One Airport · Every Neighborhood · Van Nuys Airport (KVNY)
Essence Flight School trains pilots from all over Los Angeles at a single campus: 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite D3, at Van Nuys Airport. Whether you drive in from Encino, Santa Monica, Thousand Oaks, Pasadena or Long Beach, you fly the same 20 school-owned aircraft, with the same instructors and the same full-motion simulator.
We have one location, and it is at Van Nuys Airport. There is no satellite office in Santa Monica, no second base in Torrance and no franchise in Ventura County. What we do have is a central spot in the San Fernando Valley that sits close to three major freeways: the 405, the 101 and the 118, with the 170 and the 134 a short hop east. That geography is why a single airport serves such a wide circle of students.
This page is the map for that circle. Below you will find every area page we publish, grouped by region, with notes on how people from each part of Los Angeles typically reach us and what they usually come to train for. If you already know your neighborhood, jump straight to its page. If you are still deciding whether the drive makes sense, read on: the short answer is that most students fly two or three times a week, pick lesson times that dodge rush hour, and find the commute becomes part of the routine within a month.
Your First Flight
Every discovery flight starts at Van Nuys, and the route covers a wide slice of the city, so most students can point out something close to home. Your instructor handles the takeoff and landing; you fly most of the time in between. Every flight includes the full loop, coast included, and weather and air traffic control set the final path. From $229 for one, $299 for two, $499 for the Luxury Cirrus flight and $499 for the Multi-Engine flight in the Seminole.
Every flight includes the full route. Enroll within 24 hours of your flight and its full cost is credited toward your training.
For Valley residents, Van Nuys Airport is the neighborhood airfield. Students from Encino and Sherman Oaks often arrive in well under fifteen minutes off-peak, and Tarzana, Woodland Hills, Northridge, Canoga Park, West Hills, Porter Ranch and Granada Hills sit a short run up Balboa, Victory or the 405. That proximity changes how training works. A Valley student can fit a lesson before work, take a ground session at lunch and come back for a night flight, which is one reason Valley students often keep the tightest schedules we see.
Valley students also tend to start young. Our Teen Flight Training course for ages 10 to 15 is popular with families from the west and north Valley, and plenty of high school juniors and seniors begin private pilot training here so they can solo at 16 and take the checkride at 17.
Interactive Hangar
Every region trains on the same fleet: 20 aircraft, and Essence Flight School owns every single one outright. No leasebacks, no borrowed airplanes and maintenance handled in-house. The fleet runs from the light-sport Cessna 162 Skycatcher and the Diamond DA20 to the four-seat Piper Warrior, the complex Piper Arrow, the Cirrus SR22 Turbo and the twin-engine Piper Seminole. Cockpits are set up consistently across the fleet, so moving from one airplane to the next as you add ratings feels familiar rather than like starting over.
Light Sport Trainer
Four-Seat Trainer
Two-Seat Trainer
New · Discovery Flight For One
A sports car with wings: bubble canopy, center stick and quick, nimble handling. Just you and your instructor.
$349All-In · 60 Min · For One
Complex Airplane
High-Performance Flagship
Twin-Engine Trainer
Tap an aircraft or use the arrow keys to switch. Rental rates are per hour, wet (fuel included), from our rate sheet.
Santa Monica, Venice, Marina del Rey, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and El Segundo all reach us the same basic way: north on the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass, or over one of the canyon roads such as Coldwater, Beverly Glen or Laurel. The Pass is the slow point at weekday rush hour, so Westside students usually book mid-morning, early-afternoon, evening or weekend slots. We are open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, which leaves plenty of room to fly around traffic.
Many Westside pilots ask about Santa Monica Airport first because it is closer. Under the 2017 settlement between the City of Santa Monica and the FAA, the city may close the airport after December 31, 2028, and the runway was shortened to 3,500 feet. A private pilot certificate takes months and a career track takes a year or more, so a lot of Westside students prefer to start at an airport with a long-term future. Van Nuys has two parallel runways, 8,000 feet and 4,000 feet, and a control tower.
One Loop From Van Nuys · KVNY
There is nothing to pick. Every discovery flight flies the same loop: the Valley, the Hollywood Sign, Dodger Stadium and downtown, the coast from Marina del Rey to Malibu, then home over the mountains. Your instructor takes off and lands; you fly 50–80% of it.
Stop 01 Of 10Instructor Flying
Your instructor handles the takeoff from one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country, then the controls are yours.
Stop 02 Of 10You’re Flying
First turns, first climb: the Valley spreads out below as you learn how little pressure it takes to bank the airplane.
Stop 03 Of 10You’re Flying
The sign on Mount Lee looks closer and bigger than you expect, with Griffith Observatory on the next ridge.
Stop 04 Of 10You’re Flying
The stadium bowl opens up below, with downtown rising just beyond it.
Stop 05 Of 10You’re Flying
The skyline comes up level with the windshield as you fly a smooth turn so everyone on board gets the view.
Stop 06 Of 10You’re Flying
The city gives way to the marina, the breakwaters and the open Pacific, staying clear of LAX airspace to the south.
Stop 07 Of 10You’re Flying
The pier, the beach and the whole curve of Santa Monica Bay: the photo everyone wants.
Stop 08 Of 10You’re Flying
Up the coast, the Santa Monica Mountains drop straight into the ocean.
Stop 09 Of 10You’re Flying
Back across the mountains toward the Valley, with canyons and ridgelines below and Van Nuys ahead.
Stop 10 Of 10Instructor Flying
Your instructor flies the approach and landing, then a short debrief on the ground and your flight time is logged.
Every Flight Includes The Full Route
Pick who is flying and how long. The route stays the same.
Typical route. Weather and air traffic control set the final path on the day.
Courses Offered
Every program students can take at Van Nuys, with the price on our site. Filter by goal and tick up to three courses to compare them side by side.
From $229
About 60 minutes (90 and 120 minutes available)
The same first step for every neighborhood: one hour at the controls with an instructor beside you, booked online. It is also the best test of your commute, because you drive the real route at the time you would train.
From $4,200
Most teens finish over 4–8 months
Families across the region use it as a structured, fixed-price introduction: ten hours in the airplane, three in the full-motion simulator and the same instructor each lesson, scheduled after school, on weekends and in holidays.
From $8,400
Built around 25 flight hours plus 3 simulator hours
The quickest certificate for people who mainly want to fly for fun on clear Southern California days. It is taught in our light-sport Cessna 162 Skycatchers and upgrades cleanly to a private certificate later.
From $10,400 (Comprehensive $15,400, Premium $22,000)
Two to four months for most students
The certificate most of our students across Los Angeles start with. Fixed pricing at three levels lets Valley students who fly daily and South Bay students who fly twice a week choose the package that fits.
From $11,700
About 6–8 weeks
Coastal marine layer and inland haze make this rating valuable wherever you live in Los Angeles. Up to 20 hours in our FAA-approved Redbird MCX count toward it under the device's Letter of Authorization.
$15,400 package ($15,900 list)
A few months if you already hold private and instrument
The step from flying for yourself to flying for pay, with complex time in the Piper Arrow and 20 simulator hours in the package. It is the same course whether you commute from Encino or from Long Beach.
From $5,100
Accelerated, about one week
A short, fixed-price course in our Piper Seminole twin. Students from farther areas like it because a week of focused training means only a handful of trips to Van Nuys.
From $15,400
Four-week intensive course
All three instructor ratings in one intensive program. Many graduates then teach new students from their own part of Los Angeles, building the hours airlines require while earning a paycheck at the same airport where they learned.
Cirrus upgrade +$300/hr; High-Performance Endorsement $1,799
Transition typically 2–4 weeks
For pilots across the region who want a fast, capable airplane for trips up and down California. The high-performance endorsement and transition training are flown in our own SR22 Turbo.
From $84,000
About 9 months, zero to professional certificates
One fixed price for every rating from private through CFI, CFII and MEI, plus a guaranteed paid instructor job at $48,000 a year full time. Students commit from every corner of the service area.
| Course | Price | Duration |
|---|
Short-term financing is available, with plans from $2,500 down. Training in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo instead of a standard trainer is a +$300/hr upgrade.
Head west on the 101 and you reach Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks. For these communities the drive is one freeway nearly the whole way, east to the Balboa Boulevard exit, with no mountain pass in the middle. Camarillo Airport is the other nearby option for this side of the map; for Westlake Village the route-planner distance to Camarillo is only about two miles shorter than the distance to Van Nuys, so the decision usually comes down to the training itself rather than the drive.
Conejo Valley students often come for the full ladder under one roof: a sport or private certificate first, then an instrument rating, and for some the complete airline track. Training flights west of Van Nuys cross the Santa Monica Mountains, so the scenery on the way to the practice area looks a lot like home.
Questions about the drive, scheduling, prices or financing? A real person at Van Nuys answers, 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week.
East of the Valley, the 134 is the main artery. Students from Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank take it west to the 101 and exit at Balboa; students from El Monte and the wider San Gabriel Valley add the 10 or the 210 at the start. The 134/101 interchange is the busy point, so morning and midday lessons are the easy choice.
These students often notice something on their first flight: Van Nuys sits right next to the Class C airspace around Hollywood Burbank Airport. Learning to talk with controllers in that environment from day one is part of what makes a Van Nuys-trained pilot comfortable in busy airspace later.
Redbird MCX Full-Motion Simulator
Our Redbird MCX full-motion simulator is built into every course we teach, not sold as an extra. It banks and pitches like the airplane, so you rehearse procedures, radio calls and emergencies before a lesson and between lessons, then fly the real airplane sharper. Students from farther areas often pair a simulator session with a flight lesson to get more out of each trip.
Under its FAA Letter of Authorization, MCX time counts toward your certificates: up to 20 hours for the instrument rating, 50 hours for the commercial certificate, 25 hours for the airline transport pilot certificate and 2.5 hours for the private pilot certificate. You can see it in person at a free consultation, or book a one-hour simulator discovery session for $189.
Hours That Count Toward
Up To 20 Hours 14 CFR 61.65
Under its FAA Letter of Authorization, up to 20 of the 40 instrument hours can be flown in the Redbird MCX.
You see the MCX up close at your free consultation. Book A Free Consultation
Torrance and Long Beach are the farthest communities we serve regularly. From Long Beach the route is almost entirely the I-405, about 42 miles by road. Students who make that trip plan around it: they book a flight lesson and a ground or simulator session back to back, they fly on weekends and evenings, and they do their knowledge-test study at home between visits.
Why make the drive at all? South Bay and Long Beach students usually tell us it is the combination: 20 aircraft owned by the school, an FAA-approved full-motion simulator, lessons from 9 AM to 9 PM every day, and a single place that can take them from a first flight to professional certificates.
Free 2026 Course Brochure
Courses and exact pricing, the fleet, the full-motion simulator, financing options and how training works at Van Nuys, in a brochure you can read in five minutes and share with your family.
These are typical off-peak estimates to 7900 Balboa Blvd. Rush hour takes longer, so check a live traffic app before you leave and choose a lesson time that works with your commute.
Once you are licensed, rent the same airplanes you trained in. Rental starts from $179 an hour with fuel included, after a checkout flight with one of our instructors. Many pilots from across the service area keep flying with us for years this way. Details are on our aircraft rental page.
| Aircraft | Seats | Package | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cessna 162 Skycatcher | 2 | $179 | $269 |
| Piper Warrior | 4 | $179 | $269 |
| Diamond DA20 | 2 | $229 | $329 |
| Piper Arrow | 4 | $229 | $349 |
| Cirrus SR22 Turbo | 4 | $449 | $649 |
| Piper Seminole | 4 | $449 | $649 |
Also In Your Pocket: The free Essence app for iPhone and iPad lets you book a discovery flight without an account, see every program and price, and, once you train, find your logged hours and signed instruction tickets automatically after each flight. Download On The App Store
Wherever you start the drive, the training at the end of it is identical. Van Nuys Airport describes itself as one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. It has a control tower and two parallel runways, so from day one you are learning radio calls, traffic patterns and clearances in real airspace, next to Burbank's Class C and close to the Los Angeles Class B.
On the ground, you get a school built for steady progress: an FAA-approved Redbird MCX full-motion simulator and a Redbird TD2 desktop trainer, aircraft maintained in-house, online scheduling at any hour and instructors who are on the schedule seven days a week. Essence Flight School has trained pilots at Van Nuys since 2007, holds a 98% first-time checkride pass rate and a 100% safety record, and is rated 4.9 stars across 600+ Google and Yelp reviews.
Our published, fixed course prices come with a lowest price guarantee on comparable training, and financing starts at $2,500 down with an interest-free in-house plan or longer-term loans.
Airline Pilot Program graduates are guaranteed a paid flight instructor position with us, $48,000 a year full time, while they build hours toward the airlines.
Free Consultation
The free in-person consultation is the same for every area: thirty minutes, one-on-one, at the school. You tour the building, walk the ramp, see the Redbird MCX simulator, meet instructors and leave with a written training plan and exact pricing for your goal. Pick a day on the week planner below and it books straight into our calendar.
If you would rather feel the airplane first, book a discovery flight. Enroll within 24 hours of the flight and its full cost is credited toward your training.
Prefer to talk first? Call (818) 960-1285, 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week.
Areas We Serve
Start Pilot Training
Ready to work toward a pilot certificate? Lesson One is a two-hour training lesson at Van Nuys: ground school, your own preflight, about 70 minutes of flying and a debrief, logged as dual instruction.
See Private Pilot LessonsTwo hours each, paid at booking.
FAQ
No. We have one location, at Van Nuys Airport: 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite D3, Van Nuys, CA 91406. Students from every area on this page train there, on the same fleet and with the same instructors.
Students regularly come from across the San Fernando Valley, the Westside and beach cities, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, Calabasas and the Conejo Valley, Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley, and the South Bay and Long Beach. Each area has its own page in the directory above.
Choose your lesson time around your freeway. We fly 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, so mid-morning, early-afternoon, evening and weekend slots are all available. Scheduling is online at any hour.
Under the 2017 settlement between the City of Santa Monica and the FAA, the city may close Santa Monica Airport after December 31, 2028. Because training takes months, many Westside students choose to start at Van Nuys, which has two runways and a control tower.
Yes. Course prices are fixed and published, and they do not change by neighborhood. Discovery flights start at $229 and the Private Pilot License starts at $10,400.
Yes. Book a free 30-minute in-person consultation. You tour the school, see the Redbird MCX simulator and leave with a personal plan and exact pricing.
Yes. Most courses start with $2,500 down. You can choose an interest-free in-house payment plan or longer-term financing through Stratus Financial for qualified applicants.
Pick your area above to read what training looks like from your side of town, then take the next step: Book A Discovery Flight, Book A Free Consultation on the week planner, Download The Brochure for every course and price, or Call (818) 960-1285 and talk to a real person, 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week.
The moment every Discovery Flight is built around — you fly the airplane, with an FAA-certified instructor beside you and Los Angeles below.
Keep Exploring
Check your inbox in the next few minutes. Questions in the meantime? Call (818) 960-1285
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