The Perfect Discovery Flight Gift Over Los Angeles
An hour above the city with the controls in their hands, an instructor beside them, and the Hollywood Sign, the coast and the mountains laid out below the wing.
What you are actually giving somebody
A discovery flight is not a sightseeing tour with a pilot up front and your recipient looking out of a window. It is a first flying lesson dressed as an adventure. After the takeoff roll the instructor hands over the controls, and from that point the person you bought it for is flying the airplane: turning it, climbing it, holding a heading over Los Angeles while somebody experienced sits beside them explaining what their hands are doing and why the aircraft responds the way it does.
The setting does a great deal of the work. Departing Van Nuys you are over the San Fernando Valley within a minute, with the Santa Monica Mountains rising along the southern edge and the Santa Susanas closing off the north-west. Turn one way and the coast at Malibu appears in a quarter of an hour; turn the other and Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood Sign and the downtown towers stand up out of the basin. Almost nowhere offers this much recognizable scenery inside one hour of flying.
The instructor decides the route on the day, based on the weather, the traffic and what the person in the left seat says they want to see. That flexibility is the reason these flights work as gifts. Somebody who grew up in the Valley usually wants to find their own street; a visitor wants the coastline and the sign; a nervous first-timer is better served by a gentle circuit over open ground to the north, and gets one without having to ask.
It also counts for something afterwards. The time is logged in a real logbook and applies toward a pilot certificate, and if the recipient decides to train with us within 24 hours, the full price of the flight is credited against their program. We have flown more than 2,000 of these safely from 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, and a good number of the students on our books arrived as somebody else's birthday present.
The four discovery flights, and what each is for
The differences are the aircraft, the number of seats and how far you get in the time.
Standard Private Pilot
The full FAA Private Pilot Certificate. Where most students start.
Learn morePremium Private Pilot
The widest margin of hours for students who want no surprises.
Learn moreInstrument Rating
The rating that makes a license useful in Southern California weather.
Learn moreTry 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
The SR22 Turbo, glass cockpit. 90 min $549, 120 min $699.
Learn moreRedbird Simulator Session
FAA-approved full-motion MCX, on the field at Van Nuys.
Learn moreWhat the day itself looks like
They arrive at Suite 108A about twenty minutes before the flight, having parked in the free lot off Balboa Blvd. First comes a proper briefing at the desk: what the aircraft does, what the controls do, what the instructor will ask them to do and when. Nobody is thrown into an airplane cold. It is a real pre-flight briefing of the kind every lesson here starts with, and it usually settles any nerves in the room rather than in the air.
Then the walk-around. The instructor goes over the aircraft with them, explaining what is being checked and why, which is the moment most people realize how methodical this is. They sit in the left seat, the instructor in the right, headsets on so the two of them can talk normally over the engine. The instructor handles the radio work with Van Nuys tower and the takeoff itself, and the airplane is theirs shortly after the wheels leave the ground.
The flight runs for the time you bought, and then the instructor lands it. Afterwards there is a logbook entry with their name in it and a conversation about what they did well, which is worth staying for. The whole visit takes roughly twice the flying time. Anybody not flying is welcome to wait in the office and photograph the aircraft leaving and returning.
Why this makes such a good present
It cannot be bought for yourself
People who would love this rarely book it alone, because it sits in the category of things that feel extravagant when self-purchased and perfect when given. That gap is exactly where good presents live. Nearly everybody who takes one of these has wanted to for years without ever getting round to it.
The memory is unusually durable
Ask somebody about a meal out three years ago and they will struggle. Ask about the first time they flew an airplane over their own city and you get the whole story, including the bit where the instructor let go of the controls. It occupies a different part of the memory from most gifts.
It suits people who are hard to buy for
The person who already owns everything, the one who insists they want nothing, the teenager who is impossible to please. An hour of flying sidesteps the entire problem because it is not an object competing with their other objects. It is a morning they did not know they were going to have.
You can go with them
Discovery Flight For Two at $299 puts you in the back for the whole flight, which makes this a shared thing rather than something you hand over and hear about later. Parents and children in particular tend to buy this version, and either one can be the person doing the flying.
Which airplane they will be flying
Flights for one usually go out in the Cessna 162 Skycatcher or the Diamond DA20, both two-seaters with excellent visibility; the DA20 has a bubble canopy that puts the whole sky and most of the ground in view at once. For a flight with a passenger the Piper Warrior is the usual aircraft, a four-seat low-wing type with room in the back and enough capacity to carry three people comfortably, which is why we ask about weights when a booking is made.
The Cirrus SR22 Turbo is a different proposition altogether: turbocharged, quick, with a glass cockpit and an airframe parachute system, and comfortable enough that ninety minutes in it feels like a proper journey rather than a flight. The twin-engine Piper Seminole is the enthusiast's aircraft, with two engines to manage and retractable gear. Every aircraft in the fleet is maintained on site and flown most days, which is not true of every ramp at Van Nuys.
What they will see from up there
The exact route depends on weather and traffic, but these are the sights that come up most often.
The Hollywood Sign
Sitting on the south side of Mount Lee above Beachwood Canyon, and considerably smaller from the air than everybody expects. It is the shot most people want, and it comes on the eastern leg along with Griffith Observatory below it.
The Malibu coastline
Over the Santa Monica Mountains and suddenly the Pacific fills the windscreen from Santa Monica round to Point Dume. On a clear afternoon Catalina sits on the horizon, and the water changes color where the shelf drops away.
The downtown towers
The cluster of high-rises standing alone out of a very flat basin, visible from most of the Valley on a clear day. Seen from a few thousand feet it becomes obvious how much of Los Angeles is low and how little of it is tall.
The Santa Susana Mountains
The ridge along the north-west edge of the Valley, with Simi Valley beyond it and the reservoirs above Santa Clarita further on. It is the quieter direction, and where an instructor will head first with a nervous passenger aboard.
Common questions
Yes, for most of the flight. The instructor manages the takeoff, the radio and the landing, and hands over the controls once you are clear of the airport. Your recipient does the turns, the climbs and the straight-and-level work with coaching throughout. The instructor has a full set of controls and can take over instantly, which is what makes it safe to hand over at all.
Sixty minutes at $229 covers the Valley, the mountains and a look toward the basin, and it is what most people buy. Ninety at $299 is the better choice if you specifically want the coast, since it removes any need to rush the turn for home. Two hours at $399 suits somebody who is fairly certain they want to learn to fly.
Only one person can be at the controls at a time, but they can swap partway through if both want a go. Say so at the briefing and the instructor will plan the flight around it. The person in the back still gets the full view and hears everything through a headset, so nobody is left out of the conversation.
Absolutely, and most people do. Phones and cameras are fine in the aircraft as long as nothing is left loose near the controls. The instructor will often take the airplane for a moment so your recipient can concentrate on a shot. People on the ground can photograph the departure from the ramp side of the fence by the office.
Comfortable clothes and flat, closed shoes; sunglasses are genuinely useful over Los Angeles. Bring photo identification. Headsets are provided. Avoid a heavy meal beforehand, and skip a big night out the evening before, which does more for comfort in light turbulence than anything else.
It is less common than people fear, particularly for the person flying, because handling the controls anticipates the movement rather than reacting to it. Morning flights are usually smoother than hot afternoons. Tell the instructor beforehand if it is a concern and the flight will be planned gently, staying over the flatter ground to the north.
Yes. The instructor makes a logbook entry and that time counts toward the requirements for a certificate, exactly like any other lesson. If your recipient enrolls in a program with us within 24 hours of flying, the entire cost of the discovery flight is credited against the price of that program.
We move the flight rather than fly something unpleasant or unsafe, and there is no charge for a weather reschedule. Routes are sometimes adjusted on the day for the same reasons. If your recipient needs to change the date themselves, ask them to let us know at least 48 hours ahead, as a rebooking fee applies inside that window.
Give an hour they will still talk about
Call (818) 290-8249 any day between 9 AM and 9 PM and we will help you choose the aircraft and the duration, then email the certificate straight away. Tell us who it is for and roughly what they are like.
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