Flight Training And Discovery Flights At Van Nuys Airport
Learn To Fly In Los Angeles. Take The Controls Today.
Discovery flights where you take the controls, and every rating from Private Pilot to the airlines — with every hour and every dollar in writing before you start.
Learn To Fly In Los Angeles With An Experienced Van Nuys Team.
A modern fleet, FAA-certificated instructors, an FAA-approved full-motion simulator and fixed, all-in pricing — at one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. If you are still choosing where to train, our guide to how to compare flight schools here sets out what to score. What flight training in Los Angeles involves covers the syllabus stage by stage, and the aviation school route is the degree-based alternative to both.
Book A Free Consultation
Pick A Rating. See Every Hour And Every Dollar.
Each stop is a course, priced all-in, with the aircraft, simulator, instruction and ground hours listed. These are You Fly LA's own prices.
The License Everything Starts From
Fixed, all-in packages with every aircraft, simulator, instruction and ground hour listed. Every price here is ours.
What's Your First Flight?
Tap one — we'll show your flight. Pick a duration, then choose your time. Booking runs through our scheduler on the product page, and the weight check happens before the calendar opens.
The Route
An Hour Over Los Angeles, Landmark By Landmark
Sixty minutes out of Van Nuys Airport: past Universal Studios, the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory, one full circle around Downtown LA, then west along the north side of SoFi Stadium and LAX to the coast, up the shoreline from Venice Beach to Malibu and home over the hills. Your instructor takes off and lands. You fly 50–80% of it.
- About 1 Hour From Van Nuys
- You Fly 50–80%
- From $229 All-In
- No Experience Needed
The San Fernando Valley Over The Wing 01Instructor Takeoff
Van Nuys Airport
Takeoff From Van Nuys
Your instructor handles the takeoff from Van Nuys, one of the busiest general aviation airports anywhere, and explains what is happening the whole way up. Clear of the pattern, you take the controls.
Universal Studios Hollywood From The Air 02You’re Flying
Universal Studios
The Studio Lots From Above
Your first landmark, only a few minutes out. From the air the studio lots are a small city of soundstages and backlots, with the theme park perched on the hill above the freeway.
The Hollywood Sign On Mount Lee 03You’re Flying
Hollywood Sign
Level With The Letters
You fly past the Hollywood Sign close to the height of the letters, a view that belongs to pilots, with the radio tower on the summit and the San Gabriel Mountains beyond.
Griffith Observatory From The Air 04You’re Flying
Griffith Observatory
The White Domes Over The Basin
Griffith Observatory sits on its ridge in Griffith Park with the entire Los Angeles basin spread out behind it, all the way to the ocean on a clear day.
Circling The Downtown Towers 05You’re Flying
Downtown LA
One Full Circle Around The Towers
You come in from the south and fly one complete counterclockwise circle around the Downtown skyline, so the towers pass off your wing from every side with the mountains behind them.
SoFi Stadium From Just North 06You’re Flying
SoFi Stadium
The Stadium Off Your Left Wing
The route passes just north of SoFi Stadium and never crosses over it. The translucent roof of the Rams and Chargers home slides past your left wing.
LAX From The North Side 07You’re Flying
LAX
Airliners On Approach Beside You
Off your left wing, airliners line up on final for LAX, one of the busiest airports on Earth. You stay north of the airport the whole time and never fly over it.
Venice Beach Over The Wing 08You’re Flying
Venice Beach
Turn Right At The Ocean
The boardwalk, the skate park and the wide beach, then a right turn to follow the shoreline north with Santa Monica Bay opening up ahead of you.
Santa Monica Pier From The Air 09You’re Flying
Santa Monica Pier
The Ferris Wheel Below
The pier and its Ferris wheel go by beneath you with surf breaking along the beach, a scene from a hundred films, now seen from your own airplane.
The Malibu Coast At Sunset 10You’re Flying
Malibu
Where The Mountains Meet The Sea
You follow the coast past Pacific Palisades to Malibu, where the Santa Monica Mountains fall straight into the Pacific and Pacific Coast Highway traces the shore.
Back Across The San Fernando Valley 11You’re Flying
Warner Center
Back Over The Hills
A turn north over the Santa Monica Mountains brings you to Warner Center in Woodland Hills, then east across the San Fernando Valley with Van Nuys lined up ahead.
12Instructor Landing
Back At Van Nuys
Your Instructor Lands, Then You Debrief
You walk away with your first signed logbook entry. Enroll in a course within 24 hours and the full cost of your flight is credited toward your training.
Book Now · From $229
Typical route, flown without landing anywhere but Van Nuys. Weather and air traffic control set the final path on the day.
Not A Ride. Your First Lesson.
On an air tour you are a passenger. On a discovery flight you are the student pilot: you fly the climb, the turns and the cruise, your instructor handles the radios and the landing, and the hour is logged in your name. It is the same first hour whether you book it as a discovery flight in Los Angeles or as the first lesson of the pilot school programs that follow it.
Read The Minute-By-Minute Guide
This Is What Learning To Fly Looks Like.
Real students, real instructors, real airplanes — all photographed on our ramp at Van Nuys Airport.
Meet Your Training Fleet.
Pick an airplane to see the cockpit, the numbers and the courses it is built for — then book a discovery flight in that exact aircraft. Every airplane flies at your standard course rate unless you choose an upgrade by the hour.
One Fleet. One Paint Scheme. Zero Guesswork.
Every airplane you see here is the airplane you will train in — no bait-and-switch, no waiting list for the good one.
Not Sure Where To Start? We'll Match You In A Minute.
Full Motion, Indoors At Van Nuys.
An FAA-approved Redbird full-motion simulator with a real instructor beside you — takeoffs, turns, landings, even engine failures. Never canceled by weather, no weight limit, and the hours can count toward a certificate.
Los Angeles, The Way Pilots See It.
Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory, the Santa Monica Bay and the Malibu coast — every discovery flight is a sightseeing flight where you do the flying.
Don't Just Dream About Flying. Come See It Up Close.
Book A Free Consultation
Thirty minutes, in person. Sit in the airplane. Leave with a plan and a price.
Book A Discovery Flight
Take the controls over Los Angeles today. Enroll within 24 hours and it credits toward training.
Fill Out Enrollment
Already decided? Enrollment takes about a minute and locks your start date.
Call Us
(818) 330-1318. A real flight advisor answers, 9 AM – 9 PM, seven days a week.
Always Wanted To Fly? Let's Make It Real.
Come to the airport, meet an instructor, sit in the airplane you would fly, and ask every question you have.
- No question is too basic
- See if it's for you before you spend a dollar
- Leave with a plan, a timeline and a price
Simply Fill Out The Enrollment.
Pick the program, tell us when you want to start, and we'll call to confirm your first lesson and your instructor. A $2,500 down payment secures your spot on any course.
Loved On Google & Yelp
Reviews of the flight school these instructors and aircraft come from — the same team, the same airplanes, the same hangar at Van Nuys.