Every hour you fly with You Fly LA, you fly with an FAA-certificated flight instructor in the seat beside you. That is true on a sixty-minute discovery flight and it is true on the last lesson before a checkride. The instructors below are the people who teach at Van Nuys Airport across our family of schools, and they are the same instructors who fly the You Fly LA discovery flights and training programs described throughout this site. If you are weighing where to learn to fly in Los Angeles, the instructor matters more than the airplane, the price list or the brochure, so this page introduces them properly.
A word on what you will and will not find here. We list each instructor by first name, with what they teach and how they teach it, drawn from the hundreds of student reviews written about them. We do not publish logbook totals for every instructor because those numbers change every week and a stale figure is worse than none. Ask any of them in person and they will tell you exactly where they stand.
How We Match You With An Instructor
Matching is the first decision we make for every new student, and we make it deliberately rather than by whoever has a gap in the calendar. Three things drive it.
What you are here to do. A first-time flyer on a discovery flight needs an instructor who is exceptionally good at calming nerves and handing over the controls early. A private pilot student needs someone who can hold a syllabus together across three or four months. An instrument or multi-engine candidate needs an instructor with the specific ratings and the temperament for technical, procedure-heavy flying. We have people who excel at each of those, and we assign accordingly.
When you can fly. Consistency matters more than almost anything else in flight training. Two lessons a week with the same instructor beats four lessons a month scattered among three. So we look at your availability first, then at which instructors can give you the same face at the same times, week after week.
How you learn. Some students want every step explained before it happens. Others learn by doing and want the explanation afterward. Some respond to a quiet, methodical cockpit; others want energy. After your free consultation or your first flight, we will have a good read on this, and if the first match is not right, say so. Changing instructors is normal, costs nothing and is never taken personally.
One more thing: you will not be reassigned mid-course to fill somebody else's schedule. The instructor who starts your private pilot training is the instructor who signs you off for the checkride, unless you ask otherwise.
Alex, Founder And Chief Flight Instructor
Alex founded the school and still flies with students every week. He has more than twenty years in the cockpit, with flying experience that stretches across the country from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, and he has personally taken students from a first nervous discovery flight all the way through the private certificate, the instrument rating, the commercial certificate, multi-engine training and high-performance endorsements. He is the instructor whose name appears in more reviews than anyone else's, and the reviews describe the same person every time: calm, direct, funny when it helps, and completely unwilling to pressure anyone into a package they do not need.
He flies everything on the ramp, including the Diamond, the Cirrus SR22, the Piper Seminole twin and the Redbird full-motion simulator, and he built the school around the idea that serious flight training should also feel personal and honest. More on his role below under Chief Instructor.
Joseph, Certificated Flight Instructor
Joseph, known to most of his students as Joe, is one of the most requested instructors at Van Nuys. He has a settled, professional manner that first-time flyers notice within a minute of meeting him on the ramp, and a talent for explaining the airplane, the controls and the Los Angeles airspace without ever burying a student in detail. He is a favorite for late-afternoon flights up the coast in the Diamond. Students who trained with him for their private certificate, and then came back for the instrument rating, describe a patient and genuinely gifted teacher.
Anthony, Certificated Flight Instructor
Anthony is the instructor students name when they talk about confidence. He is especially good with first-timers, with teenagers, and with students approaching their first solo, the moment where nerves tend to peak. His approach is to put the controls in your hands early and keep them there, while making sure that nothing about the flight ever feels unsafe. He is caring and reassuring in the cockpit without being soft on standards.
Noah, Certificated Flight Instructor
Noah makes flying look and feel easy. He is engaging, kind, and unusually good at reading a passenger's nerves and turning them into excitement before the airplane leaves the ground. He knows the best vantage points over the Hollywood Sign, downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium and the Malibu coastline, and he manages to fit the teaching in around them so that a discovery flight is both a lesson and a genuinely memorable hour.
Francis, Instrument And Multi-Engine Instructor
Francis is the instructor students lean on when training gets technical. He teaches the instrument rating and multi-engine work, including the school's Piper Seminole twin, and he is built for it: patient, clear, and willing to walk through a procedure as many times as it takes for it to click. Students describe him as the person who makes an intimidating panel feel manageable. If you are heading for a career and need the ratings that come after the private certificate, you will likely fly with Francis.
Kayla, Certificated Flight Instructor
Kayla is the instructor a lot of students fall in love with aviation alongside. She keeps her passengers informed and comfortable through every phase of the flight, and she is known for routes that run from Los Angeles out to Malibu, often timed so the sun sets over the ocean on the way home. Reviewers describe flights with her as calming and thrilling at the same time, which is about the best thing anyone can say about a first lesson.
Adam, Certificated Flight Instructor
Adam brings a calm, friendly temperament together with real precision in the cockpit. His instructions are clear and easy to follow, and his flights have a smooth, well-organized feel from the briefing through the landing. Students describe him as highly professional but approachable, the kind of instructor who explains everything plainly so that nothing feels intimidating.
Ralph, Certificated Flight Instructor
From the moment the wheels leave the runway, Ralph's professionalism and enthusiasm for aviation are obvious. Students describe him as both an exceptional pilot and an exceptional teacher, which is a rarer combination than it sounds. He creates a comfortable learning environment for every level of student, from absolute beginners on a discovery flight to pilots pursuing serious training.
Logan, Certificated Flight Instructor
Logan is the instructor for the curious. He welcomes every question and answers it thoroughly, explaining not just what is happening at each stage of the flight but why. Students call him helpful and deeply knowledgeable, and they also point out that he balances the teaching with real fun, giving them the freedom to fly the airplane themselves for as much of the flight as possible.
Alexis, Certificated Flight Instructor
Alexis is the instructor students describe as someone they can fully trust, and that trust is exactly what gives a first-timer the courage to take the controls. He is patient and knowledgeable, answers every question, and keeps the experience hands-on from the moment you sit down, so that you feel like a pilot rather than a passenger.
Chief Instructor
Alex is the chief flight instructor. In practice that means three things for you as a student. He sets the standards that every instructor on this page teaches to, so that the syllabus, the maneuver tolerances and the checkride preparation are the same regardless of who is in the right seat. He reviews training progress, which is how a student who is stalling at a particular stage gets noticed and helped rather than left to burn hours. And he is the person to talk to about anything that is not working: an instructor match, a scheduling problem, a question about whether a package is the right one for you.
He also flies the stage checks. Before your first solo and before your checkride, an instructor other than your primary one flies with you and evaluates you honestly. It is one of the best safeguards a school can offer, because it catches gaps that a primary instructor who sees you every week can stop noticing.
Where You Will Fly With Them
Every instructor here teaches from our ramp at 7900 Balboa Blvd at Van Nuys Airport, seven days a week from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Depending on the program, you will fly the Piper Warrior, the Diamond DA20, the Cirrus SR20 or SR22, the Piper Seminole for multi-engine work, and the Redbird full-motion simulator. Discovery flights, the private pilot license, the instrument rating, the commercial certificate, the multi-engine rating and the flight instructor ratings are all taught by the instructors on this page. What each of those costs is set out on our page on flight school cost in Los Angeles.
Become An Instructor
We hire from our own graduates first. Students who complete the flight instructor course, and everyone who comes through the airline pilot career program, are reviewed for an instructor position on this ramp when they finish. Instructing here is the standard way our pilots build the hours an airline requires, and it is how several of the instructors above got started.
If you already hold a CFI and want to teach at Van Nuys, we are interested in hearing from you. We look for instructors who are patient, who can explain things in plain English, and who genuinely enjoy the first-flight experience as much as the technical work. Call (818) 330-1318 or use the contact page and tell us about your certificates, your time and your availability.
Meet Them In Person
Reading about instructors is a fine start. Flying with one is better. Book a sixty-minute discovery flight and you will spend the hour with one of the instructors above, your hands on the controls, over Los Angeles. If you would rather talk first, book a free consultation and we will match you with the right instructor for what you want to do. Either way, call (818) 330-1318 any day between 9 AM and 9 PM.