How To Enroll In Flight Training At Van Nuys
Seven steps, and the first two happen before you pay anything. That order is deliberate: the medical and one hour in an airplane settle the two questions everything else depends on, and both are far cheaper than discovering the answers later.
How Do You Enroll In Flight Training Here?
By booking an assessment flight, sitting an FAA medical examination, choosing a program, providing identity documents, settling the TSA position if it applies to you, paying a deposit and then agreeing a schedule. Nothing about it is complicated, and the order matters more than any single step.
The medical and the assessment flight come first because they are the only two steps that can end the process, and they are also the two least expensive. An examination answers whether the plan is available to you at all. An hour in the airplane, with you flying, answers whether you want it. Together they cost a fraction of one per cent of a career route.
Everything after those two is administration: identity documents, a deposit, a syllabus and a calendar. None of it is difficult, and a school that makes it feel difficult is usually managing something other than paperwork.
One thing worth saying at the top. Nothing here is a subscription and there is no automatic progression from one phase to the next. Each phase is entered deliberately, at a figure fixed when you enrolled in it, and you can stop at a boundary without having a conversation about it.
What Are The Steps, In Order?
Two of them cost money before you have committed to anything, and both are recoverable in the sense that matters: the assessment flight comes off the program price, and the medical is a document you keep whatever you decide next.
Book The Assessment Flight
$229 for sixty minutes of dual instruction with you handling the airplane. It is logged, it counts toward the aeronautical experience it qualifies for, and enrolling inside a day puts the entire $229 against your program. No medical certificate is needed for it, because the instructor holds legal command.
Sit The FAA Medical Examination
With an Aviation Medical Examiner, ideally in the same fortnight as the assessment flight. Take the highest class you might ever need. The medical cluster on this site sets out the standards, the durations and what a deferral costs in time, and it argues hard for doing this before any money moves.
Choose The Program
Standard, Comprehensive or Premium for a private certificate; individual ratings if you already hold one; or the whole career route. Every figure is published and fixed at the point you enroll, and the differences between the three private programs are hours and airframe rather than quality.
Provide Identity Documents
A government-issued photo identification, plus documentation of citizenship or nationality where that applies. Under 49 CFR 1552.7 a flight training provider has to establish where you stand before any training begins, and that check happens once rather than at every lesson.
Settle The TSA Position If It Applies
If you are not a United States citizen or national, 49 CFR part 1552 requires a security threat assessment and a Determination of Eligibility from TSA before flight training starts. The dedicated page walks through it. If you are a citizen or a national, this step is a document check and nothing more.
Pay The Deposit And Sign The Agreement
Arrangements here begin from $2,500 down, with the balance structured around the phases you are flying. The training agreement, the syllabus and the refund terms are all provided before you pay rather than afterwards, and the refund position is published on its own page.
Agree A Schedule And Fly
You are matched with a primary instructor and a set of recurring slots. Tempo is agreed at this point rather than assumed, because that one variable governs the duration of a certificate and its cost alike. Then the first syllabus lesson.
Why Does The Medical Come Before The Deposit?
Because it is the one step that can stop everything, and because it costs a small fraction of what a program does. An Aviation Medical Examiner either issues a certificate on the day or defers the application to the FAA, and a deferral is a wait measured in weeks or months while records are requested and reviewed.
Find that out in month one and you have lost an examination fee and some time. Find it out at the point of first solo — which arrives roughly a third of the way through a private course — and the syllabus stops dead with money already spent and currency draining away week by week.
Take the highest class you are ever likely to need rather than the cheapest one that lets you start. A first-class medical is what airline transport pilot in command privileges require under 14 CFR 61.23, and if a condition is going to be a problem at first class it is far better to know that before you have built a career plan on top of it.
Nothing about training here waits for the medical. You can fly the assessment flight and the early lessons without one, because your instructor holds legal command. What you cannot do without one is fly solo, and the page on getting your medical first explains exactly where that line falls.
What Do You Need To Have Ready?
Four things for the first appointment and two more before solo. Nothing on the list is expensive, and nothing on it will surprise a reader who has got this far.
For The Assessment Flight
A government-issued photo identification, comfortable clothing with closed shoes, and sunglasses. That is genuinely all of it. You do not need a headset, a logbook, charts or any equipment, and you should buy none of that before you have decided to continue.
- Photo identification
- Closed shoes and comfortable clothes
- Sunglasses, preferably not polarised
- No equipment purchase required
For Enrolment
Identity documentation as above, plus documentation of citizenship or nationality where it applies, plus your FAA medical certificate if it has been issued by then. Where you are not a United States citizen or national, a TSA Determination of Eligibility has to exist before flight training starts.
- Photo identification
- Citizenship or nationality documentation where applicable
- Your medical certificate, once issued
- A TSA Determination of Eligibility where it applies
Before Your First Solo
A student pilot certificate, and a medical certificate of at least third class, because solo is exercised under student pilot privileges, and a medical is required for those by 14 CFR 61.23(a)(3). Your instructor also has to have endorsed you, which is a judgement about readiness rather than a form to complete.
This is the reason the medical sits at step two rather than step six. Solo arrives about a third of the way into a private course, and a deferral discovered at that point stops the syllabus while the FAA asks for records.
- A student pilot certificate
- A medical of third class or better
- An instructor endorsement
- A demonstrated standard, not a date
Equipment, And When To Buy It
Later than most people do. Every private pilot program here includes the books and the training materials, so what is worth owning early is a headset and, eventually, a tablet carrying charts. Ask your instructor before spending, and buy after two or three lessons rather than before the first.
No figure for equipment appears anywhere on this site, because we neither sell it nor set its price. The same is true of knowledge test fees, examiner fees and your medical examination, and naming them without pricing them is deliberate rather than evasive.
- Books and materials already included
- A headset after two or three lessons
- A tablet and charts later still
- Ask before buying anything
What Are You Choosing Between?
Four of the published programs, each fixed at the point of enrolment with nothing repriced at a phase boundary. Fly the assessment flight and enroll within a day, and its whole fee lands against whichever one you pick.
Zero To Airline
Every phase from the first logged hour to a flight instructor rating, priced once and fixed on the day you enroll.
- ✓Five phases under a single figure
- ✓Financing from $2,500 down
- ✓No repricing at a phase boundary
- ✓Part 61 from start to finish
Private Pilot — Comprehensive
Sixty hours in the logbook: fifty-five airborne, five in the simulator, fifty flown dual, plus ten hours of ground instruction.
- ✓60 hours logged
- ✓5 Redbird MCX sessions
- ✓10 hours of ground instruction
- ✓Books and materials included
Instrument Rating
Phase two of the career route, and the rating that changes how you fly more than any other single step.
- ✓40 hours of instrument time under 61.65(d)
- ✓50 hours cross-country as the pilot flying
- ✓An IFR cross-country of 250 nautical miles
- ✓Fixed at enrolment
Multi-Engine Add-On
The class rating that opens twin-engine flying, and later the ability to instruct in one.
- ✓No hour floor in 14 CFR 61.63(c)
- ✓An endorsement and a practical test
- ✓Flown in the Piper Seminole
- ✓Fixed at enrolment
What Has To Exist Before Each Milestone?
Six checkpoints, each with the document it depends on and the paragraph that requires it. Most of the delay people meet in flight training is a document arriving late rather than a lesson going badly.
Before The Assessment Flight
Photo identification, and nothing else. No medical certificate is required because the instructor holds legal command of the aircraft throughout.
Before Any Training Begins
Your status established under 49 CFR 1552.7 — citizen, national, Department of Defense endorsee, or a candidate holding a valid TSA determination. A one-time check for most readers.
Before First Solo
A student pilot certificate and a medical of at least third class, because 14 CFR 61.23(a)(3) requires one for student pilot privileges. Plus your instructor's endorsement.
Before The Practical Test
A passed knowledge test and the endorsements your instructor signs. The private pilot written is 60 questions in 2.0 hours with 70 to pass, per the FAA's testing matrix.
Before Training As A Candidate
A Determination of Eligibility issued by TSA, confirmed by the provider through the FTSP Portal. It runs five years from issue, and TSA processes complete applications within 30 days.
Before Any Money Moves
The syllabus and the training agreement in your hands. Read the refund position on the terms page first, then check it against the agreement, and ask about anything the two do not both answer.
What Can You Verify Before Enrolling?
Five items, each confirmable without taking anybody's word for it. Add to them the two documents you should read before paying: the syllabus and the training agreement.
Airframe Types On The Ramp, Owned Rather Than Brokered
Cessna 162 Skycatcher, Piper Warrior, Piper Arrow II, Diamond DA20, Cirrus SR22 Turbo and Piper Seminole. The airplanes belong to the operation, so the maintenance calendar is ours and not a lessor's.
Inspected under 14 CFR 91.409(b)Instructors Working Here
Each carries a commercial certificate or an ATP beneath, an instructor certificate above it, and a medical in date. You are matched with one of them, and you may ask for another if the fit is wrong.
14 CFR 61.183 · 61.23 · 61.195Training-Capable Days Measured Across Twelve Months
Counted from NOAA ASOS observations for the year ending 1 August 2026, admitting a day only where the ceiling held at 3,000 feet with five statute miles of visibility across four qualifying daylight hours.
NOAA ASOS via the Iowa Environmental MesonetA Session In The Full-Motion Simulator
Two sessions sit inside Standard and Premium, five inside Comprehensive, and weather never takes one away.
Published, not quoted on requestProgram Prices Withheld Until You Enquire
None. Every course figure is printed on the site, nothing is offered as a spread, and the price you sign for is the price you read.
Stated rather than impliedWhat Is Agreed When You Agree A Schedule?
How many flights a week, on which days, and with which instructor. That conversation is far more consequential than it sounds, because tempo governs both how long a certificate takes and what it costs, and it is the variable you have the most control over.
Ask for standing slots rather than negotiating each week. Two or three fixed times in the diary produce more flying than an open intention to fly two or three times, and the difference compounds: students who fly often stay current, and students who stay current spend no part of a lesson recovering what the last one taught them.
Be honest about what you can hold. A student who promises four flights a week and delivers one is worse off than a student who plans one and delivers one, because the syllabus, the aircraft booking and the instructor's calendar were all built around the promise. Plan for the tempo you can actually keep in a bad month.
And say early if the instructor match is wrong. There are eleven of them, changing costs nothing, and no reason is required. A poor fit is expensive for every hour it goes unmentioned, and instructors here would far rather be told in week two than in month five.
What Should You Ask Before You Pay A Deposit?
Five questions, and you should put them to this school as readily as to any other. A school that answers all five before taking money is behaving properly; one that will not is telling you something worth hearing.
What Is The Total, As One Figure?
For the content you are actually buying. Every program on this site answers that on the pricing page, and no figure anywhere here is offered as a range or withheld until you enquire.
- Answered HereYes, on the pricing page
- Ranges UsedNone
- Quote GateNone
What Is Not Included?
Examiner fees, knowledge test fees, your medical examination and your own equipment. Named across this site and priced nowhere on it, because they belong to other people.
- Examiner FeePaid by you, directly
- Knowledge TestPaid by you, directly
- EquipmentYours, and buy it late
What Does Extra Instruction Cost?
This is the one we cannot answer with a published figure, and rather than invent one we say so. Ask us, get it in writing before enrolling, and put the same question to every school you are comparing.
- Extra Flying$179 wet, single-engine
- Extra InstructionNot published — ask in writing
- Also Named OnThe terms and refunds page
What Happens If I Stop?
Training already delivered has been delivered, at this school or any other. What happens to anything not yet flown is on the terms and refunds page, where the settled parts and the open ones are marked apart.
- Flown HoursNot recoverable
- Unflown BalanceTerms still being set
- Your LogbookYours, always
Who Teaches Me, And Can I Change?
Eleven instructors, matched at enrolment, changeable on request with no reason required. Ask who you would be flying with and why that match was made.
- Instructors11
- ChangingOn request, no reason needed
- Cost Of ChangingNone
What Might Make This The Wrong School For You?
Four things, and none of them is a secret. A school that cannot name the students it is a poor fit for has not thought about the question.
If your funding route or your visa category requires a certificated school, this is not one. Training here is under part 61, and no amount of syllabus quality changes what a rule requires. Establish that before anything else, because it is the one mismatch that cannot be worked around.
If you want tailwheel time or aerobatic training, there is no tailwheel airplane and no aerobatic airplane on this ramp. If you want a helicopter rating, this is a fixed-wing operation. Both are stated here rather than discovered after a deposit.
If you want a great deal of actual instrument time, the weather here works against you. The same 355 training-capable days that make this a good field for a private student make it a poor one for logging real instrument meteorological conditions, and most of your instrument training will be flown under a hood.
And if you want to fly once a month, you can, but understand what you are buying. Currency decay will add hours, the total will drift, and this site would rather say that in advance than sell you a program priced against a tempo you were never going to keep.
Questions About Enrolling
For the first flight, a government-issued photo identification and closed shoes. That is all. The instructor holds legal command of the airplane, so no medical certificate is required of you at that stage. Before solo you need a student pilot certificate plus a medical of third class or better, which 14 CFR 61.23(a)(3) requires.
Arrangements here begin from $2,500 down, with the balance structured around the phases you are flying. Every program figure is fixed at the point you enroll and nothing is recalculated at a phase boundary, so the total you plan against does not move afterwards.
Not to enroll and not to fly the early lessons, but you should have sat the examination anyway. Solo requires a medical and arrives about a third of the way through a private course, and a deferral discovered at that point stops the syllabus while the FAA asks for records.
Yes. It is an hour of dual instruction, logged as such, and it counts toward the aeronautical experience it qualifies for. Enroll within a day of flying it and the entire fee lands against your program, which makes it one of the least risky purchases on this site.
A government-issued photo identification, plus documentation of citizenship or nationality where that applies. Under 49 CFR 1552.7 a flight training provider must establish, before any training begins, that you are a United States citizen or national, a Department of Defense endorsee, or a candidate holding a valid Determination of Eligibility.
A candidate under 49 CFR part 1552 needs a security threat assessment and a Determination of Eligibility from TSA before flight training begins. The application runs through the FTSP Portal and TSA processes complete applications within 30 days. It is unrelated to the FAA medical and the two proceed in parallel.
Usually within days, and it depends on scheduling rather than on paperwork. What you agree at enrolment is a tempo and a set of recurring slots, and that conversation is worth having carefully, because tempo governs the duration of a certificate and its cost alike.
Yes, by asking, and no reason is required. There are eleven instructors. Enrolment matches you to one of them for continuity, and a poor fit costs money for every hour it goes unaddressed. Raise it in week two rather than enduring it politely until month five.
None. Every private pilot program here includes books and training materials, and a headset can wait until you have flown two or three lessons and asked your instructor what to look for. Buying equipment before the first lesson is the most common way a new student wastes money.
Yes, and many people do. The private certificate, the instrument rating and the multi-engine class rating are sold separately at published figures, so you can finish a private certificate and stop cleanly, or add an instrument rating later. Nothing here progresses automatically.
You can, and we would rather you did not. An hour costs $229, and enrolling within a day puts all of it against your program, so flying first is close to free and it is the only way to find out how you take instruction before a deposit is involved.
The syllabus for the program you are enrolling in, and the training agreement including its refund terms. Both are handed over before payment rather than afterwards. Read the terms and refunds page first so you know which parts of that document are settled and which are still open.
What Enrolling Here Does And Does Not Commit You To
Enrolment is for the program you enroll in, at the figure fixed on that day, for the content that program states. There is no automatic progression to a further phase and there is no subscription. Nothing in it guarantees a certificate, an interview, a job or a salary.
Airline Pilot Flight School trains under part 61 of 14 CFR, at Van Nuys Airport. It is not an airline, it is not owned by one, and no carrier holds a cadet program, pathway agreement or hiring arrangement with us.
No pass rate, no graduate count and no rating of any kind is published on this site. The operation is new, any such figure would come from a sample too small to mean anything, and inventing one is the easiest lie available in this industry. What is published instead is the syllabus, the price, the hours and the regulation behind each requirement.
The First Two Steps Happen Before You Commit To Anything
Book an hour in an airplane, and book a medical examination. Between them they settle whether this plan is available to you and whether you want it, and neither obliges you to enroll in anything at all.
Before And After Enrolling
Before You Enroll
Get Your Medical Before You EnrollTSA Flight Training ApprovalTerms And RefundsThe Assessment FlightWhat You Would Be Enrolling In
Every Program Price On One PageThe Airline Pilot Training ProgramInstrument RatingMulti-Engine RatingHow The School Works
Our InstructorsOur FleetPart 61 Training StructureFull Motion Simulator TrainingFly 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 →