You Fly LA starts with one thing: discovery flights over Los Angeles from Van Nuys Airport. Not sightseeing tours, not charter, and not a discovery flight buried at the bottom of somebody's price list. The first flight, done properly, for people who have never flown a small airplane and want to find out what it is like — and the certificate courses that follow it, from private pilot to the airline program, for the people who decide they want more.
You Fly LA · Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) · 7900 Balboa Blvd, Main Terminal Unit 108, Van Nuys, CA 91406 · Open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week · (818) 330-1318 · Free rescheduling up to 24 hours before · if the weather says no, you do not pay.
Why The First Flight Comes First
Most flight schools treat the first flight as a lead-generation exercise. It gets a paragraph on a page about training packages, it is priced as a loss leader, and the hour itself is designed to end in a conversation about enrolling. That is a perfectly legitimate business, but it means the flight is not really the product.
Here the first flight is a product in its own right, not a sales appointment. The hour is built to answer one question — do you actually like this? — and nothing about it is engineered to move you toward something else. When you land you get a debrief and then you go home. If you want to talk about what learning to fly involves, ask and you will get an honest answer, including the parts that cost money. If you do not, that is the end of it.
The reason this matters is that plenty of people spend years assuming they would love to fly and discover in twenty minutes that what they really wanted was the view. Others walk out to the airplane politely curious and come back having decided something. Both of those are good outcomes, and a business that only profits from one of them cannot tell you so honestly.
What A Discovery Flight Is Here
A real flying lesson. You sit in the left seat — the pilot's seat — with a full set of controls in front of you. An FAA-certificated flight instructor sits on the right with an identical set and can take over instantly. You do the pre-flight walk-around with them, you hear Van Nuys tower on the headset, and from shortly after departure until we turn back toward the field you are the person flying the airplane.
The takeoff and the landing stay with your instructor. Those are the two phases with the least margin at a busy towered airport with jets in the pattern, and handing one to somebody on their first hour would be unfair rather than generous. Both are narrated with hands on the controls so you can see exactly what is happening. Everything in between is genuinely yours.
The hour goes into a logbook in your name, signed by your instructor, and it counts toward the flight time the FAA requires for a private pilot certificate under 14 CFR 61.109. A logbook is yours, not ours — if you fly with us once and then move to another state, that hour still counts and any instructor in the country will accept it. Nothing about it expires.
How We Price It
Every price on this site includes the airplane, the fuel, your FAA-certificated instructor, the headsets, the pre-flight briefing and the debrief afterwards. There is no fuel surcharge, no landing fee, no booking fee, no card fee and no headset rental. Nothing is added at the desk when you land, and tipping is not expected.
| Flight | Length | People | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery Flight In Los Angeles | 60 min | 1 | $229 |
| Discovery Flight For Two Over Downtown Los Angeles | 60 min | 2 | $299 |
| Malibu Coast Discovery Flight For Two | 90 min | 2 | $399 |
| Luxury Cirrus SR22 Discovery Flight | 60 min | 1, or 2 with a passenger | $499 ($599 with a passenger) |
| Full-Motion Flight Simulator Experience | 60 min | 1 | $189 |
Gift cards are available in thirteen amounts from $189 to $1,049, which lines up with every flight we sell. The full range is in the discovery flights collection.
Van Nuys, And Why We Fly From Here
Van Nuys Airport is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. Two parallel runways, a control tower, Class D airspace sitting underneath the Burbank Class C shelf, and a mix of traffic that runs from two-seat trainers through helicopters and air ambulances to business jets.
People assume a busy towered field is a harder place to have a first flight. It is the opposite. The pattern is disciplined because it has to be, the controllers deal with student pilots all day, and by the time you line up you have heard a dozen other aircraft do exactly what you are about to do. Radio work becomes an ordinary part of flying rather than a frightening extra bolted on later.
The geography is the other half of it. The Sepulveda Basin sits off the end of the field, the Santa Monica Mountains are six miles further on, and the Pacific is about fifteen. Within ten minutes of takeoff you can see the ocean on one side and the entire San Fernando Valley on the other. There is no long transit to somewhere worth looking at. More detail on our Flying Out Of Van Nuys Airport page. Students drive in from most of the metro to use it — over the hill from Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, down the 118 from Northridge, and west along the 101 from Thousand Oaks — and each of those pages has the route, the traffic that spoils it and a realistic door-to-door time.
Being fifteen miles inland with a ridge between us and the ocean also does more for your booking than anything else about the field: the marine layer that keeps coastal airports on the ground until midday in early summer often clears here hours earlier, and on many days never arrives at all. It is also part of why west-side students are looking inland: we have written up what the Santa Monica Airport closure means for flight training and where people are moving to.
The Airplanes
Most discovery flights are flown in the Piper Warrior PA-28-161, a four-seat low-wing trainer that is deliberately unexciting, extremely forgiving and stable enough to fly more or less straight while you work out what your hands are doing. Four seats are what make the flight for two possible, with a passenger in the back on the intercom hearing everything.
The two-seat Diamond DA20-C1 is the sporty alternative: bubble canopy, control stick, and visibility that is genuinely startling the first time you sit in it. The Cirrus SR22 on the luxury flight is the one people plan occasions around — glass cockpit, air conditioning, leather seats, and a whole-airframe parachute built into the structure rather than strapped to the occupants. Our Cirrus SR series reference covers that airframe in detail.
And the full-motion simulator sits indoors on the field, never cancels for weather, can be paused mid-maneuver, and has no weight limit at all. Specifications for everything are on The Airplanes You'll Fly.
The Things We Will Talk You Out Of
A business that recommends everything to everybody is not being useful. Three cases where we will say so before you pay:
- A diagnosed fear of flying. Aerophobia is a clinical condition rather than nerves, and a light aircraft is not exposure therapy. We will say on the phone that a qualified therapist is the right first call. Afterwards, the simulator is a far better first hour than an airplane, because it sits on the ground and can be stopped at any moment.
- You only want the view. A discovery flight prices in an instructor's full attention for the hour. You can absolutely book one and sightsee most of it — tell your instructor at the briefing and nobody will push you — but if you are certain you never want the controls, we will say that a tour is a better purchase.
- You are over the weight limit. One quick check: 180 lb per person and 360 lb combined in the Warrior, 200 lb and 400 lb combined in the Cirrus SR22, no limit in the simulator. These are aircraft certification limits and we cannot fly outside them for anyone. If you are close, call (818) 330-1318 before you book and we will find the flight that works.
How We Handle Weather
The pilot in command has final authority over whether a flight is safe to conduct, and that decision is not negotiable. If we stand a flight down for weather, maintenance or any other safety reason, we contact you as early as we can, move you at no cost, and your purchase stays valid.
The policy is one line and it has no exceptions buried in it: free rescheduling up to 24 hours before · if the weather says no, you do not pay. The seasonal detail, and advice on which slot to book in which month, is on our Weather And Cancellation Policy page.
Talking To Us
One number, answered by an instructor or the owner rather than a call center: (818) 330-1318, nine in the morning to nine at night, seven days a week, including weekends and holidays. Tell us what you want to do and we will tell you what it costs and what is realistic, in plain numbers.
Some things are genuinely better on the phone than through a booking form: a specific airplane, a specific time of day, a proposal you are trying to time, a nervous parent, a fifteen-year-old who has wanted this for years, or a question about whether you are close to a weight limit. All of those are one short conversation. Full contact detail and directions are on Contact You Fly LA.
Where To Start
If you are flying alone, the 60-minute Discovery Flight In Los Angeles at $229 is the one most people should book. If you want someone with you, the Discovery Flight For Two at $299. For an occasion, the Cirrus SR22 at $499 ($599 with a passenger) or the 90-minute Malibu coast run at $399. If you would rather start on the ground, the simulator at $189. And if you are buying for somebody else, a You Fly LA gift card lets them pick their own date and their own airplane.
Come And Fly With Us At Van Nuys
Sixty minutes in the left seat over Los Angeles, from $229. No experience, no license and no medical certificate needed. Call (818) 330-1318, 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week.
Book A Discovery Flight →Read next: What To Expect On Your Discovery Flight · Discovery Flight FAQ · Reviews · Groups, Proposals And Events · Learn To Fly In Los Angeles.