The same short list
Nobody tells a story about the third bowling night of the year.
Everyone Flies
Every guest takes the controls, whatever their experience
Airline Pilot Instructors
Your night is run by pilots who fly professionally
Steps From Dinner
Koreatown and Herald Square are a short walk away
Why Does Every Night Out Feel the Same?
The list is short and everyone has done all of it: a bar, bowling, an escape room, a comedy club. Then someone has to organize it for eight adults across three neighborhoods, and the night turns into logistics.
Booking for eight adults
Group reservations in Manhattan are their own small project.
The organizer carries it
One person quietly worries the whole night will fall flat.
Who Is Running the Night?
Not a host with a script. Working airline pilots run the session, brief your group, and sit in the right seat while each person flies. They are the reason a first-timer lands the airplane.
Julian Alarcon (ATP, CFII, MEI)
Boeing 777 First Officer, Major U.S. Airline
Founder of Aviator.NYC, Julian is an FAA Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor with over 4,500 hours of instructional time. He has flown everything from gliders to charter jets to wide body airliners and earned all his instructor ratings while serving on active duty.
Peter Lynde (ATP, CFII, MEI)
Boeing 737 Captain, Major U.S. Airline
Peter has been with Aviator.NYC since day one and is a familiar face in many of our YouTube videos. A former instructor at CP Aviation, he taught primary, commercial, and instrument students, with a focus on advanced flight techniques.
Elijah Burgess (ATP, CFII)
ERJ Captain, Republic Airways
Elijah Burgess is an FAA Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor and the founder of EBFlight.com. He holds a B.S. in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and currently flies the ERJ-170/190 as a Captain for Republic Airways.
The majority of our instructors are active airline pilots. Which instructor runs your night depends on the date you book.
What If Nobody in the Group Has Flown Before?
That is the normal case, and it is the easy one. You bring the people; we run the rest. The instructor sets the scenario to the person in the seat, so a complete beginner takes off and lands on their first turn.
- Active airline pilots
- Majority
- Approved AATD simulator
- FAA
- Guests in the full studio
- 20
You Will Fly It Yourself
Hands on the controls from the first minute, with the instructor talking you through the takeoff and the landing.
A Job While You Wait
One person flies at a time. The rest take a crew job, watch the approach on the screens, or hang out in the lounge.
We Run the Room
Setup, station operators, rotation, and cleanup are ours. You are a guest at your own event.
How Does the Night Work?
Pick your space and time
Tell us the headcount and the date. We match you to a simulator, the VR room, or the whole studio for two or three hours.
Everyone flies
Each person takes the controls with an airline pilot beside them. Whoever is not flying takes a crew job or watches from the lounge.
Walk to dinner
You finish in Koreatown, a few minutes from Herald Square. Book the table before you arrive and you will make it comfortably.
Can We Use This for a Birthday?
This is what most adult groups book it for. You get a private-feeling space with somewhere to sit, food you brought or we arranged, and an activity that is not a bowling lane or a movie theater.
The space is yours
A lounge, a long table, and the galley cart to put the cake on.
Food works here
Bring it or let us arrange it. Nobody has to eat standing up.
The activity is the gift
The person whose birthday it is flies first, and everyone films it.
Is There a Pilot in the Group?
Then the night has a second gear. Our instructors will load real approaches and procedures, and the pilot in the group finally gets to show the rest of them what the job actually looks like from the seat.
Fly something real
Real approaches, unfamiliar airspace, and the avionics you have been curious about.
Show your friends the job
They watch the approach on the screens while you talk them through it.
Logging the time
Instrument training time in the FAA-approved simulator can be logged with an instructor under the usual FAA rules. Recreational group flying cannot.
What Is Around the Studio?
The Midtown studio sits in Koreatown, a block off Herald Square. That is the point: you fly, you walk out, and dinner is right there. Nobody has to move the group across town at the worst hour of the evening.
Koreatown, on the block
The densest run of late-night restaurants in Manhattan, a short walk from the door.
Herald Square and Penn Station
Most subway lines and the commuter trains, so out-of-town friends can join easily.
Plan the table first
Book dinner for shortly after your slot ends and the evening runs itself.
Can We Eat There Too?
Yes, and most groups do something light before dinner. Bring food in yourself or let us arrange it, quoted per event. The lounge and the galley cart are part of your space for the whole booking.
Bring Your Own
- Food, cake, and non-alcoholic drinks are all welcome
- The airline galley cart works as the serving station
- You handle your own setup and cleanup
We Arrange It
- Spreads from nearby Midtown and Koreatown kitchens
- Ordering, delivery timing, setup, and cleanup handled
- Dietary needs and allergies covered on request
- About one week of lead time for arranged catering
- Bring your own decorations: we do not supply party decor
- We are a flight training studio, so food shares the space with the simulators
We are a professional flight training facility rather than a party venue. Hosts are responsible for setup and cleanup of their own food and decorations.
Images are AI-generated renderings of the planned Midtown studio.
What Will We Actually Be Flying?
Three stations at the Midtown studio, and your booking can take one or all of them. The two training simulators are the real equipment our students learn on; the VR room is the one built purely for fun.
VR Room (2 motion simulators)
Both VR flight simulators with a dedicated operator. P-51 Mustang formation flights and GA airplanes, with fighter-jet missions to come.
Recreational rather than FAA approved. The easiest station for a group with no flying experience.
G1000 Flight Simulator
Our FAA-certified training simulator with an airline pilot instructor. The real flight deck experience.
The FAA-approved training simulator. Fixed base, so there is no motion and no queasiness.
Cirrus G3000 Simulator
The Cirrus simulator with an instructor, expected online at the new Midtown studio no later than November 1, 2026.
Online at the Midtown studio no later than November 1, 2026. Bookings that include it are confirmed by our team.
Images are AI-generated renderings of the planned Midtown studio.