Discovery Flight
The Controls
Are Yours
A Discovery Flight isn’t a ride. It’s a real flight lesson, and you’re the one flying.
Roughly 30 minutes of ground instruction, 30 minutes of flight, plus preflight and debrief.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to fly an airplane?
A Discovery Flight is your introduction to aviation, and your chance to find out with your own hands on the controls.
What to expect
Your first flight, start to finish
01
Meet your instructor
You’ll sit down with your FAA Certified Flight Instructor, who will walk you through the basics of flight and answer every question you have. Expect about 30 minutes of ground instruction covering fundamental flight concepts, the aircraft and its controls, and exactly what’s going to happen next.
02
Preflight the aircraft
You’ll take part in a real preflight inspection and learn how pilots examine the airplane before every single flight to confirm it’s safe and ready.
03
Start up and taxi out
Then it’s time to climb aboard. You’ll experience starting the engine, taxiing to the runway, and the radio calls your instructor makes as you prepare for takeoff.
04
Take off and climb out
Your instructor flies the takeoff and the climb out. You’ll see how the airplane answers what’s asked of it, and this is the part that makes the ground instruction make sense.
05
Fly it yourself
Once you’re level and settled, the airplane is yours. Straight and level, turns, climbs and descents, with your instructor beside you the whole way. Most first-timers are surprised by how natural it feels. Expect about 30 minutes airborne.
06
Return and secure the airplane
You’ll taxi back to parking and help secure the aircraft, so you see the whole process from start to finish.
07
Debrief
Your flight ends with a post-flight debrief: what you learned, what you’re curious about, and what training looks like from here if you want to keep going.
You’ll leave with
Three things you take home
Logbook
Your own pilot logbook
With your first flight entered and signed by your instructor.
Photos
Pictures at the aircraft
Logbook in hand, at the airplane you just flew.
Flight time
Time that counts
If you pursue your certificate, today’s time goes toward it. Your training starts on day one, not after you commit.
Good to know
Before you book
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If you're 18 or older, you'll fly one-on-one with your instructor. This is a real lesson, and both front seats are working seats.
For anyone under 18, a parent or guardian needs to be at the airport. Whether they come along is up to them. There's one back seat available on a discovery flight, so it's one parent or guardian in the airplane, not two.
Friends and family are welcome to wait in our seating area outside the gate. For security reasons the ramp is restricted to those flying, so they'll watch your takeoff and landing from there.
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Our minimum age is 8.
If you're bringing a younger pilot, consider a booster cushion or a firm pillow. Seeing over the panel changes everything. It's hard to fly an airplane you can't see out of.
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No. You don't need any FAA paperwork to fly a Discovery Flight.
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We'll call you and reschedule at no charge. We won't fly a first flight in conditions that would make it unpleasant, and there's no limit on how many times we'll move it.
Gift certificates
Give one as a gift
A Discovery Flight makes a hard-to-beat gift for a graduate, a retiree, a kid who won’t stop looking up, or the person who’s been saying “someday” for twenty years.
Gift certificates are $199 and they never expire. We’ll send one you can print or forward, and they book whenever they’re ready. If it turns out not to be their thing, it’s refundable and it can be passed to someone else.