Night Flight Over Los Angeles: City Lights From 3,000 Feet

A night discovery flight over Los Angeles is $329 for 60 minutes with one person flying, or $399 for two, and it is the same arrangement as our daytime flights: you are in the left seat with your hands on the controls and a certificated flight instructor beside you. Night flights run about $100 above the equivalent day flight, which is what the extra aircraft and instructor time for a night departure and a lit-runway return actually costs.

This page is about the experience: what the city looks like from 3,000 feet after dark, which months a genuine night flight is possible in, and who it suits. For the full list of rides we fly, see airplane rides in Los Angeles. If you already hold a certificate and what you actually need is night currency or the night training hours in 14 CFR 61.109, go straight to night flying currency and training, which covers the regulations properly.

What Los Angeles Looks Like After Dark From 3,000 Feet

The thing nobody prepares you for is that the landscape disappears entirely. By day, Los Angeles from the air is mountains, canyons, a basin and a coastline, with a city fitted into the gaps. At night all of that geography vanishes and what is left is the human part of it, drawn in light.

The San Fernando Valley is the first thing you see, and it is the most striking, because from 3,000 feet you can see the entire grid at once: a dense orange lattice running from the Santa Susana Mountains in the north-west to Burbank in the east, with Ventura Boulevard and the 101 cutting across it. The Valley has one of the cleanest street grids in the country and from above at night it looks like a circuit board.

The Santa Monica Mountains become a black stripe. There are no streets on the ridge, so the whole range reads as a void between the lit Valley and the lit basin, with Mulholland Drive picked out along the top and the canyon roads dropping off it like tributaries. It is the single clearest piece of geography in the whole night flight, and you only see it because it is dark.

The freeways are two colors. Headlights run white toward you and tail lights run red away from you, so every freeway is a double ribbon, and you can see the traffic density from the spacing. The 405 through the Sepulveda Pass and the 101 through Cahuenga are both obvious from a long way off.

Downtown stands up. In daylight the towers are one cluster among many; at night they are the only vertical lit objects for miles and they read as a wall of light with the Arts District and Dodger Stadium in front of them.

And the airports. This is the part pilots love and passengers do not expect. Van Nuys, Hollywood Burbank and Whiteman are all visible as distinct patterns of runway, taxiway and approach lighting, and Los Angeles International sits at the far end of the basin with its parallel runways drawn in white. Runway lighting is designed to be identifiable from twenty miles out on a clear night, and it is.

The horizon, meanwhile, is made entirely of houses. On a clear winter night you can see light from the far side of the basin, and the black area beyond the far edge of it is the Pacific.

What Is Different About Flying At Night

Practically, three things change, and none of them makes the flight harder for you.

The air is at its smoothest. The thermal turbulence that makes a midday flight over the Valley bumpy needs ground heating, and after dark there is none. Night air over Los Angeles is normally glass, which is why nervous passengers who manage to get themselves into an aircraft at night often come back saying it was the calmest flight they have ever had.

The cockpit changes character. The panel is lit red or dimmed white, the instructor uses a torch on the checklist, and everything you do is by feel and by instrument rather than by looking outside. It feels more like operating an aircraft and less like sightseeing, which many people prefer.

The workload moves to the instructor. Your instructor does more of the flying at night than by day, particularly around the traffic pattern and the landing. You will still fly the bulk of the hour, but the handover points are earlier and later. That is a deliberate choice and it is the right one.

The aircraft itself is unchanged. The Piper Warrior is the same airplane at six in the evening as at ten in the morning, with position and anti-collision lights on as required from sunset to sunrise, landing light for the approach, and a full instrument panel. Van Nuys is a towered field with lit parallel runways of 8,001 and 4,000 feet, so there is no compromise in the departure or the arrival.

Night Discovery Flight Prices

The rule is simple: about $100 above the daytime equivalent. There is no tax, fuel surcharge or booking fee on top of the published price. The simulator is the same price at any hour and can be flown at night in any weather, which is worth knowing in winter.

When A Night Flight Is Actually Possible

This is the part most people get wrong, and we would rather you knew before you tried to book.

Discovery flights run from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, seven days a week, and the aircraft has to be back on the ground by 7:00 PM. For logging purposes the FAA treats night as beginning at the end of evening civil twilight, which in Los Angeles is roughly twenty-five to thirty minutes after sunset. Put those two facts together and night flights belong to late fall and winter.

Times are approximate and move across each month, so check your date. The headline is counter-intuitive and genuinely useful: winter is night-flying season in Los Angeles. In December you can be airborne over a fully lit city at half past five in the evening and home for dinner. From spring to early fall you cannot do it inside our flying hours; in late September and October the right booking is a sunset flight, which catches the last of the light and the first of the city lights together. Winter's early dark is also why a Christmas night flight makes sense as a gift.

Winter also brings the clearest air of the year here. The nights after a rain front passes, or during offshore Santa Ana conditions, give visibility that can run the length of the basin.

Who A Night Flight Suits, And Who It Does Not

It suits anyone who has already done a daytime flight and wants the other version of the same city; couples, because it is the most atmospheric hour we fly and the air is calm; people who want an evening out that is not dinner; and student pilots who want to see what the night training in their course is going to feel like before they get to it.

It suits less well anyone who wants photographs of specific landmarks. The Hollywood Sign is not lit, so it is not a night attraction, and the coastline is simply dark. If a picture of the sign is the point, book the Hollywood Sign flight in daylight instead. It also suits less well a first-time flyer who is genuinely anxious: the air is calmer at night, but not being able to see the ground is harder for some people, not easier, and a daytime first flight is the better introduction. Our page on discovery flights for nervous flyers covers that decision.

For cameras: a phone will struggle with a moving city at night through an aircraft window, and long exposures do not work in a vibrating airframe. If photographs matter, bring a camera that can hold a usable image at a high ISO and a shutter speed of 1/250 second or faster, and do not rest the lens on the window.

If You Are Already A Pilot

A night discovery flight is an experience product. If you hold a certificate and you are here for something regulatory, these are different bookings.

Night currency under 14 CFR 61.57(b) requires three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop within the preceding 90 days, in the same category, class and type, performed during the period beginning one hour after sunset and ending one hour before sunrise, before you may carry passengers at night. That is a currency booking, not a discovery flight; call or text (818) 330-1318 to arrange it.

Night training for the private pilot certificate is in 14 CFR 61.109 and includes night flight training with a cross-country and the required night takeoffs and landings. Both are covered on our night flying currency and training page, and checkout and currency expectations are on aircraft rental at Van Nuys.

Related Reading

• Airplane rides in Los Angeles — every ride and route, priced side by side.
• Sunset flight over Los Angeles — the right booking in late September and October.
• Night flying currency and training — 61.57(b) and 61.109 for licensed and student pilots.
• Romantic flight date ideas in Los Angeles — why the night slot is the one couples book.
• Unique things to do in Los Angeles from the air — the daytime alternatives.
• Discovery flights in Los Angeles — how the flight itself is structured.

Night Flight Over Los Angeles FAQ

How Much Is A Night Flight Over Los Angeles?

A night discovery flight is $329 for 60 minutes with one person flying, and $399 for two people. Night flights run about $100 above the equivalent daytime flight, and there is no tax, fuel surcharge or booking fee on top.

Do You Fly The Plane Yourself On A Night Flight?

Yes. It is a discovery flight, so you fly from the left seat with a certificated instructor beside you who has a full second set of controls. The instructor takes more of the departure and the approach than they would by day, and you fly the bulk of the hour. The time is logged as dual instruction received.

What Time Do Night Flights Leave?

Shortly after dark, which is roughly twenty-five to thirty minutes after sunset. In December that is about 5:15 PM and in January about 5:40 PM. Every flight is back on the ground by 7:00 PM, so a full night flight fits from November to early February.

What Is The Best Month For A Night Flight In Los Angeles?

December and January. It is dark by around 5:15 PM, so the flight fits into an ordinary evening, and the air after a winter rain front or during Santa Ana conditions gives the clearest visibility of the year across the basin.

Can You See The Hollywood Sign At Night?

No. The sign is not lit, so it is not a night attraction. If seeing or photographing the sign is the point of the flight, book a daytime flight instead, ideally in the last ninety minutes before sunset when the low sun rakes across the letters.

Is Flying At Night Bumpy?

Usually the opposite. Daytime turbulence over the San Fernando Valley comes from ground heating, and after dark there is none, so night air here is normally very smooth. The trade is that you cannot see the ground, which some passengers find reassuring and some do not.

Does A Night Discovery Flight Count Toward A Pilot License?

Yes. It is logged as dual instruction received and counts toward the 40-hour minimum in 14 CFR 61.109. If the flight takes place after the end of evening civil twilight it is logged as night time as well. Enroll in a course within 24 hours and we credit the full cost of the flight toward it.

Book A Night Flight Over Los Angeles

The night discovery flight is $329 for 60 minutes with you flying, and the night flight for two is $399. In late September and October, book a daytime discovery flight at $229 timed for sunset instead and you will get the city lights coming up underneath you anyway. To check what is possible on a particular date, book a free consultation or call (818) 330-1318 any day from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Main Terminal Unit 108, Van Nuys, CA 91406, on Van Nuys Airport.