Discovery Flight

Sit in the pilot’s seat. Take the controls.

Name: Watch Me Fly Academy
Address: 1807 Airport Dr., San Marcos, TX, 78666, US
Telephone: 737-256-7305

A Discovery Flight at Watch Me Fly Academy is your first step into aviation — a real lesson in a real training aircraft, not a sightseeing ride. You sit in the pilot’s seat and take the controls, guided by one of our instructors from engine start to shutdown, in a glass-cockpit trainer with a Dynon SkyView panel and a two-axis autopilot. Our Enhanced Discovery Flight is $215, the time is loggable toward your certificate, and nothing at all is expected of you afterwards.

Book a first flight — $215 Get My Flight Plan

Buying it for someone? Ask about gifting a Discovery Flight →

Price: $215
It counts: Logged; toward your certificate
Requirements: None; no hours, no FAA medical
Your instructor: Robert Greene

Nothing happens that you have not been shown first.

The lesson starts on the ground. You walk the airplane with your instructor, they name the controls and the instruments, and they brief exactly what you will be asked to do once you are airborne.

Your instructor flies with a full second set of controls and takes them back the moment anything needs it — for the whole flight.

Our Chief Flight Instructor conducts discovery flights personally, and he is known for a calm, clear, confidence-building style. That is the entire point of a first lesson.

Your first takeoff

This is a lesson, not a ride.
You fly the airplane.

Hold short The before-takeoff checklist is read aloud, item by item. Nothing is assumed.
Throttle Full power, and the centerline starts moving under you.
Rotate At rotation speed you ease back — one small, deliberate input.
Liftoff The wheels leave the runway and the airplane is flying.
Climb Your instructor hands you the controls. From here you are flying it.

Book a first flight — $215

You fly from the left seat, with a CFI in the right.

Before you fly

What you need to bring: nothing.

Five things people ask about before a first lesson. All five are already handled.

Discovery flight · all items checked

Experience None required. Most of our students arrive with no flight time at all.
Medical No FAA medical certificate is needed to fly this lesson.
Nerves Say so and your instructor slows the brief down. It is a lesson, not a test.
Weather Your instructor makes the go / no-go call. If conditions are not right, we rebook.
Camera Bring one. The photographs from the left seat are yours to keep.

What to expect

What happens on the day

Before you fly

You meet your instructor and walk around the aircraft together while they explain, in plain language, what you are about to do — the controls, the instruments, what the airplane will feel like, and what they will ask you to do once you are airborne. Our Chief Flight Instructor personally conducts discovery flights, so there is a good chance you are flying with the person who sets the standard here.
In the air

Your instructor handles the takeoff, then hands you the controls. You fly the airplane — turns, climbs, descents — with an instructor beside you who has a full set of controls and takes them back the moment anything needs it. Most people are surprised how quickly it stops feeling strange and starts feeling like something they could learn.
Back on the ramp

After landing you sit down with your instructor and talk through what you just flew and what a training path would actually look like from here — including what a Smart Path package covers and what it costs, in real numbers. The flight logs toward your certificate if you continue. If you decide flying is not for you, that is a complete answer too, and nobody will chase you about it.
Book a first flight — $215 Get My Flight Plan

Two students flying the Redbird LD simulator inside The Flight Lab™ while an instructor talks them through the approach.

Watch Me Fly Academy · Discovery Flight

$215

No hours required · a glass-cockpit trainer · it logs

San Marcos, Texas (greater Austin area)

Good to know

A real lesson, and it logs

The Enhanced Discovery Flight puts you in a glass-cockpit Technically Advanced Aircraft with a Certified Flight Instructor, and the time is loggable toward your certificate. It is also how you assess us — the airframes, the instruction, and whether the way we teach fits the way you learn.

Before you book your first lesson

Do I need any previous experience to start?

No. Most of our students arrive with no flight experience at all, and a Discovery Flight is built for exactly that — you fly with a Certified Flight Instructor beside you and no prior training, license or hours are required. What you need is the wish to find out.

What is a Discovery Flight?

It is a real first lesson, not a sightseeing ride: you sit in the pilot’s seat, take the controls, and fly a glass-cockpit training aircraft with one of our instructors guiding you. Our Enhanced Discovery Flight is $215, the time is loggable toward your certificate, and there is nothing to commit to afterwards.

Is it safe?

Yes. You fly with a Certified Flight Instructor who has a full set of controls and takes them the moment anything needs it, in aircraft maintained to professional standards. Beyond that, we deliberately train for the day something goes wrong — spin awareness, spin recovery and upset recovery in our Cessna A150M Aerobat, and engine failures, electrical and vacuum failures, instrument malfunctions, lost communications and deteriorating weather rehearsed in our FAA-approved Redbird simulator until the correct response is second nature. And when the weather is not right, we reschedule.

How do I get started?

Call 737-256-7305 or email michael@watchmefly.academy and we will talk through where you are headed and what it takes to get there. Most people begin with a Discovery Flight — $215, one flight, one instructor, and nothing to commit to afterwards.

Can friends or family come and watch?

Ask us when you book — call 737-256-7305. Ramp access at San Marcos Regional Airport is governed by airport rules and by what else is operating that day, so we will confirm what is possible for the day you fly rather than promise something we cannot deliver.