Twenty questions drawn at random from a 42-question bank, in the same three-answer format as the FAA knowledge test. Every answer comes with the reasoning and the regulation behind it, and you get a breakdown by subject at the end.
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, 360 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...
| Subject area | Score | % |
|---|
These are original practice questions written in the FAA format to test the same knowledge areas. They are not copies of live FAA test items, and no question bank predicts the exact questions you will see. Nothing you do here is stored or sent anywhere.
The FAA private pilot knowledge test is 60 questions in 2.0 hours, and the minimum passing score is 70. That much most people know. What almost nobody is told beforehand is what happens to the questions you get wrong.
Every missed question is reported on your Airman Knowledge Test Report as an ACS code, and your examiner is required to cover those codes during the oral portion of your checkride. Scrape through at 71% and you hand the examiner a list of eighteen topics to work through with you. Walk in at 93% and there are four.
So treat the percentage at the end of this quiz as a study signal rather than a grade. The subject breakdown is the useful part — if airspace comes back at 40% twice in a row, that is where the next two evenings go.
Take it a few times. The twenty questions are drawn at random from the bank each run, so you will get a different mix.
The FAA does not publish an official percentage split, so treat these as the areas rather than a weighting. Every question on the real test maps to a code in the Airman Certification Standards, which is why studying by ACS area beats grinding a question bank at random.
| Area | What it actually asks you |
|---|---|
| Regulations | Currency, flight reviews, fuel reserves, oxygen, alcohol, required equipment and documents. The most memorizable section and the cheapest marks on the test. |
| Airspace | Class A through G, entry requirements, and the VFR visibility and cloud clearance table. Worth over-learning if you fly in Los Angeles. |
| Weather | Stability, fronts, fog types, thunderstorm stages, and reading METARs and TAFs. Usually the section people score worst on. |
| Aerodynamics | Angle of attack, load factor, stability, left-turning tendencies and ground effect. |
| Performance | Density altitude, takeoff and landing charts, weight and balance. |
| Navigation | Chart symbols, magnetic variation, VOR use and accuracy checks, dead reckoning. |
| Operations | Right of way, traffic patterns, airport markings and lighting, radio procedure. |
| Aeromedical | Hypoxia, hyperventilation, spatial disorientation, vision at night, diving and flying. |
Under 14 CFR 61.35 you need evidence of ground training before you can sit the knowledge test — either an endorsement from an authorized instructor or a graduation certificate from an accepted ground school course. A practice test is a diagnostic, not a substitute.
Every private pilot program here includes ground instruction: 3 hours on Standard and Premium, 10 hours on Comprehensive. Books and training materials are included in all three.
The instructor covering airspace with you on the ground is the one taking you under the LAX Class B shelf the following week. That link is the whole argument for in-person ground work.
Van Nuys gives you 355 flyable days a year, but June mornings are unreliable. Those slots become ground school or Redbird simulator time rather than a lost week.
Radio work, airspace transitions and instrument scan are all things you can read about and still fumble the first time. A full-motion simulator is where they become automatic, and it is never canceled for a ceiling.
Simulator hours are built into every private pilot program — 2 hours on Standard and Premium, 5 hours on Comprehensive. A standalone session is $189.
On Google. The debrief comes up more often than the aircraft.
The most repeated compliment in our reviews is the ground work and the debrief, not the fleet.
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own, so a canceled slot gets refilled rather than costing you a week.
The number you enroll at is the number you finish at. Books and ground school included.
If you are already studying, the free consultation is twenty minutes on your timeline, your written exam date and which program has enough ground time for how you learn. If you have not flown yet, start with a $229 discovery flight — the hour is logged and it makes every page of the handbook make more sense.
Short answers with the numbers. The full guide goes deeper.
The FAA Private Pilot Airplane knowledge test is 60 multiple-choice questions with three answer options each. You have 2.0 hours, and the FAA minimum passing score is 70, which means 42 correct answers.
No. These are original practice questions written in the FAA format to test the same knowledge areas across the same eight subjects. No practice bank predicts the exact questions on the live test, and anyone claiming otherwise is overselling.
Aim for 90% or better on practice tests. A 70% pass is legal but every question you miss is reported as an ACS code that your examiner must cover at the oral portion of the checkride, so a marginal pass makes the checkride longer and harder.
Most people need roughly 40 to 60 hours of study spread over 6 to 10 weeks alongside flying. Doing it in a concentrated block works, but retention is better when ground study runs in parallel with the flights that use it.
Yes. 14 CFR 61.35 requires evidence of ground training before you can sit the knowledge test, either a logbook endorsement from an authorized instructor or a graduation certificate from an accepted ground school course.
24 calendar months. Your practical test must be completed within that window or you will need to retake the knowledge test.
You can retake it, but you need an endorsement from an authorized instructor certifying that you have had additional instruction and are competent to pass. The regulation imposes no fixed waiting period.
Yes, and many people do. The only constraint worth planning around is the 24-month validity, so taking it very early can put pressure on the back end if your training stretches out.
Regulations, airspace, weather, aerodynamics, aircraft systems, performance and weight and balance, navigation, radio and ATC procedures, aeromedical factors and decision making. The FAA does not publish an official percentage weighting.
It is a memorization and comprehension test rather than a trick test, and the pass mark is 70%. Most people who struggle do so because they studied from a question bank alone rather than from the Airman Certification Standards and the FAA handbooks.
Every question on the test maps to a code in the Airman Certification Standards, such as PA.I.B.K1. Any question you miss is reported by code on your Airman Knowledge Test Report, and your examiner is required to cover those areas during the oral.
Yes. Every private pilot program includes ground instruction: 3 hours on the Standard at $10,900, 10 hours on the Comprehensive at $15,900, and 3 hours on the Premium at $22,500. Books and training materials are included in all three.
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
