{"product_id":"instrument-rating-course","title":"Instrument Rating Course At Van Nuys Airport","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"apfpd\"\u003e\n\u003cstyle\u003e.apfpd{font-family:'IBM Plex Sans',-apple-system,'Segoe UI',Roboto,sans-serif;color:#0B0F14;line-height:1.6;max-width:900px}.apfpd h2{font-size:1.6rem;font-weight:650;margin:0 0 .4em;letter-spacing:-.01em;color:#0B0F14}.apfpd h3{font-size:1.06rem;font-weight:650;margin:1.5em 0 .35em;color:#151C24}.apfpd p{margin:.5em 0}.apfpd .apfld{font-size:1.06rem;color:#151C24}.apfpd ul{margin:.5em 0 .5em 1.1em;padding:0}.apfpd li{margin:.28em 0}.apfpd .apfsp{border-left:3px solid #C8862B;padding:.15em 0 .15em .9em;margin:1.2em 0}.apfpd .apffig{font-family:'IBM Plex Mono',ui-monospace,SFMono-Regular,Menlo,monospace;font-variant-numeric:tabular-nums;font-weight:600}.apfpd .apfstd{border:1px solid #E2DED7;border-radius:10px;padding:.9em 1.1em;margin:1.5em 0;background:#F4F2EE}.apfpd .apfstd h3{margin-top:0}.apfpd .apfkv{border-collapse:collapse;margin:.9em 0;width:100%;max-width:620px}.apfpd .apfkv td{border-bottom:1px solid #E2DED7;padding:.42em .6em .42em 0;vertical-align:top;font-size:.96rem}.apfpd .apfkv td:first-child{color:#6E7681;width:44%}.apfpd .apfhon{border:1px solid #CFC9BF;border-radius:10px;padding:.9em 1.1em;margin:1.5em 0}.apfpd .apfhon h3{margin-top:0}\u003c\/style\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003ePhase two: the rating that makes the certificate useful\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"apfld\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"apffig\"\u003e$11,700\u003c\/span\u003e, fixed. An instrument rating is the difference between a certificate that works on good days and one that works on most days, and on a career track it is not optional — it is the prerequisite the rest of the sequence is waiting on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ctable class=\"apfkv\"\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePrice\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"apffig\"\u003e$11,700\u003c\/span\u003e, fixed\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePrerequisite\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eA private pilot certificate\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAircraft\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePiper Warrior, Piper Arrow II or Diamond DA20\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSimulator\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eRedbird MCX time built into the course\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eIncludes\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFlight training to the practical test standard, one-to-one ground instruction, written-exam preparation, stage checks and checkride preparation\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAircraft rate inside the program\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"apffig\"\u003e$179\u003c\/span\u003e an hour, wet, single-engine\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eRunning total\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"apffig\"\u003e$15,900\u003c\/span\u003e for the Comprehensive private program plus \u003cspan class=\"apffig\"\u003e$11,700\u003c\/span\u003e here\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eField\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eVan Nuys Airport (KVNY), Van Nuys, CA 91406\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat the rating actually teaches\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFlying an airplane accurately by reference to instruments while somebody talks to you, and making decisions from a weather picture rather than from a window. Holds, precision and non-precision approaches, and cross-country flying inside the air traffic system rather than around it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Los Angeles basin is a good place to learn the system half of that. The airspace is dense, the clearances are real, and a student who can work a busy frequency here is not going to be intimidated anywhere else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe downside of learning instruments in Southern California, which nobody advertises\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou will log very little actual instrument time. The same weather that gives Van Nuys 355 flyable training days a year — counted from NOAA ASOS records over the year ending 1 August 2026 — is weather that produces almost no cloud to fly inside. Most of your instrument time here is simulated, under a hood or in the Redbird MCX.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is good for tempo and bad for experience, and it means a newly rated instrument pilot from this field should be conservative about their first real approach in cloud. We say so during the course rather than after it. The marine layer that sits over the basin on May and June mornings is the one reliable source of the real thing, and we schedule around it deliberately.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere the simulator earns its place\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn approach can be flown, stopped, repositioned and flown again in the Redbird MCX in the time a single attempt takes in the airplane. For procedure work and instrument scan, no part of the rating costs less to learn. It is poor for landings, which is why we do not use it for them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStaying current afterwards\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rating does not maintain itself. Recent experience for carrying passengers, and for commanding an aircraft under instrument flight rules, is set out in 14 CFR 61.57, and an instrument rating that lapses is a rating you have to spend money to get back. Plan the currency flying into the year after the checkride, not into the month you notice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"apfsp\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSouthern California gives you tempo and takes away actual instrument conditions. Both halves are true.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"apfstd\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFacts behind the course\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe 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.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThere 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.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn enclosed, motion-based Redbird MCX, FAA-approved, is part of the operation rather than an add-on to it. Priced at \u003cspan class=\"apffig\"\u003e$189\u003c\/span\u003e when booked by itself.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e355 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.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo quote to request and no range to interpret. Program prices are fixed, published, and the same for everyone who walks in.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePart 61, stated plainly. The curriculum, the prices and the hours are published; a pass rate and a graduate count are not, because there is no honest one to print yet.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"apfhon\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStated plainly, because the name invites the question\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe train under Part 61. There is no airline behind this school, no cadet program, no pathway agreement and no hiring relationship with any carrier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo employment is promised or implied by anything on this page. We do not publish a pass rate, a placement figure or a graduate count, and we will not until there is a real one to publish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrice, syllabus, hours and the applicable regulation: those are published, and they are what a decision should be made on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Airline Pilot Flight School","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52957458039101,"sku":null,"price":11700.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/flightschool.la\/products\/instrument-rating-course","provider":"Airline Pilot Flight School","version":"1.0","type":"link"}