Discovery Flights Over Los Angeles, From $229
One hour in the left seat with an FAA-certified instructor beside you. You fly the aeroplane. It is logged as dual received under 14 CFR 61.51(h), and the whole $229 is credited against any program you enroll in within a day.
Five Ways To Take The Controls Over Los Angeles
Every one of these is an hour of dual instruction with you flying, not a sightseeing ride with you watching. Pick the aeroplane; the hour works the same way in all of them.
Sixty minutes in a Piper Warrior or a Diamond DA20 with an instructor beside you. You do the taxi call, you do the takeoff, you fly the route over the Valley and the basin, and you have your hands on the controls for the landing. Logged as dual received, and credited in full against any program you enroll in within a day.
Book this flightThe same hour with a passenger in the back. One of you flies and both of you see Los Angeles from 3,000 feet. It is the version most people book when they want a second opinion in the room afterwards, and the flying seat can be swapped by agreement with your instructor.
Book this flightFlown in our Cirrus SR22 Turbo on a glass panel, with the whole-airframe parachute overhead. It is the aeroplane the Premium private pilot program is flown in, so this hour doubles as a look at what $22,500 of training actually sits in.
Book this flightAn hour in the Piper Seminole, our twin-engine trainer. The closest thing on this ramp to the aeroplane a professional route actually starts in, and the one people book when the question is not “will I like this” but “is this a career”.
Book this flightOne guided hour in a Redbird MCX full-motion simulator: three-axis motion, a 210° wraparound visual system, dual controls and a real Garmin G430 in the panel. It is never cancelled for weather, it is the cheapest way to find out whether you like the work, and within the limits 14 CFR 61.51(h) sets, the time is loggable.
Book this flightEvery figure above is the 60-minute price. Ninety- and 120-minute versions of each are available, and a lunch flight to Camarillo for two is $699. See every discovery flight and length.
The Hour, In Order
Nobody tells you this part, so here it is. Allow about two hours door to door for a sixty-minute flight.
You Arrive At Suite 108
7900 Balboa Blvd, on the western side of Van Nuys Airport. Parking is free and on site. Bring photo identification and something you can wear sunglasses with; that is the whole list.
The Brief
Fifteen minutes at a desk with your instructor: what the weather is doing, where you are going, what the aeroplane does, and what you will be asked to do with it. This is also where you say what you want out of the hour.
The Walkaround
You do the preflight inspection with your instructor rather than watch it. It is the first thing a student pilot learns and the first thing a checkride examiner asks for, and doing it once tells you a good deal about whether the detail appeals to you.
Taxi And Takeoff
Van Nuys is a towered Class D field, so there is a radio call to make and a clearance to read back. Your instructor handles the first one; most people are making them by the end of the hour. You have your hands on the controls for the takeoff roll.
You Fly It
Out over the Valley and the basin, with the instructor talking and you flying — climbs, turns, level flight, and as much or as little as you want to attempt. Nobody is graded. The point is to find out how it feels when the aeroplane responds to you.
The Written Debrief
Back on the ground, an honest read: what you did well, what would need work, and roughly what a realistic schedule and cost look like for the certificate you are interested in. You keep it. If you enroll within a day, the $229 comes off the program price.
What Los Angeles Looks Like From Three Thousand Feet
The route is not fixed — it depends on the traffic, the wind and what you want to see — but the shape of it is usually the same.
You leave Van Nuys, which sits at 802 ft above mean sea level in the middle of the San Fernando Valley, and within about four minutes the whole Valley grid is laid out beneath you: the Sepulveda Basin, the 101 and 405 crossing, the reservoirs, and your own street if you live out here.
West takes you toward the Santa Monica Mountains and the practice area, where the air is quieter and there is room to try a turn without anybody needing you anywhere. East puts the Burbank hills and the Hollywood sign off the wing. On a clear afternoon the downtown towers are visible from the moment you level off, and the coast is a short leg beyond the ridge.
The whole field sits beneath the Class B shelf that wraps Los Angeles International, which is why you will hear your instructor being careful about altitude. That constraint is a large part of what makes this a good place to learn: the airspace is real from the first hour rather than added later.
You will be flying for most of it. That is the difference between this and a sightseeing tour, and it is the reason the hour is worth $229 rather than the price of a ticket.
In The Air, Or In The Simulator?
Both answer the same question — do I want to do this? — and they answer different parts of it. This is the comparison we would give you on the phone.
Discovery Flight
Sixty minutes in a real aeroplane over Los Angeles, with you flying it. The only way to find out how you respond to motion, to height, and to being responsible for something that is moving.
Best foranyone who wants to know whether they will actually enjoy flying
- Price$229 (one seat) · $299 (two)
- Duration60 minutes airborne, about 2 hours door to door
- LoggedYes — dual received, 14 CFR 61.51(h)
- CreditedIn full, if you enroll within a day
- WeatherCan be rescheduled; 355 flyable days a year at KVNY
Redbird MCX Session
One guided hour in an FAA-approved Advanced Aviation Training Device with three-axis electric motion, a 210° wraparound visual system, dual controls and a real Garmin G430. Cheaper, never weather-dependent, and repeatable.
Best fora nervous first-timer, a bad-weather week, or somebody testing the instruments rather than the view
- Price$189
- DurationOne guided hour with an instructor
- LoggedWithin the limits the regulation sets
- CreditedSimulator hours inside a program are already paid for in the program price
- WeatherNever cancelled
Side By Side
| Discovery flight | Redbird MCX session | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $229 | $189 |
| You fly it | Yes, most of the hour | Yes, the whole hour |
| Motion | Real | Three-axis electric platform |
| View | Los Angeles from 3,000 ft | 210° wraparound visuals |
| Cancelled by weather | Occasionally — rescheduled free | Never |
| Tells you about | How you respond to flying | Whether you like the procedures |
What You Are Booking, Precisely
Six Aircraft Types, Owned
Cessna 162 Skycatcher, Piper Warrior, Diamond DA20-C1, Piper Arrow II, Piper Seminole and Cirrus SR22 Turbo, all on our own books and maintained in our own shop.
An FAA-Certified Instructor
Twelve people on the roster. Your instructor signs as pilot in command, which is what makes the hour loggable and what keeps the standard where it belongs.
A Redbird MCX On The Field
An FAA-approved Advanced Aviation Training Device, $189 a session, available when the weather is not.
355 Measured Flyable Days
Counted from NOAA ASOS observations at KVNY over the twelve months to 1 August 2026. A cancelled flight is rescheduled, not lost.
Published Pricing
$229, $299, $399, $499 and $189. No booking fee, no fuel surcharge and no minimum on the day.
Questions About Discovery Flights In Los Angeles
An introductory flying lesson. You sit in the left seat of a light aircraft with an FAA-certified instructor beside you and you fly it — the climb, the turns, the level flight and, with the instructor’s hands nearby, some of the landing. It is a lesson, not a tour, which is why it is logged as dual received under 14 CFR 61.51(h) and counts toward the aeronautical experience your certificate will eventually require.
$229 for sixty minutes with one seat, $299 with a passenger in the back, $399 in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo for two, $499 in the Piper Seminole twin, and $189 for an hour in the Redbird MCX full-motion simulator. Ninety- and 120-minute versions of each are available. A lunch flight to Camarillo for two is $699.
Yes, and for most of the hour. Your instructor handles the first radio call and stays on the controls during the takeoff and landing, but the climb, the turns and the cruise are yours. Anybody who tells you the aircraft is not yours to fly is selling you a sightseeing ride.
In full, against any program, if you enroll within a day of the flight. It is not a deposit and it is not conditional on anything else — the hour is deducted from the program price.
Because the hour is doing a job. Most schools sell the same product as an experience; we use it to establish whether the schedule in your head is realistic, and you leave with a written debrief that says so. The flight is identical either way. The assessment flight page sets out the argument in full.
Neither. No medical certificate, no licence, no logbook and no experience of any kind is required to book. You need photo identification and a willingness to be talked at for fifteen minutes beforehand. A medical certificate becomes relevant later, before your first solo.
Age, no — children can fly with an accompanying adult, and the teens program exists for 10 to 15 year olds who want something structured. Weight and height are a matter of the specific aircraft’s balance limits rather than a policy, so tell us when you book and we will put you in the right airframe or tell you honestly if we cannot.
We reschedule, at no cost. Van Nuys recorded 355 training-capable days over the twelve months to 1 August 2026, so this is uncommon; when it happens, the Redbird MCX simulator is on the field and is never cancelled.
Yes. Every discovery flight has a gift certificate version, and there is a flight training credit gift certificate for somebody already committed. The gift certificates are here.
Come And See The Aeroplanes First, If You Would Rather
Nothing about walking the ramp costs anything, and a hangar is much easier to judge in person than in a photograph.
We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108, on the western side of Van Nuys Airport, open 9am to 9pm seven days. Parking is free and on site, and the desk is immediately inside a numbered door beside the hangars.
Ask what the times on the airframes are. Ask who signs the maintenance. Ask how many students each instructor is carrying. Those three questions separate flight schools in Los Angeles faster than any website does, including this one.
You Can Sit In Them
All six types are usually on the ramp or in the shop. Sitting in a Skycatcher and then in a Seminole is a fast education in what the difference between $8,400 and $89,000 actually buys.
You Can Meet The Instructor
If you know who you would be flying with, ask for them. Matching a student to an instructor properly is worth more than any feature of the aircraft.
There Is No Sales Meeting
There is no consultation room, no finance officer waiting and no deposit taken on the day. If you want the price list you can read it on this site before you arrive.
One Hour Settles What A Month Of Reading Cannot
Whether you enjoy the work, whether you take instruction well, and whether you hold up in an aeroplane that is moving — none of it is knowable from a page. It is knowable from an hour. Book it, fly it, take the written debrief home, and decide with something concrete in front of you.
Where To Go Next
The Flight Itself
The Assessment Flight, ExplainedEvery Discovery Flight And LengthDiscovery Flight Terms And ConditionsRedbird MCX Simulator SessionsIf You Want To Carry On
Private Pilot License In Los AngelesEvery Program Price On One PageHow To EnrollGet Your FAA Medical Before You EnrollThe Small Print On This Page
A discovery flight is a flight lesson given by an FAA-certified flight instructor under 14 CFR part 61. It is logged as dual instruction received in accordance with 14 CFR 61.51(h) and counts toward the aeronautical experience required for a certificate. It is not an air tour and it is not air carriage.
Prices on this page are current list prices and include the aircraft, the fuel and the instructor. The $229 is credited in full against a program enrolled in within one day of the flight; the credit is not transferable and is not redeemable for cash. Full terms are on the discovery flight terms page.
The 355-day figure is counted from NOAA ASOS observations at Van Nuys Airport over the twelve months to 1 August 2026 and describes days on which four daylight hours cleared a 3,000 ft ceiling and five statute miles of visibility. It is not a promise about any particular date.
We publish no pass rate, no graduate count and no star rating. Airline Pilot Flight School is a part 61 training provider and is not an airline, not owned by one, and not party to any cadet or pathway agreement.
Fly The Aeroplane Once, Then Decide
The assessment flight is the first hour of the syllabus and a two-way evaluation. You fly it from the left seat with an instructor beside you, they write down what they saw, and you get an honest read on whether the plan is realistic. It is loggable, and it is credited in full against enrolment if you enroll within 24 hours.
What happens on an assessment flight →