Flying Lessons in Los Angeles — Real Instruction, Real Aircraft
Every flying lesson at Los Angeles Flight School is dual instruction with an FAA-certified instructor: a briefing, the flight with your hands on the controls, and a debrief — logged in your logbook, counting toward your certificate from day one.
What happens in a flying lesson
A lesson has three parts. The pre-flight briefing covers what you'll practice and why — then you and your instructor walk the airplane together, checking it the way pilots actually do. In the air, you fly: from your very first lesson your hands are on the controls, and each flight builds specific skills — climbs and turns, then landings, then navigation, then the polish that passes a checkride. The debrief closes the loop: what went well, what to chair-fly at home, and what's next.
Lessons run 9am to 9pm, seven days a week, because Los Angeles schedules don't respect business hours. Most students fly two to three lessons per week — the pace at which skills compound instead of decaying — and finish a private certificate in three to six months.
You'll fly the Cessna 162 Skycatcher or Piper Warrior at $269 per hour wet, with the Diamond DA20 at $329 and the Cirrus SR22 Turbo at $649 for those who want glass-cockpit training. Instructor time is bundled into program packages so the quoted price is the real price.
Ways to take your first flying lesson
All are real instruction with an FAA-certified instructor — and all are loggable.
Discovery Flight For One
Your first real lesson in the air. 90/120-min options.
Learn moreOngoing lessons — PPL track
Lessons become a license: complete private pilot programs.
Learn moreFlying lesson questions
Intro lessons run $189 (simulator) to $229 (aircraft). Ongoing dual instruction runs $269–$649 per hour depending on aircraft, and complete license packages run $8,400–$22,500.
Yes — every lesson with a certified instructor is logged and counts toward the FAA's flight-hour requirements, starting with your very first discovery flight.
A private certificate takes 40+ hours (55–70 is the realistic average) — roughly 40–60 lessons. Sport pilot takes about half that.
Absolutely. Some students fly purely for the joy of it. Your hours are logged either way, so if you later decide to finish the certificate, everything counts.
Sunglasses and comfortable clothes. We provide the aircraft, headset and instructor. Bring your logbook once you have one — we'll give you your first.
Your first lesson could be this week
Morning air is smoothest — book a first lesson online or call (818) 290-8249 and we'll find a slot that fits your schedule.