One airplane, first lesson to instrument rating.

The Warrior rents at $269 per hour standard and $179 per hour on the package rate for students enrolled in one of our courses. Both are wet — fuel is included, with no separate fuel bill after a cross-country. Instructor time is billed separately: $200/hr standard or $110/hr package for Private instruction, and $150/hr standard or $120/hr package for Instrument instruction.

Two — N3034Q and N6312C. Both are identically equipped and both carry the IFR panel, so there is no “good one” and “other one” on the schedule. They are maintained by our own shop on the field at Van Nuys Airport.

Yes. Both Warriors are IFR-equipped, which is exactly why they are our instrument workhorse. Instrument students fly real approaches, holds and IFR cross-countries in Los Angeles airspace in the same airplane they learned to land in — no mid-training checkout, no new sight picture, no wasted transition hours.

Yes, and this is the Warrior's single biggest advantage. Students commonly fly their first lesson, first solo, cross-countries and Private Pilot checkride ($10,900 course) in the Warrior, then start the Instrument Rating ($11,700 course) in the same cockpit the following week. Every hour you do not spend re-learning an airplane is an hour spent learning approaches.

Because it has four seats. Our Discovery Flight for Two is $299 and puts two passengers plus a certified instructor in one airplane — nobody sits in the lobby waiting for a turn. You will fly over the Hollywood Sign, downtown Los Angeles and the Malibu coastline, and you will have the controls for part of it. If you enroll within 24 hours, 100% of the cost credits toward your training.

It cruises at roughly 128 knots — about 147 mph. From Van Nuys that puts Santa Barbara, Camarillo, Palm Springs and Big Bear comfortably within a short hop, and it makes the long cross-country requirements in the Private and Instrument syllabi genuinely enjoyable rather than a grind.

It changes the feel more than the difficulty. The Warrior's low wing settles into ground effect on landing, which gives you a long, forgiving flare, and it tends to feel more planted on gusty Van Nuys afternoons. High-wing airplanes like our Cessna 162 give you a better view straight down and shade on the ramp. Plenty of our students fly both — neither is harder to learn in.

Same hourly rate, different missions. The Skycatcher is a two-seat, high-wing light-sport aircraft with a Garmin G300 glass panel and a 100 hp engine — the most affordable way to build early hours, and the only one of the two that supports Sport Pilot. The Warrior has 160 hp, four seats and an IFR panel, so it carries passengers and it carries you through the instrument rating. Many students train in the 162 and move to the Warrior for IFR; many just fly the Warrior from day one.

No. Headsets, charts and the aircraft are all provided — you bring yourself and, for lessons after the discovery flight, your student pilot certificate and medical. We will walk you through getting both. Call (818) 290-8249 and we will tell you exactly what you need before your first lesson.

Los Angeles Flight School is at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) — 7900 Balboa Blvd. Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406. We are open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week. We serve Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Pasadena and the greater Los Angeles area.