How Long Is A Beginner Flying Lesson?

The Two-Hour Booking

Two hours is the slot you reserve and the slot your instructor blocks out for you. Nothing inside it runs on a meter, so a slow taxi or a question that takes ten minutes to answer costs you nothing.

Lessons start any day between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. A five o'clock start finishes its debrief around seven, and the school stays open until nine, so nobody is moving you along.

The $249 simulator lesson runs on the same two hours: thirty minutes of ground, ten setting up the Redbird MCX cockpit, about seventy in the simulator and ten to debrief.

Thirty, Ten, Seventy, Ten

The thirty and the seventy are the two numbers that matter. The rest is housekeeping.

Seventy minutes is what is left of a two-hour booking once the ground lesson, the walk-around and the debrief have had their share. It is also about as much new information as anyone takes in on a first flight before it stops going in.

What You Do With The Seventy Minutes

You steer the taxi with your feet on the rudder pedals, not with your hands. Over the practice area above Simi Valley and the Santa Susana Mountains, the airplane is yours: straight and level, climbs, descents and medium turns, with your instructor talking you through each one.

What stays with your instructor is the radio, the checklist read-out and anything that happens quickly. They keep a hand loose on their side of the controls the whole time, which is how dual instruction works and not a comment on you.

Our guide to the Simi Valley practice area covers where the airwork happens and why we go there.

What Goes In Your Logbook

The flight goes into a logbook as dual instruction received, signed by your instructor with their certificate number beside it. That page is the first page of your flight time whether or not you ever come back.

14 CFR 61.109 sets the floor for a private certificate at 40 hours of flight time, including at least 20 hours of training with an instructor and 10 hours of solo. Your first lesson counts toward the forty and toward the twenty.

When The Lesson Runs Long Or Short

The price does not move either way. Van Nuys is one of the busiest general-aviation airports in the world, and if the tower sends you around or a departure queue eats ten minutes, that is our problem. Nothing is added at the desk.

Weather is decided on the morning, at the 9 AM weather call, and if the weather says no, you do not pay. You can reschedule free up to 24 hours before your slot. Call (818) 330-1318 and we will find you another day.

If you come back early, because the air is rougher than forecast or because you have had enough, the time you flew still goes in your logbook. Your instructor spends the difference on the ground, going back through what you saw.

If the weather worries you more than the flying does, the two-hour simulator lesson is $249, and the Redbird MCX does not care what the wind is doing.

How Long The Certificate Takes From Here

Forty hours is the regulation, and it is a floor rather than an average. Our Private Pilot Standard course is $10,400 and is built around 38 hours in the airplane, 2 in the simulator, 30 of dual instruction and 3 of ground. Our $15,400 course plans 55 hours in the airplane, and the $22,000 Premium plans 70, with 60 of them dual.

You do not need a medical certificate for this lesson. You need one before you fly the airplane by yourself, under 14 CFR 61.87 and 61.23. The FAA lets you solo at sixteen and hold a private certificate at seventeen.

Once you hold the certificate, 14 CFR 61.113 is the paragraph that says what you may do with it. You may carry passengers and share the operating costs with them. You may not fly for hire.

Picking Your Day And Season

Our weather and cancellation policy gives the same seasonal advice to everyone who books. In June, book an afternoon, because of the marine layer. From July to September, the smoothest air is early in the morning or near sunset, which on our lesson calendar means the first starts of the day or the last.

Autumn brings Santa Ana days, when the wind blows strong and gusty. Winter is the best flying season of the year here.

Book the next lesson before you leave. Between lessons, the Redbird TD2 desktop trainer is $90 an hour on its own and free inside a course package, which keeps the procedures fresh without spending airplane time.

Questions About Lesson Length

Can I Book A Shorter Lesson?

Not in this format. The airplane lessons are two hours because the thirty minutes of ground is what makes the flying make sense.

When Should I Arrive?

About fifteen minutes before your slot, with a photo ID, closed-toe shoes and sunglasses. We lend the headsets.

How Long Does The Written Exam Take?

Two hours at the testing center, and it costs about $175 at PSI. You can sit it once your instructor has signed you off for it, and it is easier to get out of the way early than to leave it sitting next to the checkride.

How Many Hours Does A Sport Pilot Course Take Instead?

Our Sport Pilot course is $8,400 and plans 25 hours of flying, all of it in the Cessna 162, with 3 hours in the simulator, 25 of dual and 10 of ground. It is the shorter road if you never need to carry more than one passenger.

How Much Simulator Time Can I Count Later?

Up to 50 hours in the Redbird MCX count toward a commercial certificate, and 20 of the 40 hours of instrument dual can be flown in it. The simulator is an FAA-approved AATD, which is why the hours stand up.

How Long Do I Have To Claim The Credit?

Twenty-four hours from your lesson. Enroll inside that window and the full lesson price comes off your course. Package money is not refundable afterward, but unused credit transfers to another student, so nothing is stranded.

Keep Reading

• Beginner flying lessons at Van Nuys Airport, with the five lessons, the prices and what is included.
• What happens on a beginner flying lesson, the same two hours told in order, from the parking lot to the logbook.
• What a beginner flying lesson costs, with the $349 taken apart.
• One day flying lessons in Los Angeles, for what you can get done in a single day on the field.
• What ongoing flight training costs at Van Nuys, with hourly rates and course prices past the first lesson.