Discovery Flight From Los Angeles To Camarillo For A Lunch Event For Two
A round trip with a landing at the far end
$699 for two people, out of Van Nuys to Camarillo and back, with time on the ground in between. What makes it worth the money is not the lunch. It is the landing at an airport that is not yours.
| Price | $699 for two |
| Route | Van Nuys (KVNY) to Camarillo (KCMA) and back |
| Aircraft | A single from the training fleet |
| Who is flying | One of you, from the left seat |
| What is logged | Dual instruction received, for the person flying |
| Lunch | Not included. Venue prices vary and we do not mark them up. |
| Published weight limit | 180 lb per person, 360 lb combined |
| Booking | Date confirmed by us, weather permitting |
Why a second airport is the point
Everything about your home field eventually becomes furniture. You know the pattern, the frequencies, the taxiways and where the sun will be. Flying to a different towered field forces you to do the work properly: plan a route, get the weather for a destination, listen to an unfamiliar ATIS, find a runway you have not seen before and put an airplane on it.
Cross-country flying is where a private pilot certificate stops being an exercise and starts being transport. 14 CFR 61.109 requires cross-country time for exactly that reason, and this trip is a demonstration of what that requirement is actually protecting against.
What the day looks like
Planning and preflight at Van Nuys, a departure to the northwest, a leg over terrain that separates the basin from the Oxnard plain, an arrival and landing at Camarillo, and a stop on the ground. Then the same problem in reverse, which is a different problem, because the weather has moved and so has the sun.
Your instructor is pilot in command and takes the takeoffs and the landings. You fly the legs.
Being straight about the lunch
You buy your own. We do not resell food and the $699 is the flying. If the weather closes the route we move the date rather than fly it badly, and that is not a negotiation.
The value in this trip is the second airport, not the meal at it.
Operating facts
- We bought the airplanes rather than renting them from private owners, so the maintenance decisions are made here. 14 CFR 91.409(b) puts an airplane that gives instruction for hire on a 100-hour inspection interval, and that bill lands on us.
- There are eleven instructors, which is enough that a full schedule does not stall on one person's diary. Every one meets the same standard: CFI, commercial certificate or ATP, current medical.
- An enclosed, motion-based Redbird MCX, FAA-approved, is part of the operation rather than an add-on to it. Priced at $189 when booked by itself.
- 355 training days a year, taken from NOAA ASOS records at this field and judged against a stated minimum of 3,000 ft and 5 sm.
- No quote to request and no range to interpret. Program prices are fixed, published, and the same for everyone who walks in.