If you're looking for a Santa Monica sightseeing air tour or a coastal flying experience, Accelerated Flight School offers a discovery flight lesson from nearby Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) where you may take the controls with a Certified Flight Instructor.
You sit up front, learn the basics, and fly the airplane with your instructor beside you. The coastline and the Santa Monica Mountains are right in our backyard, so when the route allows, your flight can include beautiful coastal and mountain scenery on the way out and back.
And it's genuinely exciting. Flying toward the coast is thrilling and joyful, and with your instructor you can even feel the light, floating sensation of a gentle zero-G maneuver. It's a fun, hands-on adventure you'll remember.
From the Valley to the Bay: Your Hands on the Controls
Van Nuys Airport sits just over the Santa Monica Mountains from the coast, which makes it an ideal launch point for a flight pointed toward Santa Monica Bay. On this discovery flight you do not ride to the shoreline; you help fly there. Seated up front in N9172Y with a Certified Flight Instructor, you take the controls and feel the Cherokee Warrior II respond as the terrain shifts from valley neighborhoods to the open water of the bay.
When traffic, ATC, and weather allow, the route can carry you toward the coastline where the pier and the wide arc of the bay come into view. Your instructor manages the busy airspace and the safety side while still handing you real flying to do, so the experience stays hands-on rather than passive.
We are based at Van Nuys (KVNY), not Santa Monica Airport, and the introductory flight runs $230 for one person or $270 for two. To check coastal conditions and pick a clear day, call or text 323-332-0585.
What You Will See From the Air
Exact scenery and routing vary with each flight depending on conditions on the day.
Why a Discovery Flight Beats a Passive Air Tour
A sightseeing charter puts you in the back as a passenger. A discovery flight puts you in the front, with your hands on the controls.
You Fly the Plane
Sit up front and take the controls with your instructor's guidance — this isn't a passive ride in the back.
Fly With a CFI
Every flight is with a Certified Flight Instructor in our 1985 Piper PA-28 Cherokee Warrior II (N9172Y).
Scenic & Educational
Take in Southern California from the air while learning how an airplane actually flies.
A Real First Step
No experience required — and your flight time may count toward Private Pilot training if you continue.
Frequently Asked Questions
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All LA Sightseeing Flights
Browse all scenic discovery flight routes departing from Van Nuys Airport.
Discovery Flight — $230
Our main 1.5-hour introductory flight. Price, what's included, aircraft details, and how to book.
Continue to Private Pilot
Your discovery flight hours count toward your Private Pilot logbook. See what training looks like.