The Palisades has two roads out and a permanent layer of coastal cloud, which is why the sensible place to learn to fly sits over the ridge on the Valley side. We are at Van Nuys Airport; the Palisades is where you drive from.
Pacific Palisades sits on a shelf of mesas and canyons with the bay on one side and the Santa Monica Mountains at its back, reached by Sunset Boulevard or the Pacific Coast Highway and almost nothing else. It is a beautiful place to look at airplanes from and an awkward one to learn in. The nearest field to you, Santa Monica, is not ours and not a base we would recommend: its runway was cut to 3,500 feet in 2017 and it is due to close under the city's agreement with the FAA after 2028, which makes it a poor thing to build a multi-year plan around.
The bigger factor is the cloud. From late spring into midsummer the marine layer parks itself along this coast most mornings and often does not clear until the afternoon, while the Valley floor twelve miles inland is already blue. For a student pilot that difference is decisive, because progress depends on flying two or three times a week rather than on how much you want to. Training out of Van Nuys means the number of lessons lost to weather in a year is small enough to plan around.
The certificate itself is straightforward to describe. Forty hours is the FAA minimum and sixty is what a working adult usually needs, spread across handling, solo flight, navigation you plan yourself, night flying and basic instrument work, finished with a practical test. The standard program is $10,900 and takes four to six months at two lessons a week. The premium course at $22,500 exists for people who would rather compress that into a shorter run with priority on the schedule.
What follows is the part worth having. Santa Barbara is well under sixty minutes in the air, San Luis Obispo and Catalina are easy days out, and the coastline you drive along becomes something you look down on from a few thousand feet with the whole bay in the windscreen. The Piper Warrior and the Cirrus SR22 Turbo stay bookable from our ramp at Van Nuys afterwards, so the aircraft remains available without a hangar, a partnership or an annual inspection of your own to worry about.
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.
5.0 Average Rating
100+ Google Reviews
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.
The standard run is Sunset Boulevard east through Brentwood to the 405, then north over the Sepulveda Pass past the Getty. Come down into the Valley, stay on the freeway past Ventura and Burbank, and leave at Victory Boulevard or Sherman Way. Head west two and a half miles to Balboa Boulevard, turn north, and the airport fence appears on your right at the 7900 block. Around twenty-two miles, and thirty-five to fifty minutes depending entirely on how the pass is behaving.
The second route is longer in miles and often better in temper: Pacific Coast Highway north to Topanga Canyon Boulevard, up through the canyon and over the crest into Woodland Hills, then east on Ventura Boulevard or the 101 to the Balboa exit. It is about twenty-five miles of genuinely good driving, it avoids the 405 completely, and on a Friday afternoon it is frequently the faster of the two. Chautauqua and Temescal Canyon both feed Sunset if you are starting from the Highlands.
We are at 7900 Balboa Boulevard, Suite 108A. Parking is free in our own lot immediately outside the door, with no gate, no meter and nothing to validate. The complex is a shared hangar building housing several unrelated aviation businesses, which is completely normal at a field this size, so aim for the suite number rather than only the street address. The phone is (818) 290-8249 and somebody answers it from nine in the morning until nine at night, every day.
Low cloud sitting on the shoreline until two in the afternoon is a normal June morning here and a canceled lesson anywhere on the water. Van Nuys is far enough inland that the marine layer usually burns off early or never arrives, so the training schedule you agree in January is roughly the one you actually fly.
The Cirrus SR22 Turbo sits on our ramp at Van Nuys with a full glass panel and an airframe parachute, and the Luxury Cirrus discovery flight from $499 is the easy way to try it. Plenty of people from this side of the hill are quietly costing out ownership, and flying the type first is the cheapest research available. The twin-engine Seminole is on the same apron.
Every instructor here is FAA-certified with fifteen years or more behind them, rather than a low-hours pilot waiting for an airline class date. Over a six-month course that continuity is the difference between a training plan and a series of unrelated lessons, and it shows up in the 5.0 rating the school holds across 100+ Google reviews.
We fly from nine in the morning until nine at night, seven days a week, which lets you book late morning or evening and avoid the pass at its worst. Students from here tend to fix two slots a week and keep them. Consistency, not intensity, is what gets somebody to a checkride on time.
Most of your course is flown in the Cessna 162 Skycatcher, the Piper Warrior or the Diamond DA20, all of them covered by your package rather than billed separately. The DA20 is a favorite with coastal students because of its bubble canopy: on a clear afternoon heading south-west, the view takes in the whole sweep of the bay from Point Dume round to Palos Verdes with nothing but perspex in the way. They are simple, honest airplanes, and simple is exactly what you want while learning to land one properly.
The rest of the ramp gives the course somewhere to lead once you hold the certificate. The Piper Arrow II introduces retractable gear and a constant-speed propeller. The Cirrus SR22 Turbo and the twin-engine Piper Seminole sit alongside it, the Seminole carrying the $5,100 multi-engine rating. Indoors sits the Redbird MCX, a full-motion simulator at $189 for a one-hour session and included in the private pilot packages, where an instrument approach into thick coastal cloud can be flown eight times in a single evening, deliberately badly for a few of those, with nothing at stake but the lesson.
Four things that stand out along this stretch of coast on the way back from the bay.
The golf course lies in a deep natural amphitheater off Capri Drive, a green floor with steep wooded sides rising all around it. From above it looks carved out, and nothing else on this coast has that shape.
A Roman villa with formal gardens and colonnades set into the hillside above the coast highway. Its geometry is so deliberate that it reads instantly from the air against the tangle of canyon vegetation around it.
The long green cut running from the bluffs down toward the shoreline, now a park threading between the mesas. It marks exactly where the flat ground ends and the drop to the beach begins.
Housing climbing far back into a canyon that would otherwise be empty chaparral, with the ridge of Topanga State Park closing off the top. It is the deepest that development reaches into these mountains anywhere nearby.
Around forty minutes for twenty-two miles via Sunset Boulevard and the 405 over the Sepulveda Pass, though the pass can add twenty minutes in the evening peak. The Topanga Canyon route from PCH takes a similar time and is often steadier. Booking late morning or after seven avoids most of the problem.
We are not based there. Santa Monica's runway was shortened to 3,500 feet in 2017 and the airport is due to close after 2028 under the city's agreement with the FAA, which is not a stable base for a course that runs for months. Our ramp is at Van Nuys Airport, which has two parallel runways, a tower, seven aircraft types and a full-motion simulator in one place.
Rarely, and that is the point of training inland. The cloud that sits over the Palisades until early afternoon in May and June usually stops well short of the Valley. If the weather does close in, a session in the Redbird MCX at $189 keeps the syllabus moving instead of losing the slot entirely.
The standard program is $10,900, comprehensive is $15,900 and premium is $22,500. All three finish with the same FAA certificate; what differs is instructor time, simulator hours and how much contingency is built in. Financing is available through Stratus Financial or our in-house plans, and the first consultation is free.
It is free, ungated and directly outside Suite 108A at 7900 Balboa Boulevard, with no meter and nothing to validate. Several unrelated aviation companies share the same hangar complex, which is standard at Van Nuys, so look for the suite number when you arrive rather than a name on the street.
Yes, and often. Coastal transits are part of learning this airspace, and the run from Point Dume down to the bay is one of the more spectacular training environments in the country. Most maneuvering practice happens over open ground north-west of the field, where there is room to work without traffic.
No, and most people never do. After the checkride you book from the same ramp at Van Nuys that you trained on, from the Warrior and Skycatcher up to the Cirrus SR22 Turbo. No hangar, no annual inspection, no partnership arguments, and somebody else deals with the maintenance schedule.
You come to Suite 108A at 7900 Balboa Boulevard, meet an instructor, walk out to the aircraft on the ramp and ask whatever you want about hours, medicals, weather, timelines and cost. It takes thirty minutes and costs nothing. If an aircraft and instructor are free, a discovery flight at $229 can often follow the same day.
Drive Sunset to the 405 on a clear late morning, or take Topanga over the top if you would rather enjoy the trip, and look at the fleet before deciding anything. Call (818) 290-8249 for a free consultation or a discovery flight from $229.
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
