Discovery Flight For Two Over Downtown Los Angeles (60 Minutes)

One of you flies. The other rides along with a headset on and hears every word of it. Sixty minutes over Los Angeles in a real airplane, departing Van Nuys Airport, with an FAA-certificated instructor running the flight and downtown filling the windshield on the way home.

This is the flight most people book, and it is easy to see why. It costs $299 for the two of you rather than $229 for one, which makes the second seat the cheapest part of the day. It is a proper flying lesson rather than an air tour, so the person at the controls walks away with a logbook entry and an hour that counts toward a license. And it is shared, which is the part people actually remember. The passenger is not sitting behind glass on the ground with a phone. They are in the airplane, on the intercom, watching their friend or their partner or their kid fly over the Hollywood Sign.

No experience is needed, and neither is a medical certificate. Plenty of people book this having never been in a small airplane. Your instructor assumes exactly that and starts from the beginning.

How The Day Runs

You arrive at Van Nuys about fifteen minutes before your slot and meet your instructor. The two of you sit down for the pre-flight briefing — roughly five minutes covering what the controls do, what the instruments mean, what the route is and what you will be asked to do once you are airborne. Both of you sit in on it. The passenger is not parked in a waiting room.

Then you walk out to the airplane and do the walk-around together. This is the same pre-flight inspection every pilot in the world does before every flight: fuel drained and checked, oil level, control surfaces moved by hand, tires, lights, the whole airframe. Your instructor talks you through what they are looking at and why. It is the first genuinely useful thing you learn.

Headsets on, engine started, run-up done, and you taxi out. From the moment you are established in the climb, the controls are yours. The instructor is on them with you throughout and takes the radios so you can concentrate on flying the airplane. Your passenger hears everything on the intercom — the instruction, the tower, and you.

The Route Of Flight

You depart Van Nuys and turn out over the Sepulveda Basin, climbing toward the Mulholland ridge — the line where the San Fernando Valley stops and the city starts. Cross it and the whole basin opens up at once. The Hollywood Sign comes up on one side, Griffith Observatory a minute or so behind it, and then you follow the LA River east past Dodger Stadium on its hill. The last leg turns toward the downtown towers, normally between 2,500 and 3,500 feet, which is low enough to pick out individual streets and high enough to see the ocean sitting behind everything.

Air traffic control, the weather and the traffic in the basin all shape the exact track on the day, and your instructor will brief the plan before you get in and adjust it in the air if the airspace asks for it. What does not change is that you fly it. Late afternoon and early evening slots get the best light over the city; tell us when you call and we will point you at the good ones.

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 person at the controls, one riding along with a headset. There is no second ticket to buy and no per-person upgrade.
• The Pre-Flight Briefing — About five minutes on the ground, for both of you, before anything moves.
• The Walk-Around — The full pre-flight inspection, done with the instructor rather than watched from a distance.
• Sixty Minutes Of Flight Time — The stated hour is flight time. Allow around two hours at the airport from arrival to leaving.
• An FAA-Certificated Instructor — In the right seat for the whole flight, teaching, not narrating. They work the radios throughout.
• The Controls — Yours once you are in the climb. You will hold a heading and an altitude, roll into turns, and feel what changes when you add or reduce power.
• A Signed Logbook Entry — Dated, with the airplane and the time, signed by the instructor.
• Time Toward A Private Pilot License — This hour counts toward the flight time the FAA requires. If flying turns into a plan, this was the first entry.

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

Who Books This One

Couples, mostly, and parents flying with a son or daughter. Birthdays. Anniversaries. People who have wanted to do this since they were eight and finally have a reason. It also works well when one of you is genuinely curious about learning to fly and the other wants to see what they are getting into. And it is a good first step for a nervous flyer, because a small airplane with an instructor explaining every sound is a very different experience from row 34 of an airliner.

If you want to make it more of an occasion — a proposal, a group, a milestone birthday — have a look at groups, proposals and events and call us. We can usually help with timing and where people wait.

One Quick Check Before You Book

Free rescheduling up to 24 hours before, and if the weather says no, you do not pay. Nobody at You Fly LA has any interest in flying you in conditions that would make the flight unpleasant or the views invisible. The detail is on our weather and cancellation policy page.

Cleared For Departure

Book a slot online, or call and we will find one with you. We fly seven days a week, 10 AM to 7 PM, out of Van Nuys Airport. You will get a confirmation with the address, where to park and who to ask for at the desk. Wear something comfortable, bring sunglasses, and bring a phone — the person in the passenger seat usually ends up taking the photographs, which is one more reason to bring somebody.

Worth reading before you come: what to expect on your discovery flight, our discovery flight FAQ, and flying out of Van Nuys Airport if you have never been to the field.

The Other Flights

• Discovery Flight In Los Angeles — the same hour, one seat, $229.
• Malibu Coast Discovery Flight For Two — ninety minutes over the Santa Monica Mountains, Point Dume and Zuma, $399.
• Luxury Cirrus SR22 Discovery Flight — the same route in a glass-panel Cirrus, $499 for one flyer or $599 with a passenger.
• Full-Motion Flight Simulator Experience — indoors, no weight limit, never weather-canceled, $189.