Discovery Flight In Los Angeles (90 Minutes)

Ninety minutes in a real airplane over Los Angeles, with your hands on the controls and an FAA-certificated instructor beside you. The extra half hour over our one-hour flight is not padding: an hour is enough to see the city, while ninety minutes gets you over the Santa Monica Mountains and out to the coast as well, and gives you far more time actually flying the airplane.

No experience is needed and no medical certificate. You meet your instructor, brief, walk out to the airplane and go through it together, then taxi out and fly. Ninety minutes is long enough for the airplane to stop feeling like something happening to you and start feeling like something you are doing.

The Route Of Flight

You lift off from Van Nuys and turn out over the Sepulveda Basin, climbing toward the Mulholland ridge. Cross it and the basin opens up: the Hollywood Sign below your left wing, Griffith Observatory a minute later, then the LA River east past Dodger Stadium toward the downtown towers at 2,500 to 3,500 feet. That is the whole of the sixty-minute flight; here it is the first half.

From downtown you turn west, cross the Santa Monica Mountains and come out over the water: Santa Monica Bay, the pier beneath you, then northwest toward Malibu with the surf line unrolling under the wing. Then inland over the canyons and home.

Air traffic control and weather shape the exact track, and ninety minutes leaves room to adjust it in the air. Late afternoon slots get the best light.

What The Number Buys

$299 covers the airplane, the fuel and the instructor. Nothing is added at the desk.

• The Briefing — About five minutes on the ground: what the controls do, what the instruments say, what the plan is.
• The Walk-Around — The pre-flight inspection every pilot does before every flight, done with the instructor.
• Ninety Minutes Of Flight Time — Flight time, not time at the airport. Allow about two and a half hours end to end.
• An FAA-Certificated Instructor — In the right seat throughout, teaching and working the radios so you can fly.
• More Time At The Controls — The real difference. You fly the city legs, the crossing to the coast and the run up the shoreline, with time to try climbs, descents and turns at different bank angles.
• A Signed Logbook Entry — Dated, with the airplane and the time: a 1.5-hour first entry rather than a 1.0.
• Time Toward A License — Every minute counts toward a private pilot license.

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. See our weather and cancellation policy.

Cleared For Departure

Book online or call us. We fly seven days a week, 10 AM to 7 PM, from Van Nuys Airport. Your confirmation carries the address, the parking and who to ask for. Bring sunglasses and a phone, and arrive fifteen minutes early.

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 In Los Angeles (60 Minutes) — the city route alone, $229.
• Discovery Flight In Los Angeles (120 Minutes) — the same plus the coast up to Point Dume and Zuma, and the most hands-on time we offer, $399.
• Discovery Flight For Two (90 Minutes) — the same flight with a second seat, $399.