Full-Motion Flight Simulator In Los Angeles

A full-motion flight simulator is the closest you can get to flying an airplane without leaving the ground. At You Fly LA, based at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY), you can book an hour in an FAA-approved full-motion simulator for $189 — with a real flight instructor in the seat beside you, no weight limit, and no chance of the weather sending you home.

This page explains what a full-motion simulator actually is, how the motion is produced, how it compares with fixed-base simulators and home flight-sim setups, how simulator time can count toward a pilot certificate, what an hour with us looks like, and how to rent one for a corporate event, a team day, a birthday or a film shoot.

What A Full-Motion Flight Simulator Actually Is

A flight simulator is a machine that reproduces the behavior of a specific airplane closely enough that flying it teaches you something real. The word "simulator" gets used loosely — it covers everything from a game on a laptop to a multi-million-dollar airline device — so the useful distinction is not the software but the hardware around you.

A full-motion simulator adds physical movement to the picture. The cockpit sits on a platform that tilts, pitches, rolls, heaves and yaws in response to your control inputs. When you pull back on the yoke, you do not just see the horizon drop on a screen — you feel the seat push into your back. When you bank left, your inner ear reports that you are banking left. When you land firmly, you feel the thump through the airframe.

Inside the cockpit, the controls are physical hardware, not a desktop joystick: a yoke or side-stick with real control feel, rudder pedals with toe brakes, a throttle quadrant, trim, flap and gear controls, an avionics stack you have to actually program, and circuit breakers and switches in the places they occupy in the airplane. The visual system wraps around the windscreen so that the outside world fills your peripheral vision rather than sitting in a rectangle in front of you.

How The Motion Is Generated

Modern general-aviation motion platforms use electric actuators — servo-driven legs beneath the cockpit that extend and retract under computer control, dozens of times per second. Older and larger devices used hydraulics; electric actuators have largely replaced them at this size because they are quieter, quicker to respond, cheaper to run and far more precise at small amplitudes.

The flight model calculates the accelerations the airplane would be experiencing at that instant. A motion-cueing algorithm then decides how to reproduce those accelerations inside a platform that can only travel a limited distance. It does this in two ways:

• Onset cues. The sharp first part of an acceleration — the jolt of touchdown, the kick of a gust, the initial pitch as you rotate — is reproduced directly by moving the platform quickly in the right direction.
• Sustained cues via tilt. A platform cannot accelerate forward forever, so to simulate sustained acceleration it tilts you back and lets gravity do the work. Your body reads the pull as forward acceleration. The tilt is applied slowly enough that you never notice the platform rotating — this is called washout, and it is the single cleverest trick in simulation.

The result is that your vestibular system and your eyes agree with each other. That agreement is what makes a full-motion simulator feel like flying rather than like watching flying.

The Cues A Pilot Actually Feels

Pilots talk about "seat-of-the-pants" flying, and it is not a figure of speech. A large part of airplane control is closed-loop feedback through the body. In a full-motion device you get:

• The pitch change as you rotate for takeoff and as you flare for landing
• Roll onset when a gust lifts a wing, so you correct before you have consciously read the instruments
• The sink you feel in the moment before a hard landing, which is the cue that teaches the flare
• Buffet and airframe shake approaching a stall
• The yaw of an engine or rudder input, which is how you learn to keep the airplane coordinated
• Runway rumble, brake feel and the deceleration of the rollout

Why Motion Matters For Training

On a fixed-base simulator you learn procedures: checklists, radio calls, instrument scans, navigation, emergency flows. Those are genuinely valuable and a large share of pilot training is exactly that. What a fixed-base device cannot teach is timing — the physical judgment of when to flare, how much rudder a crosswind needs, or how quickly to react when a wing drops.

Motion supplies that timing. It also does something a screen cannot: it makes the experience real enough to be useful for people who are anxious about flying, because the body has to go through the sensations rather than just observing them.

Full-Motion Vs Fixed-Base Vs A Home Flight-Sim Setup

Here is an honest comparison. A home setup is a genuinely good thing to own — it is just answering a different question.

What An FAA-Approved Simulator Is

Not every simulator is recognized by the FAA. The ones that are fall into categories, and the category determines how the time can be used.

• BATD — Basic Aviation Training Device. The entry level of FAA-approved devices. Approved for a limited amount of instrument training and instrument currency, with an instructor.
• AATD — Advanced Aviation Training Device. A higher standard, with a more faithful flight model, more complete controls and avionics that match a specific airplane. AATDs are approved for a larger share of instrument and, in some cases, other training credit.
• FTD and Full Flight Simulator. The airline-grade categories, certified to represent one specific aircraft type. These are the devices used for type ratings.

Our device is an FAA-approved full-motion simulator. Because the exact credit that applies depends on the device category, the certificate or rating you are working toward, and the training program you are enrolled in, we are deliberately not printing a credit-hour table here. Your instructor will confirm on the day exactly how your hours can be logged and applied. If logging time toward a certificate is your main reason for booking, say so when you call — we will make sure an instructor is assigned who can log it properly.

How Simulator Time Can Count Toward A Certificate

In general terms, time in an FAA-approved training device must be given by an authorized instructor and logged with the device's identification and approval details to count. It is most commonly used for instrument training and instrument currency, where practicing approaches, holds and partial-panel work in a device is both cheaper and more productive than doing it in the airplane. Many pilots also use device time to stay sharp between flights, to rehearse an unfamiliar airport, or to work through emergency procedures that cannot safely be practiced in flight.

What An Hour In Our Simulator Is Like

Sixty minutes, one seat, one instructor. Here is the shape of it.

• Arrival and briefing (about 10 minutes). You meet your instructor at Van Nuys Airport. They ask what you want out of the hour — a first taste of flying, help with a fear of flying, a specific skill, or just fun — and build the session around your answer. You get a walkthrough of the cockpit: what each control does, what the instruments are telling you, and how the motion platform behaves.
• Startup and taxi (about 5 minutes). You run the checklist, start the engine, call for taxi and steer with your feet. Steering an airplane with rudder pedals is the first thing that feels genuinely foreign to most people, and it is worth the few minutes it takes to get used to it.
• Takeoff (about 5 minutes). Throttle full forward, hold the centerline, rotate. This is the first moment the motion platform earns its keep — you feel the airplane come off the ground.
• Airwork (about 20 minutes). Climbs, descents, level turns, and then whatever you want. Most first-timers want to fly somewhere recognizable, so we set up over Los Angeles and fly the Hollywood Sign, downtown, the coast toward Malibu, or the Santa Monica Mountains. Pilots working on a rating spend this block on approaches, holds or instrument work instead.
• Something you could not do in a real airplane (about 10 minutes). This is the part people remember. We can put you in weather that is legally and physically off-limits in a real training flight, fail an instrument, drop the visibility to minimums, or reposition you onto a short final at an airport on the other side of the world. Nothing is at stake, so you can push at the edges.
• Landings (about 10 minutes). Approach, flare, touch down. Then we reset you on final and you do it again — which is the real advantage of a simulator, because in an airplane every landing costs you a full circuit of the pattern.
• Debrief. Your instructor walks you through what you did well and what to work on, and answers the question almost everyone asks at the end: what would it take to actually learn to fly.

Renting A Full-Motion Simulator For Groups And Events

The simulator can be booked as a block for a group rather than as single sessions, which makes it a good fit for a range of events. Because it never gets canceled by weather and has no weight limit, it is the easiest aviation experience to plan around — everyone who shows up gets to fly.

Corporate Events And Team Days

Rotating a team through the simulator gives every person a turn in the seat and gives everyone else something to watch, which is more than most team activities manage. Landing competitions work particularly well: same airplane, same runway, same weather, and a scoreboard. We can run a group through in a rotation and scale the session length to the size of the team.

Birthdays And Private Parties

Popular for kids and teenagers, and the practical answer for anyone under our airplane weight limits — the simulator has no weight limit at all, so nobody is excluded. It is also the right choice for a birthday that has to happen on a specific date, since it will not be moved by the weather.

Film, TV And Content Production

A full-motion cockpit is a working, controllable set piece: the motion, the avionics, the outside visuals and the weather are all under your direction. If you are producing something that needs a cockpit, call us and describe the shoot.

Turnkey Simulator Experiences For Events

If you are planning a trade-show stand, a conference activation, a school group, a scout troop or a client-appreciation day, we can put together a turnkey session: a set block of time, an instructor running it, and a format that suits your group. Tell us the number of people and the time you have, and we will build a rotation around it.

Who The Simulator Suits

• Nervous flyers. Fear of flying is usually fear of not understanding what the airplane is doing. An hour where you are the one making it happen, with an instructor explaining every noise and movement, changes the relationship. You can also repeat the parts that worry you as many times as you like.
• Anyone over our airplane weight limits. Our airplanes have limits — 180 lb per person and 360 lb combined in the Piper Warrior, 200 lb and 400 lb in the Cirrus SR22. The simulator has no weight limit, so it is open to everyone.
• Kids. Younger children who are below the weight for a comfortable airplane flight, or simply too small to reach the controls well, can fly the simulator without any of that mattering.
• Weather-canceled days. If your discovery flight gets moved by weather, the simulator is running regardless. Some people book both deliberately.
• People deciding whether to learn to fly. An hour in the simulator is the cheapest honest answer to "would I actually enjoy this?" before committing to lessons. If the answer is yes, read Learn To Fly In Los Angeles.
• Current and student pilots. Approaches, holds, emergency procedures, unfamiliar avionics and airport familiarization — all cheaper and more repeatable than in the airplane, and loggable when an instructor is running the session.
• Anyone who wants to try before a real flight. Do the simulator first, then the airplane. It is a genuinely good order to do them in.

How Much A Full-Motion Simulator Session Costs

There is one price and it includes the instructor. Free rescheduling up to 24 hours before your session. If you want to give it as a present rather than book a date, a gift card lets the recipient pick their own time.

Where To Find Us

We operate from Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) in the San Fernando Valley — 7900 Balboa Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406 . It is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world, which means there is plenty to watch while you wait and plenty of realistic traffic to fly alongside in the simulator. More about the field on our Van Nuys Airport page.

Common Questions

Do I Need Any Flying Experience?

No. Most people who book have never touched an airplane control. Your instructor sets the difficulty to match you.

Is There A Weight Limit?

No. This is the one experience we offer with no weight restriction at all.

Is There An Age Limit?

Children are welcome. If your child is small enough that reaching the rudder pedals is a question, mention their age when you book and we will plan around it.

Can Someone Watch?

Yes. Friends and family can watch and take photos.

Does It Get Canceled For Weather?

Never. That is the whole point of a simulator. Our real flights follow our policy of free rescheduling up to 24 hours before, and if the weather says no, you do not pay — but the simulator simply runs.

Will The Motion Make Me Sick?

Most people are fine. The motion is smooth and there is far less of it than a fairground ride. Tell your instructor if you are prone to motion sickness and they will fly it gently and give you the horizon to look at.

Can I Log The Time?

Time in an FAA-approved device, given by an authorized instructor, can be logged and applied within the limits that fit your training. Your instructor will confirm exactly how it applies to your certificate or rating on the day. Say when you book that logging matters to you.

Can I Rent It For A Group?

Yes — corporate events, team days, birthdays, school and scout groups, and film or TV production. Group bookings are arranged by phone on (818) 330-1318.

More answers on our FAQ page, and a walkthrough of your visit on What To Expect.