Boeing projects 660,000 new commercial pilots worldwide by 2044, 119,000 of them in North America. US majors hired more than 12,000 pilots at the 2022 to 2023 peak and are projected near 8,000 in 2026. Both of those things are true, and neither one is a guarantee. Airline hiring is cyclical. It has turned before, hard.
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, 370 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...
US airlines are not short of qualified applicants for captain seats. They are short of people willing to spend $80,000 and four low-paid years getting to the bottom rung, and they have been short of them since the 1,500-hour ATP requirement took effect in August 2013. That is a pipeline economics problem, and airlines solved a large part of it the obvious way — by tripling first-year regional pay.
So when you read that there is a pilot shortage, translate it. It means training a pilot takes two to four years and cannot be sped up when demand jumps, so airline capacity plans and pilot supply run permanently out of phase. When demand rises, hiring surges and pay follows. When demand falls, hiring stops within a quarter and does not restart for years. Both halves of that sentence are part of the deal.
We are a flight school. It is directly in our interest to tell you hiring is guaranteed, so weigh what follows accordingly — and note that we are telling you the opposite. Start this career because you want the job at $85,000 in a regional jet, not because a projection says the market will be hot in 2031.
Every figure below is attributed. Projections are projections — they are produced by organizations with an interest in the answer, they get revised annually, and none of them predicted 2020.
The most quoted figure in the industry, published annually since 2011 and revised every year. It counts commercial airline pilots only, worldwide, and the bulk of the growth sits in Asia-Pacific rather than the United States.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| New pilots worldwide, 2025–2044 | 660,000 |
| North America share | 119,000 |
| Source | Boeing Pilot and Technician Outlook 2025 |
| Published | July 2025 |
| Revised | annually |
Forecasts are long. Hiring totals are short, real and checkable, and they are the number that decides whether you get a class date. This is the one to watch, quarter by quarter, for the whole time you are training.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| 2022–2023 peak, US majors | 12,000+ |
| Historically normal year | 4,000–5,000 |
| Projected 2026 | around 8,000 |
| Source | FAPA figures reported by AOPA, 2026 |
| Direction | normalising, not collapsing |
This part is not a forecast, it is arithmetic. Every airline pilot leaves at 65 by regulation, the dates are known decades in advance, and the large 1980s hiring cohorts are working through the system now. It is the most reliable component of pilot demand.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Mandatory retirement | age 65, FAR 121.383(d) |
| US airline retirements, next 5 yrs | 16,000+ |
| Projected cumulative US shortfall by 2030 | 28,126 |
| Source | National Air Carrier Association estimates |
| Reliability | high — dates are fixed |
Ignore the forecasts for a moment and look at what airlines did with their own money. Entry-level pay is the honest signal, because nobody triples a wage for a job with a queue of applicants.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Regional FO year 1, circa 2015 | $22,000–$30,000 |
| Regional FO year 1, 2026 | $80,000–$100,000 |
| Signing bonuses at peak | $30,000+ |
| Signing bonuses, 2026 | $5,000–$15,000 |
| What the fall in bonuses tells you | supply has partly caught up |
Figures compiled August 2026. Boeing and FAA outlooks are revised annually and hiring projections move within the year. LA Flight School is a Part 61 training provider. We do not employ airline pilots, we do not place graduates, and nothing here is a representation that any student will be hired.
September 2001 ended airline hiring within a week and it did not properly recover for most of the decade. Pilots hired in 2000 spent years on furlough. In 2008 the financial crisis and a fuel spike did it again, and a generation of regional first officers sat at $21,000 a year with no upgrade in sight. In March 2020 every US airline stopped hiring inside a month and offered early retirement to thousands of pilots — which is a direct cause of the shortage everyone celebrated 18 months later.
Each time, the collapse came after a period in which the trade press was confidently describing a permanent shortage. The pattern is not that the forecasts are wrong. It is that they are long-run averages, and careers are lived in the short run, in specific years, with a mortgage.
None of that is an argument against becoming a pilot. Every one of those downturns was followed by a hiring boom, and pilots who were already qualified and building hours when the market turned back up were the ones who got the class dates. It is an argument for a plan that survives two bad years — which mostly means keeping your instructor job, staying current, and not borrowing more than you can service on $60,000.
Training takes two to four years, so you are not hiring into today's market — you are hiring into whatever exists in 2029. Nobody knows what that is. The only genuine advantage available is being qualified and current when the cycle turns up, and that argues for beginning rather than waiting for a clearer signal that will never arrive.
Size your financing against a $60,000 instructor income, not a $200,000 captain income you do not have yet. Stratus Financial and in-house payment plans both exist for this, and the question to ask is what the monthly payment looks like in the worst 18 months, not the best.
When hiring slows, instrument and multi-engine currency and the CFII and MEI certificates are what keep you flying and earning. Pilots who stopped at commercial single-engine were the first to be out of work in 2009 and 2020.
FAPA publishes monthly hiring numbers by carrier and AOPA reports on them. Ten minutes a month with the actual totals will keep you better informed than any amount of forum speculation, and it is free.
Whatever the market does, the training does not get shorter. These are the stages that produce the applicants the forecasts are counting.
Van Nuys Airport, the fleet and the instructors — the part of the outlook you can actually see.
LA Flight School — 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406.
Hiring forecasts move. The aircraft do not. Every one of these is owned and maintained by us at Van Nuys, which is why our schedule and our prices survive the cycles the forecasts are arguing about.
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. It is also the part of training that carries on regardless of what the hiring market or the weather is doing that month.
Simulator hours are built into every private pilot program — 2 hours on Standard and Premium, 5 hours on Comprehensive.
In a hot hiring cycle most schools lose their instructors to the regionals and the students inherit the disruption. Ours hold a commercial certificate or an ATP plus a CFI and a current medical, and they fly here as a career.
There are eleven of them, and the instructor is legally pilot in command on every flight. Eleven is the number that keeps a training calendar intact when the industry gets busy.
You are matched to an instructor at enrollment and you can change if the fit is wrong. Nobody is passing through and nobody treats this ramp as a waiting room.
Reviewers write about the things a hiring forecast cannot promise you: teaching, schedule and a fixed price.
The most repeated compliment in our reviews is not the aircraft or the price — it is the debrief.
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own means lessons happen when we say they will.
The number you enroll at is the number you finish at, whatever the cycle does. Reviewers mention this constantly.
No projection tells you whether you will enjoy flying an aircraft. One hour does. A discovery flight is a real lesson, the time is loggable dual instruction, and the full price is credited against any program if you enroll within 24 hours.
Full-motion, FAA-approved, and never canceled for weather. A good first look at what the job involves.
You fly the aircraft. Loggable dual instruction, credited in full against any program within 24 hours. 90 min $299, 120 min $399.
An hour with an instructor on your calendar, your budget and a realistic timeline. No obligation and no deposit.
Enroll within 24 hours of the discovery flight and the $229 comes off your program price in full.
Sixty minutes over Los Angeles with your hands on the controls, logged as real dual instruction. If you enroll within 24 hours the whole $229 comes off your program. Call (818) 290-8249 — open 9am to 9pm, seven days, at Van Nuys Airport.
There is a structural pipeline shortage rather than an absolute one. US airlines have plenty of experienced applicants for senior seats but a persistent shortfall at entry level, which is why first-year regional pay rose from roughly $22,000 to $30,000 in 2015 to $80,000 to $100,000 in 2026. Hiring in 2026 is projected near 8,000 at US majors, down from a 12,000-plus peak in 2022 to 2023 but above the historic norm of 4,000 to 5,000.
Boeing's 2025 Pilot and Technician Outlook projects 660,000 new commercial pilots worldwide between 2025 and 2044, of which 119,000 are in North America. That forecast is published annually and revised each year, and most of the global growth sits in Asia-Pacific rather than the US market.
Around 8,000 at US major airlines is the projection for 2026 according to FAPA figures reported by AOPA. For context, the 2022 to 2023 surge exceeded 12,000 and a historically normal year runs 4,000 to 5,000. Regional airlines hire separately and in addition to those totals.
Partly. The retirement half is arithmetic and will continue — mandatory retirement at 65 under FAR 121.383(d) means more than 16,000 US airline retirements are expected over five years, with a projected cumulative shortfall of 28,126 pilots by 2030 per National Air Carrier Association estimates. The hiring half is cyclical and stopped completely within a month in 2001, 2008 and 2020.
Three things compounded. The 1,500-hour ATP requirement that took effect in August 2013 lengthened the pipeline by two to three years. The 1980s hiring cohorts began reaching age 65. Then in 2020 airlines offered early retirement to thousands of pilots and stopped hiring, then restarted demand faster than pilots could be trained.
If you were going to do it anyway, yes, because training takes two to four years and you will be entering the market of 2029 rather than the market of 2026. Waiting for a clearer hiring signal costs you a year of seniority at the far end of a career, and seniority is the single largest determinant of pilot pay. What it is not is a reason to borrow against a projection.
It has been proposed repeatedly and has not moved, and pilot unions oppose changing it. Restricted ATP paths already allow 1,000 or 1,250 hours for qualifying military and approved university backgrounds. Plan your training around 1,500 hours and treat any reduction as a bonus rather than a premise.
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
