Malibu Coast Discovery Flight For Two (60 Minutes)

Sixty minutes, two seats, and the ocean rather than the city. You climb out of Van Nuys, cross the Santa Monica Mountains and come out over Santa Monica Bay, and from there the flight belongs to the coast. One of you flies it with an FAA-certificated instructor in the right seat. The other rides along with a headset and hears every word.

This is the short version of our Malibu flight, for anyone who wants the water without a two-hour afternoon. The hour does not reach Point Dume — that is what the ninety-minute flight is for — but it gets you a real stretch of Malibu shoreline and brings you home past the Hollywood Sign.

The Route Of Flight

Off Van Nuys and out over the Valley, then a climb across the Santa Monica Mountains, canyons underneath and the ocean showing up long before you reach it. You cross into Santa Monica Bay, turn northwest and follow the shoreline past Malibu with the surf line unrolling under your wing. Then inland over the mountains and home past the Hollywood Sign.

Weather, air traffic control and the marine layer shape the exact track, and your instructor briefs the plan on the ground. The coast is at its best in the late afternoon; say so when you call.

What The Number Buys

$299 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. No second ticket, no per-person surcharge.
• 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.
• Sixty Minutes Of Flight Time — Flight time, not time at the airport. Allow about two hours end to end.
• An FAA-Certificated Instructor — In the right seat throughout, teaching and working the radios so you can fly.
• The Controls — Yours once you are established in the climb, and for most of the coastal leg: heading, altitude, turns, power changes.
• A Signed Logbook Entry — Dated, with the airplane and the time, signed by the instructor.
• 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 guarantee a specific airframe on a specific 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. A marine layer sitting on the shoreline is a reason to move a booking rather than fly it. Our weather and cancellation policy spells out how that works.

Cleared For Departure

Book online or call us. We fly seven days a week, 9 AM to 9 PM, from Van Nuys Airport. Your confirmation has the address, the parking and who to ask for. Bring sunglasses — over water they matter more than you would think — and a phone.

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

Longer On The Coast

• Malibu Coast Discovery Flight For Two (90 Minutes) — plus Point Dume and Zuma, and more time at the controls, $399.
• Malibu Coast Discovery Flight For Two (120 Minutes) — the fullest coastal run, with room to change the plan on the day, $499.
• Discovery Flight For Two Over Downtown Los Angeles — the same hour flown over the city instead, $299.