Discovery Flight For Two Over Downtown Los Angeles (120 Minutes)

One of you flies. The other rides along with a headset on and hears every word of it. Two hours over Los Angeles in a real airplane, departing Van Nuys Airport, with an FAA-certificated instructor running the flight. This is the fullest version of the city-and-coast route we offer.

Two hours is not the hour with more scenery bolted on. It is the city, the mountains and the coastline all the way to Point Dume and Zuma — and far more time with the flying half of the pair actually flying. An hour gives you a taste of the controls; two gives you long enough to be bad at something, be shown why, and then do it properly.

The Route Of Flight

You depart Van Nuys over the Sepulveda Basin and climb to the Mulholland ridge. Cross it and the basin opens at once: the Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory a minute behind it, then the LA River east past Dodger Stadium to the downtown towers at 2,500 to 3,500 feet.

From downtown you turn west across the Santa Monica Mountains and out over Santa Monica Bay, the pier beneath you. Northwest along the Malibu shoreline, around the Point Dume headland, back down the beach past Zuma and inland for home.

Two hours also buys flexibility. If the marine layer is on the coast there is time to fly the city and the mountains instead; if the light is good there is time to stay out west longer. Your instructor briefs a plan and can change it in the air, which a shorter slot does not allow.

What The Number Buys

$499 covers both of you, the airplane, the fuel and the instructor. Nothing is added at the desk.

• Two Seats — One at the controls, one riding along on the intercom, hearing the instruction and the radio calls.
• The Pre-Flight Briefing — About twenty-five minutes on the ground, for both of you.
• The Walk-Around — The pre-flight inspection every pilot does before every flight, done with the instructor.
• One Hundred And Twenty Minutes Of Flight Time — Flight time, not time at the airport. Allow about three hours end to end.
• An FAA-Certificated Instructor — In the right seat throughout, teaching and working the radios so you can fly.
• The Most Hands-On Time We Offer — Long legs mean holding a heading and an altitude long enough to get good at it, with room to repeat climbs, descents, level-offs and turns at real bank angles.
• A Signed Logbook Entry — Dated, with the airplane and the time: a 2.0-hour first entry.
• Time Toward A Private Pilot License — Every minute counts toward the flight time the FAA requires.

This flight is normally flown in a Piper Warrior PA-28-161, the trainer most American pilots learn in. We cannot promise a particular airframe on a particular day, but the Warrior is what to expect. Specifications are on our Piper Warrior PA-28-161 page.

One Quick Check Before You Book

Free rescheduling up to 24 hours before, and if the weather says no, you do not pay. See our weather and cancellation policy.

Cleared For Departure

Book online or call and we will find a slot with you. We fly seven days a week, 9 AM to 9 PM, from Van Nuys Airport. Your confirmation carries the address, the parking and who to ask for. Bring sunglasses and a phone; whoever is not flying ends up as the photographer.

Worth reading first: what to expect, our discovery flight FAQ, flying out of Van Nuys Airport, and discovery flights in Los Angeles.

Shorter Or Longer

• Discovery Flight For Two (90 Minutes) — city and near coast, no Point Dume run, $399.
• Discovery Flight For Two (60 Minutes) — the city route alone, $299.
• Discovery Flight In Los Angeles (120 Minutes) — two hours, one seat, $399.