Aircraft at You Fly LA cost $179 to $449 per hour inside a course package and $269 to $649 per hour at retail if you are renting or paying lesson by lesson. Instruction is $110 per hour, ground instruction is $110 per hour, the full-motion simulator is $120 per hour inside a package or $200 at retail, and complete courses run from $8,400 for a Sport Pilot certificate to $84,000 for the Airline Pilot Career Program. Every one of those numbers is published below, airplane by airplane and course by course, along with the three costs no flight school controls.
This is our own rate card at Van Nuys Airport, not an industry estimate. If you are still working out what flight training costs in general, and why two schools can quote figures thousands of dollars apart for the same certificate, read how much flight school costs first. For the arithmetic of a single dual lesson billed by the hour, see flight lesson cost per hour in Los Angeles. What follows is the price list those pages describe in the abstract.
Retail Rate Or Package Rate: Which Number Applies To You
Every airplane on our ramp has two published hourly rates, and the gap between them is not a discount in the retail sense. It is the difference between two ways of buying flying.
The retail rate is what you pay when you buy an hour at a time: a rental after your checkride, a pay-as-you-go lesson, a flight review, an insurance checkout, a currency flight. You commit nothing in advance, you can stop whenever you like, and you pay the posted hourly rate for the time flown.
The package rate is what the same airplane costs inside one of our fixed-price courses. Enrolling in a course means buying a defined block of aircraft time, instruction, ground and simulator up front on a payment plan, and the hourly value of the aircraft inside that block is substantially lower. A Cessna 162 that is $269 an hour at retail is $179 an hour inside a course. A Cirrus SR22 Turbo that is $649 at retail is $449 inside a course.
Neither number is the real price and the other a fiction. They are two different products. If you intend to earn a certificate and fly at least twice a week, the package column is your price list and the retail column is background. If you already hold a certificate and want an airplane for an afternoon, the retail column is your price list and the packages are irrelevant. The one thing that never works is comparing our package rate against another school's retail rate, or the reverse. That comparison is meaningless, and it is the most common way people talk themselves into the wrong school. Our page on block time versus pay-as-you-go works through which model suits which student.
Every rate on this page is wet, meaning fuel is included. You do not buy avgas separately and there is no fuel line added to the invoice after a hot afternoon with a long taxi. Dry rates, which some operations quote because the headline number looks smaller, leave you buying your own fuel at whatever the FBO charges that week.
Aircraft Rates: Every Airplane, Package And Retail
| Aircraft | Qty | Engine And Cruise | Avionics | Seats | Package $/Hr | Retail $/Hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cessna 162 Skycatcher | 5 | 100 hp Continental O-200-D, 118 kt | Garmin G300 glass | 2, high wing | $179 | $269 |
| Piper Warrior PA-28-161 | 2 | 160 hp Lycoming, about 128 kt | IFR-equipped | 4, low wing | $179 | $269 |
| Diamond DA20-C1 | 2 | 125 hp Continental IO-240 | Garmin 430 | 2, stick, bubble canopy | $229 | $329 |
| Piper Arrow PA-28R | 1 | 200 hp Lycoming IO-360, about 135 kt | Garmin 430, retractable gear, constant-speed propeller | 4 | $229 | $349 |
| Piper Seminole PA-44-180 | 1 | Two 180 hp counter-rotating engines, 162 kt | Garmin 430 | 4 | $449 | $649 |
| Cirrus SR22 Turbo | 1 | 310 hp turbocharged, 215 kt, certified to FL250 | Cirrus Perspective glass, CAPS parachute | 4 | $449 | $649 |
Cessna 162 Skycatcher: $179 Package, $269 Retail
Five of them, registered N60225, N7030B, N6039M, N179LC and N5208V, which is the single most useful fact on this page. Five identical airframes of one type means a canceled airplane is almost never a canceled lesson, and it is the reason our Sport Pilot and Private Pilot students hold a twice-weekly rhythm rather than losing a fortnight to one maintenance event. The Skycatcher is a two-seat, high-wing, 100-horsepower design with a Garmin G300 glass panel, which means students learn on the same kind of display they will meet in almost every modern airplane. It is the cheapest way to build real hours in our fleet and it is the aircraft behind the Sport Pilot course.
Piper Warrior PA-28-161: $179 Package, $269 Retail
Two Warriors, N3034Q and N6312C. Four seats, low wing, a 160-horsepower Lycoming and around 128 knots in the cruise, IFR-equipped so the same airframe carries a student from a first lesson through to instrument training. The fourth and third seats are the practical difference from the Skycatcher at the same hourly rate: a Warrior can carry a passenger, which matters for the discovery flight for two and for the cross-country flying that fills the back half of a private pilot course.
Diamond DA20-C1: $229 Package, $329 Retail
Two of them, N306EF and N308EF. A two-seat composite airplane with a control stick instead of a yoke, a bubble canopy and a 125-horsepower Continental IO-240 behind a Garmin 430. The $50 an hour it costs above a Warrior inside a package buys visibility and control response that make it the aircraft most students prefer for commercial maneuvers, and it is certificated in the utility category, which is why our spin training runs in it rather than in anything else on the ramp.
Piper Arrow PA-28R: $229 Package, $349 Retail
One airplane, N316EF, and the only complex aircraft in the fleet: retractable landing gear, a constant-speed propeller and a 200-horsepower Lycoming IO-360 turning about 135 knots, with a Garmin 430 in the panel. It exists to satisfy two specific requirements: the complex training inside commercial pilot flying and the complex endorsement under 14 CFR 61.31(e). Full specifications are on the Piper Arrow PA-28R page.
Piper Seminole PA-44-180: $449 Package, $649 Retail
One twin, N311EF, with two 180-horsepower counter-rotating engines and 162 knots in the cruise. It is the airplane behind the seven-day multi-engine rating, behind MEI training, and behind multi-engine time building for pilots chasing airline minimums. At $449 an hour inside a course it is the most expensive hour we sell in a package, and it is also the shortest course we run, which is why the total lands at $5,100 rather than somewhere frightening.
Cirrus SR22 Turbo: $449 Package, $649 Retail
One airplane, N422SN: 310 turbocharged horsepower, 215 knots, certificated to FL250, Cirrus Perspective glass and the CAPS whole-airframe parachute. Inside a package it is a $270 an hour upgrade over a Warrior or Skycatcher, which is what the Turbo Cirrus Private Pilot course at $23,400 reflects. At retail it is the airplane for high-performance endorsements under 14 CFR 61.31(f), Cirrus transition work and the luxury discovery flight.
Instruction, Ground And Simulator Rates
| Item | Package Rate | Retail Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Flight instruction, in the aircraft or the simulator | Included in the course | $110 per hour |
| Ground instruction, one to one | Included in the course | $110 per hour |
| Redbird MCX full-motion simulator, FAA-approved AATD | $120 per hour | $200 per hour |
| Redbird TD2 desktop procedures trainer | Free with packages | $90 per hour |
| Books, charts and course materials | Included in the course | Bought separately |
Instruction is a single rate. It does not go up because you are flying a twin instead of a Skycatcher, and it does not go up because your instructor also happens to hold a multi-engine instructor certificate. Ground instruction is billed at the same $110 an hour as flight instruction, which is the honest way to price it, because an hour spent on the whiteboard working through a weight and balance problem is worth more to most students than the same hour in the air.
The simulator is the number people underestimate. Our Redbird MCX is a full-motion, FAA-approved advanced aviation training device with single- and multi-engine profiles, and the regulations let you count real hours in it: up to 50 creditable hours toward the Commercial certificate, and 20 of the 40 hours of instrument dual required for an instrument rating. At $120 an hour inside a package against $449 for the Seminole, a multi-engine student who does engine-out drills in the simulator first is not cutting a corner, they are arriving at the airplane already knowing the procedure.
Course Prices: Every Package We Sell
| Course | Price | What The Block Contains | Payment Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport Pilot | $8,400 | 25 hrs aircraft, 3 hrs simulator, 25 hrs dual, 10 hrs ground | $2,500 down, then 3 x $1,966 |
| Private Pilot, Standard | $10,400 | 38 hrs aircraft, 2 hrs simulator, 30 hrs dual, 3 hrs ground | $2,500 down, then 4 x $1,974 |
| Private Pilot, Comprehensive | $15,400 | 55 hrs aircraft, 5 hrs simulator, 50 hrs dual, 10 hrs ground | $2,500 down, then 6 x $2,150 |
| Private Pilot, Premium | $22,000 | 70 hrs aircraft, 10 hrs simulator, 60 hrs dual, 20 hrs ground | Ask for the current plan |
| Turbo Cirrus Private Pilot | $23,400 | 38 hrs in the SR22 Turbo | Ask for the current plan |
| Instrument Rating | $11,700 | 20 hrs aircraft, 20 hrs simulator, 40 hrs dual, 10 hrs ground | $2,500 down, then 4 x $2,300 |
| Commercial Pilot | $15,400 | 30 hrs aircraft, 20 hrs simulator, 50 hrs dual, 30 hrs ground, 130 program hours | Ask for the current plan |
| Multi-Engine Rating | $5,100 | 8 hrs Seminole, 2 hrs simulator, 10 hrs dual, 2 hrs ground, 7 days | $2,500 down, then 2 x $1,300 |
| Flight Instructor: CFI, CFII And MEI | $15,400 | 20 hrs single-engine, 8 hrs multi, 2 hrs simulator, 30 hrs dual, 50 hrs ground | Ask for the current plan |
| Airline Pilot Career Program | $84,000 | About 9 months, 260 logged hours, every rating through MEI | From $2,500 down, financing up to 15 years |
| Teens Pilot Course, ages 10 to 15 | $4,200 | 10 hrs flight, 3 hrs simulator, 7 hrs classroom | $2,500 down, then $1,700 |
Read the third column as carefully as the second. A course price only means something next to the block of hours it buys, and the reason our Private Pilot certificate is sold in three sizes is that students arrive with different amounts of time available. The Standard package is built around 38 hours of aircraft time, which is close to the 40-hour legal minimum in 14 CFR 61.109 and is realistic for somebody flying three times a week. The Comprehensive is built around 55 hours, which is what a student flying twice a week usually needs. The Premium is built around 70 hours, and it is the right choice for anybody who can only get to the airport once a week or who wants the certainty more than the saving. Choosing the package that matches your actual calendar is worth more than any hourly rate on this page.
How The Payment Plans Work
Most courses start with $2,500 down and continue in equal monthly installments, interest-free, taken directly by us for up to twelve months. Longer terms run through a third-party training lender at up to fifteen years on a soft credit check. Nothing on this page requires you to pay the full course price before your first lesson, and the down payment is the only large single number in the sequence. The detail sits on flight training financing.
Endorsements And Add-On Training
| Item | Aircraft | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Complex endorsement, 14 CFR 61.31(e) | Piper Arrow PA-28R | $999 |
| High-performance endorsement, 14 CFR 61.31(f) | Cirrus SR22 Turbo | $1,799 |
| Spin training and CFI spin endorsement, 14 CFR 61.183(i) | Diamond DA20-C1, 3 hrs aircraft plus 2 hrs simulator and classroom | $2,000 |
| Flight review, 14 CFR 61.56 | Your choice of type | Aircraft at retail plus $110 per hour instruction |
| Instrument proficiency check, 14 CFR 61.57(d) | Aircraft or simulator | Aircraft or simulator at retail plus $110 per hour instruction |
| Aircraft checkout for renters | By type | Aircraft at retail plus $110 per hour instruction |
The two endorsements with a fixed price are fixed because the training is a known quantity. Neither 14 CFR 61.31(e) nor 61.31(f) sets a minimum number of hours; both require ground and flight training from an authorized instructor, a finding of proficiency and a one-time logbook endorsement. What the fixed price buys you is the removal of the open-ended meter, which is the thing that makes pilots put these endorsements off for years. The regulation detail is on complex and high-performance endorsements.
Everything else in that table is billed the honest way: airplane at the retail rate, instructor at $110 an hour, for as long as it takes. A flight review requires a minimum of one hour of ground and one hour of flight training under 14 CFR 61.56, and at Van Nuys most reviews run longer than the minimum because the airspace deserves the attention.
Discovery Flights And Experiences
| Experience | 60 Min | 90 Min | 120 Min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery Flight, one person flies | $229 | $299 | $399 |
| Discovery Flight For Two, over Downtown | $299 | $399 | $499 |
| Malibu Coast Discovery Flight For Two | $299 | $399 | $499 |
| Luxury Cirrus SR22 Discovery Flight For Two | $399 | $549 | $699 |
| Full-Motion Simulator Experience | $189 | Not offered | Not offered |
A discovery flight is a flying lesson, not a ride. You fly it from the left seat with an instructor beside you, and it is logged as dual instruction. If you enroll in a course within 24 hours of the flight, the full price is credited toward your training, which makes a $229 discovery flight the cheapest possible way to find out whether you want to spend $10,400.
What Is Not Included In Any Price On This Page
Three costs in flight training are charged by somebody else, and no honest school quotes them inside a course price because no school sets them. They are the difference between a course price and a certificate price, and they add up to roughly $1,100 to $1,400 for a private pilot.
| Cost | Charged By | Typical Amount |
|---|---|---|
| FAA medical certificate, 14 CFR 61.23 | An Aviation Medical Examiner | Roughly $120 to $200 |
| FAA knowledge test, 2.0 hours | A PSI testing center | About $175 |
| Practical test, the checkride | A Designated Pilot Examiner | Roughly $800 to $1,000 |
| Retest after an unsatisfactory checkride | The examiner, again | Charged again in full |
| Headset | A retailer | Roughly $150 to $1,100 |
| Renter insurance, for pay-as-you-go renters | An aviation insurer | Quoted per pilot and aircraft |
Books, charts and course materials are the exception: they are included in our packages rather than sold to you afterwards. If you are paying at retail rather than enrolling in a course, you buy your own, and that is a real difference between the two columns that the hourly numbers do not show.
The examiner's fee is the one that surprises people, and it is worth understanding why it sits outside the course price. A Designated Pilot Examiner is a private individual authorized by the FAA to conduct practical tests, not an employee of the school or of the FAA, and they set their own fee. We have written the whole picture up on DPE checkride fees and wait times in Southern California, and the full list of costs that sit outside a quoted course price is on the hidden costs of flight training.
A Worked Example: Private Pilot On The Standard Package
Take a student who can fly three times a week, enrolls in the Private Pilot Standard package at $10,400 and finishes close to the hours the package contains. The course price covers 38 hours of aircraft time, 2 hours in the simulator, 30 hours of dual instruction and 3 hours of one-to-one ground, plus books and materials. On top of that they pay an Aviation Medical Examiner roughly $150 for a third class medical, about $175 to PSI for the knowledge test, and somewhere between $800 and $1,000 to the examiner on checkride day. Add a mid-range headset at about $400. The realistic all-in total is around $11,900 to $12,100.
Now take the same certificate bought an hour at a time at retail. At $269 for a Skycatcher or Warrior and $110 for the instructor, a dual hour is $379 and a solo hour is $269. A student who flies the same 38 hours, of which 30 are dual and 8 solo, pays $11,370 for the flying alone, plus $110 an hour for every ground briefing, plus books, plus the same third-party fees. The package is not a marketing device. At the same number of hours it is the cheaper product, and the difference widens the more ground instruction you use.
The number that changes this arithmetic is not the hourly rate, it is how often you fly. A student who manages one lesson a week will not finish a private certificate in 38 hours, and the honest response to that is to enroll in the Comprehensive package at $15,400 rather than to buy the Standard and pay retail for the overrun. That is the conversation to have before you enroll, not after. Fixed-price flight training sets out exactly what happens when a student needs more hours than a package contains.
A Worked Example: Renting At Retail After Your Checkride
A certificated private pilot who wants to take two friends to Santa Barbara for lunch rents a Warrior at $269 an hour wet. Two hours up the coast with a stop, two hours back, and the day costs about $1,076 in aircraft time with nothing added for fuel. The same trip in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo at $649 an hour is quicker and more comfortable and costs roughly $1,900. The Skycatcher at $269 does not carry three people, which is why seats matter as much as rate when you are choosing.
Renting also carries terms. Renter's insurance with at least $50,000 of coverage is required before any solo rental, and the renter is responsible for damage up to a $5,000 deductible. Overnight and multi-day rentals are billed at a minimum of three hours for each calendar day, fuel bought away from base is credited at our wet rate when you show the receipt, and a late return is billed at the aircraft's hourly rate. All of it is set out on our refund, enrollment and rental policies page.
Before any of that you need a checkout in the type, and for a retractable-gear airplane like the Arrow you need the complex endorsement as well. What a checkout involves, what currency you must hold under 14 CFR 61.56 and 61.57, and what documents to bring are all on aircraft checkout requirements for renters. The local picture for hourly rental is on rent a plane in Los Angeles.
How To Compare Another School's Quote Against This Page
Rate cards are easy to make look cheap, and the techniques are always the same four. Knowing them turns a confusing set of quotes into a straight comparison.
- Wet or dry. A dry rate excludes fuel. A trainer burning 8 to 10 gallons an hour at Los Angeles avgas prices carries a real fuel cost per hour, so a dry rate is not comparable with anything on this page until you add it.
- Hobbs or tach. Hobbs time runs whenever the engine is running, including taxi and the run-up. Tach time runs proportionally to engine speed and accumulates more slowly on the ground. A school quoting a low rate on Hobbs and a school quoting a higher rate on tach can end up at the same invoice, so ask every school you are comparing, including us, which meter the rate bills against.
- Instruction inside or outside. Some quoted hourly rates are aircraft only and some include the instructor. At $110 an hour that is a large difference on a 30-hour dual course.
- What the package block actually contains. A cheaper package with fewer hours inside it is not cheaper, it is smaller. Compare hours to hours before you compare dollars to dollars.
Then ask the question that rate cards never answer: how many airplanes of the type you will fly does the school operate, and how many students share them. We publish quantities and tail numbers in the table above for exactly that reason. Five Skycatchers and two Warriors is a schedule you can hold. One airplane of a type is a schedule that stops the week it goes in for an inspection, and lost weeks cost more than any hourly rate difference, because skills decay between lessons and the hours pile up. Our comparison of questions to ask a flight school covers the rest of the checklist.
Related Reading
- How much does flight school cost gives the national picture and the cost per certificate.
- Block time versus pay-as-you-go explains which of the two rate columns should be yours.
- The hidden costs of flight training covers every fee that sits outside a course price.
- Fixed-price flight training sets out what a package covers and what happens if you need more hours.
- Aircraft rental at Van Nuys Airport is the guide for pilots renting rather than training.
- Flight training financing covers deposits, installments and training loans.
Flight School Rates FAQ
What Are Flight School Rates At Van Nuys In 2026?
Aircraft run from $179 per hour inside a course package to $449 per hour for the Seminole or the Cirrus SR22 Turbo, and from $269 to $649 per hour at retail. Flight and ground instruction are both $110 per hour, the full-motion simulator is $120 per hour inside a package and $200 at retail. All aircraft rates are wet, so fuel is included.
Why Are There Two Different Prices For The Same Airplane?
The package rate applies inside a fixed-price course, where you buy a defined block of aircraft time, instruction, ground and simulator up front on a payment plan. The retail rate applies when you buy an hour at a time with no commitment. A Cessna 162 is $179 an hour in a package and $269 at retail. They are two products, not a discount.
What Is The Cheapest Way To Learn To Fly At Van Nuys?
The Sport Pilot course at $8,400 is the lowest complete course price, built around 25 hours of aircraft time in the Cessna 162. For a private pilot certificate the lowest realistic total is the Standard package at $10,400, and reaching it means flying at least three times a week so that you finish near the hours the package contains.
Do Your Rates Include Fuel?
Yes. Every aircraft rate on this page is wet, which means fuel is included in the hourly figure and there is no separate avgas charge on your invoice. Compare carefully against any school quoting a dry rate, because that number excludes fuel entirely.
Is The Instructor Included In The Aircraft Rate?
No. Instruction is $110 per hour and is billed separately at retail, so a dual lesson in a Warrior at retail is $269 for the aircraft plus $110 for the instructor. Inside a course package the instruction hours are part of the fixed price, along with ground instruction, simulator time and course materials.
What Is Not Included In A Course Price?
The FAA medical certificate at roughly $120 to $200, the FAA knowledge test at about $175, and the Designated Pilot Examiner's fee at roughly $800 to $1,000, plus a headset. Books, charts and course materials are included in our packages. A retest after an unsatisfactory checkride is charged by the examiner again in full.
How Much Does It Cost To Rent An Airplane At Van Nuys?
Retail rental rates are $269 per hour for a Cessna 162 Skycatcher or a Piper Warrior, $329 for a Diamond DA20-C1, $349 for the Piper Arrow, and $649 for the Piper Seminole or the Cirrus SR22 Turbo, all wet. You need a checkout in the type first, along with a current medical or BasicMed qualification and a flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months.
Can I Pay Monthly For A Flight Training Package?
Yes. Most courses start at $2,500 down followed by equal monthly installments, interest-free, taken directly by us for up to twelve months. A third-party training lender offers terms up to fifteen years on a soft credit check if you want smaller payments over longer. Package purchases are final and we do not refund them; unused credit transfers to another student or to a discovery flight.
Is Aircraft Time Billed On Hobbs Or Tach?
Ask us, and ask every school you compare us against, because the answer changes what the same posted rate costs you. Hobbs time runs whenever the engine is running, including taxi and the run-up, while tach time accumulates more slowly on the ground. Confirm the billing meter for your specific aircraft in writing when you enroll or open a rental account.
Get A Price For Your Own Plan
The fastest way to turn this rate card into a number that applies to you is an hour in the airplane. A discovery flight is $229 for 60 minutes, you fly it from the left seat, it is logged as dual instruction, and the full price is credited toward your training if you enroll within 24 hours. If your question is which package fits the time you actually have, book a free consultation and we will work through it with you. Call (818) 330-1318 any day between 9 AM and 9 PM. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406, on Van Nuys Airport.