ROTOR F/X

My wife and I took a sunset plane flight for her birthday and it turned out to be a gift for both of us!!! What a fabulous way to see this great city. If you have lived here your whole life or are visiting, this is a breathtaking way to see LA from a whole new angle. The sunset over the ocean horizon is guaranteed to be spectacular every time, but to have a birds eye view of where we work and play was fascinating. As others have mentioned you can even fly the plane for a while, I flew us right over our house! I cannot recommend this experience enough, do it once, even if you’re not so sure about flying. I promise you’ll have an unbelievable story to tell for years.

I did a flight training and had a great experience. The pilot was helpful, experienced, and taught me a lot in one hour how to become a pilot. This place has great friendly staff and made my experience delightful. I highly recommend them.

Absolutely an amazing experience! From the time we entered and Bobbi greeting us to our flight with Yekta! It’s awesome that they allow family and friends to join! I can’t wait to get my pilot license by Yekta. Love it

Best experience to gift someone in LA! What do you give someone to make it truly unique, hands-​on, and memorable experience you both can share… The introductory flying lesson. It was for my boyfriends birthday and I recommend going on that flight as a passenger (seats 2). You can film a video from an insider perspective. An experience where you both can share together while they are helping fly the plane over scenic views of LA. Mark, was his instructor and was friendly, professional, and reassuring. The rest of the team provided videos, photos, and certificate w/​a log book. It was more hands-​on than I anticipated and more affordable than one would assume for a LIFETIME experience. Some things are and will forever more be PRICELESS. I’ve done my research and this is where it’s at!

Can’t say enough good things! This was a fantastic birthday present from my girlfriend, and my introductory flying lesson was everything and more than I anticipated. Mark, my instructor was super friendly, helpful, calming and informative and gave me so much to do to make my experience a memorable one. The rest of his team there were on hand to provide videos, photos and just make the day special. Not only are you getting a really unique view over LA, but you actually get to fly and operate way more than you think. Truly memorable. Even their hangar is full of such interesting aircraft, drones and other fun things to make a great activity. 5 stars, excellent, highly recommend.

It was such an amazing experience thanks to our instructor Yekta! The initial wait was a bit long & with no real explanation. We were offered water or soda while we waited which was very nice. The minute our instructor arrived he apologized for the wait. Which was appreciated! I bought this as a birthday gift for my boyfriend & I have to say he loved it from the beginning to the end thanks to our amazing instructor. We will definitely be coming back for some more lessons. The thing I do recommend is if you can afford longer than an hour I would definitely recommend it because the time and experience flies by.

I just had my first flight lesson with them and it was such a great experience! This was given to me as a Christmas gift and I highly recommend it! My instructor taught me all about the exterior of the airplane as well as the interior. And you actually get to help the instructor take off and land which is pretty cool!

Had such a great experience! Would definitely recommend! They really accommodated us. I had a brace on and crutches and the team totally helped me onto the plane and everything. I bought the experience for my bf as a gift and he really loved it. Says he’ll probably keep on with the lessons.

How would you like to risk a beautiful date with your girlfriend or significant other? Don’t know what do to do to completely mess up your night? Hire Rotor FX!
All jokes aside, my amazing date with my girlfriend was ruined when they cancelled my tour which was supposed to be at 6pm sunset time so we can have a nice sunset view. They call me and say that they have to cancel, and that there is nothing they can do about it. Keep in mind I was sitting having a nice dinner with my girlfriend already and it was completely ruined.
I called 10 different place and by the time I found another ride it was night and I could not see anything. Thanks Rotor FX for completely ruining my date!

I end up flying the plane for 1.5 hours. The instructor is kind and experienced, and the trip was completely safe. I Really enjoyed the trip and plan to play another time!

I got this as a surprise present for my boyfriend. Yekta was an absolutely amazing pilot and teacher. We had a wonderful time and would definitely do it again. It was a wonderful experience!

Best experience ever!!! Mark, our pilot, is the best. Highly recommended

I took my first flight lesson yesterday at Rotor F/​X and it will definitely be one of the may memorable experiences ever. My instructor Yekta was a lot fun, very knowledgeable, and overall an amazing pilot/​teacher. I will soberly be coming back to continue my lessons with him.

I took my first flight lesson yesterday at Rotor F/​X and it will definitely be one of the most memorable experiences ever. My instructor Yekta was a lot fun, very knowledgeable, and overall an amazing pilot/​teacher. I will soberly be coming back to continue my lessons with him.

I gave my bf a flight lesson from groupon. Mark was really good instructor, I upgraded for a bigger airplane so I can go with him. My boyfriend was going really good, and he liked it.

My wife got me the 1 hour introductory lesson/​flight for my birthday and it was a blast! I couldn’t believe how fast they got me out there and actually flying the plane. I kept thinking the instructor was going to take over at some point but he didn’t until the end. I took over, flew over the Santa Monica mountains and did a steep turn over the Santa Monica pier. It was beautiful and nerve wracking at the same time. Once I got the hang of it though, it was amazing. I would definitely recommend Rotor F/​X to anyone brave enough to do it.

Alex is a very friendly and professional trainer. He is very safety oriented while giving his students plenty of opportunities to practice. Although the introductory flight was only 30 minutes long, I have learned various flying skills and maneuvers from him. The hanger is also very well equipped with different simulators for ground trainings and preparations.
The experience was totally worth it. I look forward to coming back again in the future.

Thanks to A&P Freddy and to Rotor F/​X for being open on Sundays! So many GA flights take place on Sundays, and finding a mechanic on the weekend when something needs fixing is almost impossible at most GA airports. Not with Rotor F/​X!

Took my intro flight that my wife bought me and it was so much fun. We flew with Dan who is a super cool guy and a great pilot. My wife and her sister came along for our ride which made it really special. I was very surprised that I basically did most of the flying, even taking off!
I was kinda nervous but Dan put me at ease. To top off the flight Dan got a 10 out of 10 on the landing, super smooth.
I will be back to start my training to get my license!
Thanks everyone at Rotor fx and thanks Dan!!! Hope to see you over there again.

Took a flying lesson. Had a great time. Pilot was cool. Asked if I could bring my wife and son along last second and they arranged it. Let me control the plane a lot more than I though I’d be doing.

WOW… another experience to cross off the «bucket» list. This company came highly recommended and I can understand why. They go out of their way to make sure you have a safe, memorable experience. There is nothing like seeing L.A. and/​or wherever you want to go, in a helicopter. The pilot had a zillion hours and you could tell safety was of paramount concern. They couldn’t do enough to make you feel at ease being in a helicopter high up in the air. One can also take a flying lesson prior to the flight and you will log in your hour in your flight log and receive a certificate that you participated in flight training. This was a birthday present and the recipient said it was the best present ever.

Rotor FX was amazing. The staff were all super sweet and professional and our instructor/​Pilot Mark was so personable and fun. They exceeded all of our expectations. One more check on our bucket list!

I had the best surprise birthday flight/​party… Claudia your the best thank you for everything !!!

Amazing experience. Made me feel super comfortable even though I was nervous. Once we got up there it was amazing. Highly recommended!

I have mixed feelings about this place. I bought a 2 hour helicopter flight lesson from living social as a surprise for my husbands birthday. Ill start off by saying he had a great time and really enjoying being able to fly a helicopter, all in all it was a great gift. As we drove up and I revealed my husbands gift and he was a bit bummed that my daughter and I wouldn’t be joining him and he really wanted us to come with. In order to upgrade to a larger helicopter it would cost us an additional $ 160, we thought what the hell, we’ll probably never get a chance to do this again so we went for it. Now I will say I totally understand that it costs a fortune to fly a helicopter and it no doubt costs that much to upgrade to a larger helicopter. And maybe it was my mistake and I hadn’t read the fine print somewhere but I had no idea that it would be about an hour and a half of training for my husband and only 15 minutes of being up in the air. If I had know that I definitely would not have spent an extra $ 160 to sit in the back for 15 minutes. Again for my husband Ill say it was worth it. He loved it. I just wish the instructors had said hey you’re only going to be in the air for 15 minutes, so its up to you if you would like to spend the extra $ 160. Also, Van Nuys air traffic control didn’t respond for 6 minutes, so we couldn’t leave till they responded, and it basically ate up 6 of the 20 minutes we should have had in the air. Im not sure why we had to pay for that, but we did. Again, maybe it was my fault for not researching it enough, but I felt a little mislead and would rather have just let my husband do his thing.

Had such a great time. Claudia took no time at all in booking my appointment with an incredible flight instructor, Ian. They give you everything you need to begin your journey into aviation exploration. Whatever that means to you. Some people may just want a tour, others are interested in possibly getting their license. They work with you, and whatever you want. My advice, this can be as simple or as complicated as you wanted. I chose to read as much as the FAA aviation handbook they email you at booking, before I took my lesson. Ian spent time discussing the airplane and answering any preliminary questions I had regarding take off and the controls. I had a blast, recounting the knowledge I read, and hearing the correspondence on air traffic control. There is so much to learn! (or you can just take pictures and enjoy being in your private lil aircraft) Rotor FX and Ian truly inspired me to take the next step and continue my education to become a pilot. (They also made my birthday freaking amazing)
Highly recommend.

My family gave me the gift of flight, in the form of a 60 minute flying lesson through Rotor FX, out of the Van Nuys airport. What an excellent experience! Upon arrival you will engage whoever is working the front desk, in my case it was Claudia and her dog Sunny. After my 90 minute drive on the 405 freeway, I arrived in a not happy mood, which Claudia helped turn around. As you will see, Claudia has an infectious spirit toward life and flying, which will undoubtedly rub off on you. (See the ‘fly girl’ pictures of Claudia).
Finding the location is easy, and they have plenty of parking. I was impressed with the e-​mail communication and how well they have the process down. Their hanger is super clean and filled with visual stimuli which will put you in the right frame of mind for flying.
My lesson had two parts, first, general aviation instructions about the airplane, and how it works, which I received by Jay, who is super knowledgeable and a great guy. Second, you go up for a 30 minute flight with one of the expertly trained pilots, whom in my case was Dan. LOVED Dan! Great pilot and a super tour guide while flying over Los Angeles. I took a lot of spectacular pictures and even got to take the yoke of the plane and fly for a bit.
I never felt anything but safe, and I was thrilled with my time up in the Grumman Tiger airplane. I’m not looking to get my pilot license, but I can see where getting it through Rotor FX would be yet another great experience. If you are looking for the thrill of flying, don’t hesitate to go with Rotar R/​X.
Thanks again to the crew that assisted me; Claudia, Jay, Dan, and Sunny the dog, my time with you was an A+

I am so glad I did this! I was here earlier today to surprise my boyfriend for his birthday and overall it was a wonderful experience. I was really nervous at first but once we were flying it was a smooth ride (minus the time my boyfriend tried to fly the plane and made it a little bumpy haha). Everyone was wonderful and very sweet. Our trainer was Dan and he was very sweet and informative. Thank you all for the wonderful experience! I did have to lower my review because i never got a great video of our experience. The one we got had no audio, and when i asked for a fixed copy they never got back to us. But it was still a good experience.

Found this place through LivingSocial recently. They are conveniently located at the Van Nuys Airport, and they offered a package that would sure to impress someone who’s never been on one of these little planes. We opted for the 45 minute flight tour of Los Angeles with free HD video to be uploaded to YouTube.
Everything was good. The pilot was very friendly, the service was as expected, they had a couple cool helicopters in their hanger, and they were very accommodating. The one negative was a one hour delay due to the airport’s fuel truck being broken, but that is not any fault of Rotor FX. In their into email they tell you to plan ahead for a time cushion, and they have a decent waiting area in their hangar.
I have already recommended them to several friends.

We paid for the photo package. We received a CD in the mail a week later with the video but no photos. Not one! My hunnie called to inform them nicely that the photos were not on the CD an they said they would look into and get back to us. When she called she said the girl over the phone said, «Well i see you posted a picture on Unilocal already» referring to the photo you see of us in the helicopter but see little did she know… that 1 photo was printed out for us as a courtesy when we were there that day and i took a picture of that printed photo with my cell phone and posted it here… Her smart comment wasn’t asked for nor was it appropriate… about 10 – 15 other photos were taken that day of us that were suppose to be on the CD. Its been 3 weeks and no follow up has been made. Its frustrating to have such a great experience and write a good review for a place then this happens. Ive never had to write and update and lower my stars.
Lets see if i get a call now that I’ve wrote this update…
4/14/14…Guess who got a call the very next day after a bad review update… Its a shame that we get a response now that businesses see negativity… smh
4/14/14…After i got my call back after writing one star they sent the pics via email… But the fact that i was never contacted is still not good. I had to write a 1 star review to get your attention? For the fact that i finally received my photos 2 months later 3 stars is what you get as an overall rating.

I got a great Travelzoo deal for $ 99 (I think) and treated myself to my first flying lesson for my birthday. They’re very close to me and friendly instructor Gil picks you up in a motorized golf cart from the small parking area, because for security reasons you can’t drive into Van Nuys airport. Just filled out some paperwork and we were off.
Gil walked me round the small Cessna 150 two seater, teaching me how to always check the plane first, rivets, flap hinges, etc. This made me feel very assured that their craft is always double checked. Into the plane, earphones on and we were taking off down the runway, he let me take off first go and it was all too easy! Like getting into a car with wings, reach 50 mph, pull back on the yoke (steering wheel thingie) and you’re off, FLYING!!!
Perfect weather, 5.30 pm, flew over the Valley, Hollywood Sign and circled back. Most of the time, I was at the controls! (there are dual controls, just like learning to drive a car). It was amazing and I was hooked! I would love to get my pilot’s license but it’s 40 hours worth of lessons, and runs about $ 6,000 in all. And I don’t have a Brad or Angelina to buy me my own plane. :)
Great experience and well worth doing. You can also pay extra ($ 50 or so per person) to bring guests with you, I guess you’d take a slightly bigger plane.)
I’d definitely like to do the Santa Monica and Malibu circuit next time.
Do it!
Thank you Rotor F/​X for a safe and professional experience.
Miranda