The Airplane That Turns A Private Pilot Into A Professional One.

The FAA defines a complex airplane as one with retractable landing gear, flaps and a controllable-pitch (constant-speed) propeller. The Arrow has all three. That combination is why it flies differently from a Warrior or a Skycatcher — you're managing gear position, manifold pressure and RPM as separate decisions on every phase of flight.

$999 for the complete program — 5 hours total: 3 hours of flight training in the Arrow, 1 hour on our Redbird full-motion simulator, and 1 hour of ground instruction. On satisfactory completion your instructor signs the FAR 61.31(e) endorsement in your logbook. Most pilots finish it inside a week.

FAR 61.129 requires commercial single-engine applicants to log 10 hours of training in a complex airplane, a technically advanced airplane (TAA), or a turbine-powered airplane. The Arrow satisfies the complex path, and it's the airplane our Commercial students use for those hours. Doing them here means the same flying counts toward both the endorsement and the certificate.

To act as pilot in command of it, yes — FAR 61.31(e) requires a one-time logbook endorsement from an authorized instructor. You can absolutely fly it with one of our CFIs before you have that endorsement; in fact that's exactly what the 3 flight hours in the $999 program are. Once endorsed, it never expires and never needs renewing.

$179 an hour, wet, once you're enrolled in a course — the same package rate as every other single-engine aircraft on our line, retractable gear and constant-speed prop included. Wet means fuel is included. Most people meet the Arrow through the $999 complex endorsement or inside the Commercial program, not by buying hours one at a time.

One — N316EF. It's maintained in-house at Van Nuys Airport alongside the rest of our 12-aircraft line. Because there's only one configuration, every lesson starts from the same panel, the same speeds and the same checklist flow. If the Arrow is down for scheduled maintenance we'll move you to another aircraft or another slot rather than leave you waiting.

Yes. The Arrow is one of the three aircraft in our Instrument Rating course ($11,700), alongside the Piper Warrior and Diamond DA20. It carries a Garmin 430 IFR navigator and is a stable, quick platform for approaches, holds and IFR cross-countries in Los Angeles airspace. Plenty of students finish their instrument rating and complex endorsement in the same airplane.

It cruises at roughly 135 knots on its 200 hp Lycoming IO-360. That's meaningfully quicker than the trainers below it, which changes two things: cross-country legs cover real distance, and you have less time to think on an approach. Both are exactly the pressures commercial and instrument training are meant to introduce.

An FAA Private Pilot certificate and a current medical. You don't need an instrument rating, and you don't need a minimum number of hours beyond your certificate. If you're a U.S. citizen, bring proof of citizenship to your first lesson; if you're not, we'll walk you through TSA flight-training security approval.

Yes — a 1-hour Redbird MCX simulator demo is $189, flown with a certified instructor. It's a genuinely useful way to see how complex procedures and gear failures are taught before you commit to the airplane. See the simulator page →

Los Angeles Flight School operates from Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) — 7900 Balboa Blvd. Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406. We're open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, and we serve Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, Canoga Park and the greater Los Angeles area. Call (818) 290-8249.