(818) 290-8249 · Open 9 AM–9 PM, 7 Days a Week · ★★★★★ 4.9 · 500+ Reviews · Van Nuys Airport
Your certificate never expires, but your privileges to act as pilot in command depend on staying current. We run flight reviews and instrument proficiency checks out of Van Nuys Airport seven days a week, with instructors who will tailor the session to the flying you actually do around Los Angeles.
Under 14 CFR 61.56, you may not act as pilot in command unless, within the preceding 24 calendar months, you have completed a flight review with an authorized instructor and received a logbook endorsement. The review consists of a minimum of 1 hour of ground training and 1 hour of flight training. The ground portion covers the current general operating and flight rules of Part 91, and the flight portion covers the maneuvers and procedures the instructor decides you need to demonstrate the safe exercise of your certificate's privileges.
A flight review is not a checkride, and there is no pass or fail. If the instructor is not ready to sign you off, you simply keep training until you are. Completing a pilot proficiency check or earning a new certificate or rating can also satisfy the requirement, as the regulation explains.
To act as pilot in command under IFR, 14 CFR 61.57(c) requires that within the preceding 6 calendar months you have logged six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigational electronic systems. If you fall behind, you have another 6 calendar months to catch up with a safety pilot or in an approved device. Once that window passes, the only way back is an instrument proficiency check under 61.57(d).
The IPC is given by an authorized instructor (or examiner) and uses tasks from the Instrument Rating Airman Certification Standards. It is a real evaluation of your instrument flying, so many pilots spend a session or two knocking off the rust in our Redbird MCX simulator before the check itself. Our instructors will confirm which tasks can be accomplished in the simulator and which must be flown in the airplane.
Tell us what you fly, when you last flew and whether you need a flight review, an IPC or both. We match you with an instructor and aircraft.
We cover Part 91 rules, airspace and the procedures that matter for the busy Los Angeles area, including the Class B airspace around LAX and operations at a towered airport like KVNY.
Stalls, slow flight, emergency procedures, takeoffs and landings, and for an IPC, approaches, holds and partial-panel work.
Rusty on approaches? Warm up in the Redbird MCX full-motion FAA-approved simulator before you go fly.
When your instructor is satisfied, you receive the logbook endorsement. If not yet, you get a clear list of what to practice.
Once you are current, rent our aircraft to stay sharp. See aircraft rental in Van Nuys.
You pay for the aircraft, the instructor and any simulator time you use. Most flight reviews need at least the regulatory minimum of an hour on the ground and an hour in the air; returning pilots who have been away for years often benefit from more. We will give you a realistic estimate on the phone.
Your flight review is a good chance to get comfortable in a different airplane. Fly a simple trainer like the Piper Warrior or Diamond DA20, step up to the complex Piper Arrow, take a multi-engine review in the Piper Seminole, or do your IPC behind the glass cockpit of the Cirrus SR22 Turbo with its CAPS parachute system. If you are working toward an instrument rating or a multi-engine rating, we can talk about that too.
Book your flight review or IPC at Van Nuys Airport. Call us to match with an instructor and pick an aircraft, seven days a week.
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The fastest way to know if the left seat is for you is to stand on the flight line. Book a free consultation — or reach us whichever way you like.
Tour the school, meet your instructors, sit in the cockpit, and leave with a personal training plan and exact pricing. Your Discovery Flight fee is credited toward training when you enroll within 24 hours.
One minute, a few details, fast answers from a real person on our team.
