Flying a light airplane comes down to four controls. The yoke or stick moves the nose up and down and rolls the wings left and right. The rudder pedals at your feet keep the airplane pointing where it is going. The throttle sets engine power. The trim wheel takes the weight of the controls off your hand so you can fly with two fingers. Everything else in a first lesson is detail hanging off those four things.
You will use all of them yourself, in your first hour, with an instructor sitting beside you on a second set of controls. That is not a marketing promise; it is simply how flight training works. A discovery flight is a real lesson, logged as dual instruction toward a certificate, and the person in the left seat is you. If you want the local picture of what training involves after that first hour, start with learning to fly in Los Angeles.
This page explains how an airplane actually flies, in plain language and without the physics lecture, and then walks through the hour minute by minute.
The Four Forces, Without The Lecture
Four forces act on an airplane, and in steady level flight they balance in two pairs.
Lift pulls the airplane up and weight pulls it down. Lift comes from the wing moving through the air at an angle, and the amount of it depends on how fast the wing is going and how steeply it is tilted into the airflow. Thrust from the propeller pulls the airplane forward and drag holds it back. When lift equals weight and thrust equals drag, the airplane flies straight and level at a constant speed.
What makes this useful rather than abstract is what happens when you disturb one of them. Add power and you get more thrust than drag, so the airplane accelerates, which makes more lift, which makes it climb. Raise the nose and the wing meets the air at a steeper angle, which makes more lift and more drag at the same time, so the airplane climbs and slows down. Every control input changes at least two of the four forces, which is why flying is a continuous set of small adjustments rather than a set of switches.
You do not need to know any of this to fly the airplane on your first flight. You will understand it much better after you have felt it once.
Three Axes, Three Controls
An airplane can rotate about three axes, and there is one control for each.
| Axis | Motion | Control Surface | What You Do | What You See |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lateral, wingtip to wingtip | Pitch | Elevator, on the tail | Pull the yoke back or push it forward | The nose rises or falls against the horizon |
| Longitudinal, nose to tail | Roll | Ailerons, on the wings | Turn the yoke left or right | One wing drops, the other rises |
| Vertical, through the cabin roof | Yaw | Rudder, on the tail fin | Press the left or right foot pedal | The nose swings sideways |
The part that is not obvious is that you almost never use one on its own. A turn is made with the ailerons, but rolling into a bank makes the nose want to slide the wrong way, so a little rudder goes in at the same time to keep it straight. Banking also tilts some of the lift sideways, so a little back pressure on the yoke keeps the nose from dropping. A good turn is three small, simultaneous inputs, and learning to blend them is most of what the first few lessons are about.
Pitch, Power And The Thing Everyone Argues About
There is an old argument in flight training about whether pitch controls altitude and power controls airspeed, or the other way around. The practical answer is that they are coupled and you use both, but in the phase of flight where it matters most, the approach to land, the useful habit is: pitch for airspeed, power for the descent path.
Sitting high on final and fast? Reduce power. Low and slow? Add power and lower the nose slightly to hold the speed. Chasing the runway with the yoke alone is how students end up slow and steep, and it is the single most common thing an instructor will take out of your hands in the first few hours.
The Trim Wheel Is The Control You Will Underuse
Between the seats, or on the panel, there is a wheel or a small crank marked nose-up and nose-down. It does not fly the airplane. It removes the control pressure you are holding, so that the airplane stays where you put it without you pushing or pulling.
A properly trimmed light aircraft will fly straight and level with your hands off the yoke. Almost every new student grips hard, fights the control pressure and finishes the lesson with a sore forearm. The fix takes about three seconds: set the attitude you want with the yoke, then roll the trim until the pressure goes away, then let go and see what the airplane does. Instructors bring this up constantly because it is the difference between wrestling an airplane and flying one.
What Actually Happens In Your First Hour
The Briefing, About Fifteen Minutes
Your instructor sits down with you and covers what you are going to do, how the controls work, what the route looks like on a chart, and what to expect from the noise, the radio and the feel. You will be shown where the seat belt, the door handle and the fire extinguisher are. You get a headset. Ask everything you want at this point; there are no stupid questions at hour zero.
The Preflight Walkaround, Ten Minutes
You walk around the airplane with a checklist and physically inspect it: fuel quantity by looking in the tanks, fuel quality by draining a small sample and checking it for water, oil level on a dipstick, control surfaces moving freely, tires, brakes, the propeller, the antennas and the static ports. The checklist is not optional and your instructor will use it the same way on their thousandth flight as on their first.
Starting, Taxiing And The Run-Up
The engine start is a short checklist and a key. Then comes the first genuinely strange thing: on the ground you steer with your feet. The nosewheel is connected to the rudder pedals, and the yoke does nothing useful until you are moving fast enough for the air to act on the control surfaces. Almost everyone over-steers for the first minute and then has it.
Before the runway you stop in a run-up area, hold the brakes and bring the engine to a higher power setting to check the magnetos, the carburetor heat or alternate air, the engine instruments and the propeller control if the aircraft has one. Then a final checklist, a radio call, and you line up.
The Takeoff
Your hand will be on the throttle with your instructor's over it, and your other hand on the yoke. Full power, feet working to keep the airplane straight down the centerline, and as the airspeed comes alive the controls go from limp to firm. At rotation speed you ease back and the airplane leaves the ground, usually before you expected it to. Van Nuys has two parallel runways, 16R/34L at 8,001 ft and 16L/34R at 4,000 ft, so there is a lot of concrete in front of you.
The Climb And The Departure
Nose on a climb attitude, wings level, feet holding the nose straight against the propeller's tendency to pull it left. Out of the pattern you will be handed off and cleared to leave the Class D airspace, and within a few minutes the San Fernando Valley is laid out below you.
Level Off, And Then It Is Yours
Somewhere around 2,500 to 3,500 ft your instructor levels off, trims, and says the words that surprise everybody: your airplane. From that point you are flying.
What you will actually do: straight and level, which is harder than it sounds because the airplane drifts and you correct in small amounts. Shallow turns left and right, watching the nose track around the horizon. A climb and a descent. Possibly a demonstration of how the airplane behaves when you slow right down, so you can feel that it stays controllable and recovers by itself when the nose is lowered. And a lot of looking out of the window, which is both the point of the exercise and a large part of how a pilot flies.
The Route
From Van Nuys you are a few minutes from more recognizable scenery than almost any training airport in the country. Depending on traffic and the weather you might see the Hollywood Sign and the Griffith Observatory, the Downtown skyline standing up out of the basin, the Santa Monica Bay and the Malibu coastline, or the Santa Monica Mountains running west. Our discovery flights from Van Nuys page covers the routes in detail.
The Return And The Landing
Your instructor will handle the radio work coming back into a busy Class D field, and will normally take the landing on a first flight, though you will keep your hands lightly on the controls to feel what they are doing. Some instructors will let you fly the approach down to a few hundred feet. Either way you will feel the airplane slow down, the nose come up, and the wheels touch.
The Debrief
Ten minutes on the ground afterwards: what you did, what the logbook entry says, and what the next lesson would cover. If you enroll within 24 hours, the flight is credited in full toward your training.
The Things That Surprise People
- How light the controls are. Most people expect to heave. A trimmed light airplane flies on fingertip pressure.
- How much you steer with your feet. On the ground it is all feet. In the air the feet do the fine work.
- How slow it feels. At 100 knots and 3,000 ft above the ground, the sensation is nothing like a car at speed. It feels calm.
- How loud it is without a headset, and how quiet with one. The intercom means you talk to your instructor in a normal voice.
- How busy the radio is. Van Nuys is one of the world's busiest general aviation airports. Your instructor handles it and you listen.
- How small the airplane feels from the inside and how solid it feels in the air. Turbulence in a light aircraft is bumpy rather than alarming, and it is not a structural event.
- How quickly an hour goes. Almost everyone lands saying it felt like twenty minutes.
What You Do Not Need To Know Yet
Nothing needs to be studied before a first flight. Not the instruments, not the regulations, not the weather theory, not the radio phraseology. Those arrive in order across a course of training, and trying to front-load them is the reason some people put off booking for years.
What helps is entirely practical: sunglasses, a light layer because it is cooler at altitude, a normal meal beforehand rather than an empty stomach or a heavy one, and reasonable sleep. Bring a phone or a camera for the view.
Nerves, Motion Sickness And Bringing Someone
Mild nerves are normal and usually gone by the time the wheels leave the ground, because there is too much to look at. If you are prone to motion sickness, keep your eyes outside on the horizon rather than on the panel, ask for smooth morning air rather than a hot afternoon, keep the air vent on you, and tell your instructor early rather than late. Sitting in the left seat where you are the one making the airplane move helps far more than people expect.
If you would rather bring someone, our discovery flights for two put a passenger in the back while you fly. Weight limits apply: 180 lb per person for the single-seat Warrior flight, 360 lb combined for a flight for two, 400 lb combined in the Cirrus, and no limit in the simulator.
What The First Hour Costs, And What It Counts For
| Option | Duration | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery flight, one person flies | 60 minutes | $229 | Logged as dual instruction; credited in full if you enroll within 24 hours |
| Discovery flight, one person flies | 90 minutes | $299 | More time out over the coast or the city |
| Discovery flight, one person flies | 120 minutes | $399 | The full tour, coast and basin |
| Discovery flight for two over Downtown | 60 / 90 / 120 minutes | $299 / $399 / $499 | One flies, one rides along |
| Full-motion simulator experience | 60 minutes | $189 | No weight limit; a good first step if you are nervous |
Related Reading
- What to expect on a discovery flight — the arrival, the timings and the practicalities of the day.
- Discovery flights from Van Nuys — routes, aircraft and booking.
- Learn to fly in Los Angeles — what happens after the first hour, and what it costs.
- Is becoming a pilot hard — where students actually struggle, and what fixes it.
- Aviation glossary — 150 terms you will hear in your first few lessons.
- How many flight hours to become a pilot — what your first logged hour is the start of.
How To Fly A Plane FAQ
Can A Beginner Really Fly The Plane On A First Lesson?
Yes. After the instructor levels off, the controls are handed to you and you fly straight and level, turns, climbs and descents yourself. The instructor has a duplicate set of controls and handles the takeoff, the radio and normally the landing.
What Are The Main Controls Of An Airplane?
The yoke or stick controls pitch and roll through the elevator and ailerons, the rudder pedals control yaw, the throttle sets engine power, and the trim wheel removes the control pressure so the airplane holds an attitude by itself.
How Do You Make An Airplane Turn?
Roll into a bank with the ailerons, add a small amount of rudder in the same direction to keep the nose from sliding, and add gentle back pressure to stop the nose dropping. Roll out with the opposite inputs. It is three small simultaneous actions, not one.
Is It Hard To Fly A Small Plane?
The basic control of a light aircraft is straightforward and most people do it competently within the first hour. The harder parts of becoming a pilot are landings, radio work, the written exam and flying often enough to keep the skills fresh.
Do You Need A License To Fly With An Instructor?
No. You may take instruction and handle the controls with a certificated flight instructor without holding any certificate. A student pilot certificate is needed before you fly solo, and a medical certificate is needed before solo as well.
What Does Pitch For Airspeed, Power For Altitude Mean?
On an approach, use the elevator to hold your target airspeed and use the throttle to control whether you are high or low on the descent path. Chasing the runway with the yoke alone tends to leave you slow and steep.
What Happens If The Engine Stops?
An airplane is a glider with the engine off. It descends at a shallow angle and remains fully controllable, and every pilot practices engine-failure procedures and forced landings from the first few lessons. A Piper Warrior glides at 73 knots and covers considerable distance from cruise altitude.
How Long Does It Take To Learn To Fly?
The legal minimum for a private pilot certificate is 40 hours under 14 CFR 61.109, and the realistic figure is 60 to 70 hours. In calendar terms that is three to twelve months, decided mostly by how many times a week you fly.
Come And Fly It Yourself
Reading about the controls is a poor substitute for putting your hands on them. A discovery flight is $229 for 60 minutes out of Van Nuys, you fly it from the left seat, it is logged as dual instruction toward a certificate, and it is credited in full toward training if you enroll within 24 hours. If you would rather ask questions first, book a free consultation or call (818) 330-1318. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406, open every day from 9 AM to 9 PM.