equity in an airplane and a monthly bill, a flying club is a different product and may suit you better.
A conversation about what you fly and when you last flew it, a ground session on aircraft systems, our procedures and the local airspace, then a flight with an instructor covering normal and short-field work, slow flight, stalls, emergency procedures and landings. Length depends on your currency. A checkout is our requirement and our insurer's, not an FAA one.
Yes, seven days a week between 9am and 9pm. A flight review under 14 CFR 61.56 is at least one hour of flight and one hour of ground training with an authorized instructor, required within the preceding 24 calendar months to act as pilot in command. Instrument proficiency checks and endorsements are quoted as one block covering the aircraft and the instructor together.
Three takeoffs and landings within the preceding 90 days in the same category, class and type, under 14 CFR 61.57(a). At night it is three takeoffs and landings to a full stop within the preceding 90 days, flown between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise, under 14 CFR 61.57(b). Instrument currency under 61.57(c) is six approaches, holding, and intercepting and tracking within the preceding six calendar months.
Cross-country flying is part of every training program — the private pilot certificate requires it under 14 CFR 61.109 — and our students fly to Camarillo, Santa Barbara, Catalina and Big Bear. Multi-day trips are arranged case by case with your instructor rather than booked online. Call (818) 290-8249.
Both sit outside the $179 single-engine package rate and neither carries an hourly figure. The Piper Seminole is flown on the $5,100 multi-engine add-on, and the Cirrus SR22 Turbo on the $21,300 Premium private pilot program. Both require the relevant training or endorsement before you fly them.
Usually yes, once you are current again. To act as pilot in command you need a flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months under 14 CFR 61.56 — one hour of flight and one hour of ground training with an authorized instructor. After a long gap that normally takes more than the minimum, and a $189 Redbird session first is the cheapest way to knock the rust off. Call (818) 290-8249.
Choose by what you want to do in the next year. If you do not hold a pilot certificate yet, a flight school is the usual starting point, because instruction, aircraft and a training syllabus come together in one place. If you are licensed and fly most weeks, a flying club can lower your hourly cost, since members share insurance, hangar and maintenance costs through a buy-in and monthly dues. If you fly only a few times a year, or want a specific airplane for a specific trip, renting by the hour after a checkout avoids paying for months you do not fly.
The structures differ under FAA policy too. FAA Order 5190.6B describes a flying club as a nonprofit that provides aircraft to its members for personal use, with aircraft owned by the club or by all its members, and it bars clubs from offering charter, air taxi or rental to the public. A flight school has no such limit, but its airplanes are scheduled around students first. LA Flight School at Van Nuys Airport is a flight school: licensed pilots fly its aircraft after a checkout, with no dues or shares. Call (818) 290-8249 to ask about availability.
A flying club is a nonprofit group whose members share aircraft for personal use, usually with a buy-in and monthly dues. A flight school is a business that teaches certificates and ratings, with instructors and aircraft scheduled around training. Aircraft rental means paying by the hour to fly an airplane you do not own, normally after a checkout. LA Flight School is a flight school that lets licensed, checked-out pilots fly its aircraft, without club membership or dues.
Often, for pilots who fly regularly, because club members split fixed costs such as insurance, hangar and maintenance. You pay those costs through dues whether or not you fly that month, and you share scheduling with the other members. Renting has no monthly commitment but a higher hourly figure. If you fly a few times a year, renting usually costs less overall. If you fly every week, a club often wins. Compare both against your actual hours.
Aero club is an older name for a flying club, and it is still common outside the United States and on many US military bases. It means a member-run organization that gives its members access to aircraft, sometimes with instruction from member instructors. In searches, aero clubs near me usually means the same thing as flying clubs near me. LA Flight School at Van Nuys Airport is not an aero club, but checked-out pilots can fly its aircraft without membership.
At Van Nuys Airport, LA Flight School makes its aircraft available to licensed pilots who complete a checkout with one of its instructors. Bring your pilot certificate, your medical certificate or BasicMed documents and your logbook, and expect a ground session on the airplane and local airspace followed by a checkout flight. Availability depends on the training schedule, so call (818) 290-8249 to ask about the days and aircraft you want.
Yes. Licensed pilots can rent the full-motion Redbird MCX at Van Nuys solo or with an instructor. Solo time suits practice on procedures, approaches and radio calls, and adding an instructor turns it into logged training. Instrument approaches, holding and course tracking flown in an approved device can count toward instrument currency under 14 CFR 61.57(c) when the device and conditions qualify. Call (818) 290-8249 for simulator rental rates and open times.
Yes, unless you already hold them. Under 14 CFR 61.31(e) you need a one-time complex airplane endorsement to act as pilot in command of an airplane with retractable gear, flaps and a controllable-pitch propeller, such as the Piper Arrow. Under 14 CFR 61.31(f) you need a high-performance endorsement for an airplane with more than 200 horsepower, such as the turbocharged Cirrus SR22T. Both come from ground and flight training with an authorized instructor.
At airports that receive federal grants, FAA Order 5190.6B allows a flying club to give flight instruction to its own members, and instruction in club aircraft is allowed when both the instructor and the student are club members. Clubs may not sell instruction or rentals to the public. That means a club can be a good place to keep flying once you are licensed, while a flight school is usually where people go to earn the certificate.
Thinking About Renting The DA20?
Before you rent the Diamond DA20 or train in it, take it up with one of our FAA-certified instructors. The Sporty Discovery Flight puts you at the center stick for 60, 90 or 120 minutes over Los Angeles. It is for one flyer, so the whole flight is yours.
$349All-In · 60 Min · One Flyer
Weight limit 180 lb per flyer. Next: a quick weight check, then the live booking calendar.
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
