(818) 290-8249 · Open 9 AM–9 PM, 7 Days a Week · ★★★★★ 4.9 · 500+ Reviews · Van Nuys Airport
If you live in Lake Balboa, the airport is not across town; it is across the street. About 1 mile from your front door, we are the flight school near Lake Balboa that turns the planes you hear every day into the planes you fly, with lessons from 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week.
Lake Balboa residents have a front-row seat to Van Nuys Airport. The neighborhood sits along the airport's west side, with Balboa Boulevard running through it, and the sound of departing aircraft is part of everyday life here, along with weekend walks around the lake in the Sepulveda Basin and the cherry blossoms that draw crowds each spring. For a lot of our students from Lake Balboa, the question is not whether flying is interesting. It is why they waited so long to try it.
Living about a mile from the runway changes how flight training works. You can book an early lesson and still make it to work, or squeeze in an evening flight once the kids are in bed. Short trips mean you can fly more often, which keeps skills fresh. Families with teenagers at Birmingham Community Charter High School and nearby schools also find it easy to fit teen flight training into the week.
About 1 mile from KVNY, Lake Balboa is one of the nearest neighborhoods to our ramp. Many students spend more time preflighting the airplane than driving to it.
We are open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, so a quick lesson before work or after dinner is genuinely possible from Lake Balboa.
Start in a Cessna 162, Piper Warrior or Diamond DA20, then step up to the Piper Arrow, the Piper Seminole twin or the Cirrus SR22 Turbo with its glass cockpit and CAPS parachute.
Our Redbird MCX full-motion, FAA-approved simulator is in-house, so a gray morning over the basin becomes an instrument practice session instead of a cancellation.
Part 61 training means your instructor tailors lessons to you. Fly intensively over a few months or steadily around a family schedule.
Stratus Financial offers terms up to 15 years, and we also have in-house plans, so Lake Balboa students can spread the cost of training.
Your discovery flight puts you at the controls with an instructor right beside you. Because you start almost on top of your own neighborhood, the view is familiar and new at the same time: depending on the route, you may spot Lake Balboa itself and the open fields and golf courses of the Sepulveda Basin, the Sepulveda Dam and the Los Angeles River channel, and the Japanese Garden beside the Tillman water reclamation plant. Pick the airplane that matches the experience you want.
From a teenager who wants to solo before graduation to a parent planning a career change, Lake Balboa students can complete every one of these programs a mile from home.
Earn the license that lets you fly yourself and passengers. Short trips to the airport make it easier to fly the frequent lessons that keep progress moving.
Add precision and flexibility to your flying. Instrument training builds the skills to fly safely in clouds and reduced visibility, starting with simulator sessions.
Turn flying into paid work. Commercial training includes advanced maneuvers and complex aircraft experience in our Piper Arrow.
Our zero to airline program is $84,000 (regularly $89,000, with a $5,000 promotion), with financing available, and gives Lake Balboa students a single structured plan from first lesson to airline-ready.
Teens living near the airport can train after school and on weekends, building real skills and logbook time long before college applications are due.
Earn your instructor certificate and teach new pilots at the same airport you trained at. It is a common next step for commercial pilots building hours.
Lake Balboa is about 1 mile from Van Nuys Airport in a straight line, one of the closest neighborhoods we serve. From most of Lake Balboa, simply get onto Balboa Boulevard and head north; our school is at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Main Terminal, Van Nuys, CA 91406. Call us before your first visit for parking and check-in details.
Just west of Lake Balboa, about 3 miles from Van Nuys Airport via Sherman Way or Victory Boulevard.
The neighborhood that shares its name with the airport and sits on its east side.
South across the Sepulveda Basin, with an easy route north to the airport.
You already live next to the airport. Call to book a discovery flight or a free consultation, and fly one of those airplanes instead of hearing it.
Real students, real first flights, real ratings — straight from Google and Yelp.
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.
