Malibu is twenty-one miles long and one road wide, which is exactly the problem a private pilot certificate solves, and the canyon crossing to get one takes about forty-five minutes.
Malibu is a city built along a single line. Twenty-one miles of Pacific Coast Highway from Tuna Canyon to the county line, with the Santa Monica Mountains pressed against the back of it and only a handful of roads climbing out: Topanga at the east end, Malibu Canyon in the middle, Kanan Dume past Point Dume, and Decker beyond Trancas. Everything about living here is shaped by that geometry, including how long it takes to get anywhere inland. A pilot certificate is the one thing that genuinely rearranges the map.
The second Malibu fact that matters in a cockpit is air. Your mornings belong to the marine layer well into July, and the coast can sit under six hundred feet of cloud while the valley floor twelve miles north is bright and blue. It also runs twenty or thirty degrees warmer over there on a summer afternoon, which is your first real lesson in density altitude: the same aircraft that leaps off the runway at nine in the morning needs noticeably more concrete at three in the afternoon.
The people who call us from Malibu tend to have unusual weeks rather than unusual money. Crew and post-production people between projects, Pepperdine staff, contractors still rebuilding along the canyons, surfers who already read wind and swell forecasts and find aviation weather familiar rather than intimidating. What a private certificate gives all of them is range. Santa Barbara becomes about forty minutes rather than a coastal crawl, Catalina becomes lunch at the Airport in the Sky, Santa Ynez becomes a Sunday instead of a weekend.
The first step is small and it is not a sales appointment. A discovery flight is $229 for sixty minutes and you fly it, with an instructor beside you and your hands on the controls from shortly after takeoff. The time is logged toward the certificate, and the whole fee is credited to your course if you enroll within twenty-four hours. The full private pilot program is $10,900 from no experience at all. We are open nine in the morning to nine at night, every day.
Our Courses
Ten programs flown out of Van Nuys Airport, with real pricing on every one. Start with an hour at the controls, or go straight through to airline-hireable qualifications — it is the same ladder either way.
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Start Here
The first hour at the controls, over Los Angeles, with an instructor beside you. It is the entry point to every course below — and the cheapest way to find out whether flying is actually for you.
From$229
Open 9 AM–9 PM, Seven Days · (818) 290-8249
CertificateMost Popular
The one most people mean by “learn to fly.” Fly with an instructor, fly alone, then carry passengers on your own certificate.
Fly With An Instructor Fly Solo Carry Passengers $10,900 Enroll Now
Youth Program
Ages 10–15. For young people who want to start before they can legally solo.
$4,200 View Course
Milestone
Enough training to take an aircraft around the pattern alone. The day everything changes.
$5,500 View Course
Certificate
A real certificate with fewer hours and narrower privileges. The shortest honest route to flying yourself.
$8,400 View Course
Bundle
Private Pilot with flight time, ground instruction and study materials bundled into one price.
$15,900 View CourseBundle
The same certificate as Private, with the most flight time before your checkride. Eighty logged hours, ground instruction and materials, all in one price.
80 Logged Hours Ground School Included Materials Included $22,500 View Course
Rating
The rating after Private. Turns a fair-weather pilot into a useful one who can file, launch and land in cloud.
$11,700 View Course
Rating
For pilots already certificated who are adding a twin. Trained in our own Piper Seminole.
$5,100 View Course
Our Fleet
Diamond DA20, Cessna 162, Piper Arrow II and our Piper Seminole twin — all on the field at Van Nuys.
View The FleetThe Full Route
Zero experience to airline-hireable qualifications, in one continuous program rather than nine separate ones. Financing is available, and every hour of it is flown out of Van Nuys.
$89,000Financing Available
Free In-Person Tour Before You Commit
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.
From the Civic Center, Cross Creek or anywhere near the pier, take Malibu Canyon Road north. It climbs past Pepperdine, through the tunnel, over the crest at Piuma and down the long green run of Las Virgenes past the golf course to the 101 at Calabasas. Go east on the freeway through Woodland Hills, exit at Balboa Boulevard in Encino and turn north for five miles. Thirty-three miles door to door, and about forty-five minutes when nothing is closed.
West of Pepperdine the better climb is Kanan Dume Road, three tunnels and a steady grade up to the 101 at Agoura Hills, and then the same freeway run east through Calabasas and Woodland Hills. At the far east end, from Las Flores or Carbon Beach, Topanga Canyon Boulevard over the state park and down into Woodland Hills is quicker than either, and from there Victory Boulevard runs straight east to Balboa without touching a freeway ramp at all.
Two honest warnings. Malibu Canyon closes for rockfall after heavy rain, so keep Kanan in mind between December and March, and summer weekends put a queue on PCH at Cross Creek that no canyon road can fix. Mid-morning on a weekday is the easy version of this drive in both directions. When you arrive, the lot at 7900 Balboa is free and rarely full. Come to Suite 108A; the site is a shared hangar complex, so the suite number is what you want.
A June morning under a low deck at the beach is very often a clear morning on the valley floor. Coastal fields lose whole weeks of lessons to that pattern in early summer. Over a four to six month course, the number of lessons that actually happen matters more than anything else about where you train.
Because you are driving forty-five minutes, we build the visit around it: a flight, ground instruction over coffee, then simulator time in the Redbird MCX, $189 for a sixty-minute session. One trip doing the work of three is the difference between a certificate finished in five months and one abandoned at thirty hours.
The practice areas run west along the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains, which means a Malibu student spends most lessons above ground already known from the ridge trails. You learn terrain awareness, canyon wind and shoreline navigation as an ordinary part of training rather than as something bolted on afterward.
Van Nuys is a busy towered field with parallel runways, so radio work and sequencing start in your first few lessons. Pilots trained at quiet strips often finish a certificate still uneasy talking to controllers, which becomes a genuine limitation the first time you want to fly into Santa Barbara or Long Beach.
Primary training happens in the Cessna 162 Skycatcher or the Piper Warrior, and both are included in your course. They are steady, honest aircraft that make sloppy rudder work obvious, which is what you want while the habits are still forming. The Diamond DA20 is worth requesting on a clear day heading for the coast, because the bubble canopy gives you the whole horizon and the sea at once. The Redbird MCX full-motion simulator, $189 for a sixty-minute session, keeps procedures sharp on the mornings the marine layer wins.
Beyond the private certificate the same ramp carries you further. The Piper Arrow II adds retractable gear and a constant-speed propeller for complex and commercial time. The Cirrus SR22 Turbo has a full glass panel and a whole-airframe parachute, and it is the aircraft that turns a Malibu weekend into Monterey, Sedona or the Central Coast. The Piper Seminole is the twin used for the $5,100 multi-engine rating. None of that progression requires you to change schools, instructors or airports along the way.
Cross the ridge out of Van Nuys and the Pacific fills the windshield about fifteen minutes after wheels up.
The blunt sandstone headland that interrupts an otherwise straight coastline, with Westward and Little Dume tucked either side of it. From the air it is the single most useful visual fix between Santa Monica and Point Mugu.
The three point breaks peeling off the pier, the lagoon behind them and the Adamson House tiles at the edge of it. On a clean south swell you can count the lines of the sets from two thousand feet.
The antenna cluster on the high ridge behind Malibu Canyon, standing above the Backbone Trail and visible from most of the western Santa Monica Mountains. Instructors use it constantly as a turning point on the way out to the coast.
The long pale crescent and its rows of parking lots, with Trancas Canyon opening behind and the beach curving away toward Broad Beach. It is the last big flat stretch before the coastline bends northwest into Ventura County.
It depends where you start. Malibu Canyon Road is the default from the Civic Center and the pier. Kanan Dume is better from Point Dume, Zuma and Trancas. From Las Flores and Carbon Beach, Topanga Canyon Boulevard and then Victory Boulevard avoids the freeway entirely. All three end at the same place within a few minutes of each other.
Around forty-five minutes and thirty-three miles from central Malibu on a normal weekday. It stretches on summer weekends when PCH backs up at Cross Creek, and Malibu Canyon can close after heavy rain, so Kanan is the winter backup. Mid-morning slots are the reliably easy ones in both directions, and they happen to be good flying hours too.
Not a better one. Camarillo is a long run up the coast and over the grade, and Santa Monica has a shortened runway and a closure date attached to it. We teach from neither; Van Nuys Airport is our only base. Van Nuys has two parallel runways, a full-time tower and every aircraft you will need through a multi-engine rating on one ramp.
Far less often than you would expect, because we are inland. The coast can be under cloud while Van Nuys is clear, so a Malibu student frequently drives out of the fog into flying weather. When the whole basin is socked in, the Redbird MCX simulator, $189 for sixty minutes, keeps the trip worth making instead of writing the day off.
The standard program is $10,900 and the comprehensive version, with substantially more instruction and simulator time included, is $15,900. A discovery flight is $229 for sixty minutes, credited in full against your course if you enroll within twenty-four hours. Financing is available through Stratus Financial or an in-house payment plan, and the first in-person consultation is free.
Forty is the FAA minimum and almost nobody finishes there. Sixty to seventy is fair for an adult flying around a job. Frequency is the biggest factor: two lessons a week is efficient, one a fortnight is expensive, because much of each lesson goes on recovering what you already had.
Not to fly with an instructor, but you need one before you solo. Book an aviation medical examiner in your first few weeks rather than the week you are ready. Most people clear a third class medical without trouble. If your history has anything unusual in it, find that out early, before you have committed to a program.
Carry passengers, fly at night, and go anywhere in the country under visual flight rules. From Van Nuys Airport that puts Catalina, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez and Big Bear inside easy day trips. The fleet stays open to you afterward, and the checkout is straightforward once you hold the certificate.
Call (818) 290-8249 and take a mid-morning slot, when the canyon is quiet and the air over the mountains is still smooth. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, open nine to nine daily, parking and first consultation free.
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
