Flight School at Riverside Municipal Airport (KRAL)

6951 Flight Road, Suite 106, Riverside, CA 92504 951-590-3572

NextGen Flying Academy’s Riverside campus is our primary training facility. Located at Riverside Municipal Airport (ICAO: KRAL), we run both FAA Part 61 and FAA Part 141 training here, with full single-engine and multi-engine fleet, complex aircraft for commercial requirements, and direct access to some of the most diverse training airspace in the country.

If you’re on a career track, this is where you’ll likely base your training.

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Student pilots and a Certified Flight Instructor on the ramp at Riverside Municipal Airport (KRAL) — On the ramp at KRAL. Class D tower, full Part 141 syllabus, and the entire training fleet.

About Riverside Municipal Airport

Riverside Municipal is a Class D towered airport sitting at 819 feet MSL, with a single 5,401-foot runway (09/27). The tower operates 0700 to 2100 local. After-hours operations transition to common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), giving students experience in both controlled and uncontrolled tower environments at the same field.

Field facts that matter for training:

Class D tower: students learn radio communication from day one with a real controller, not a recorded scenario
5,401-foot runway: comfortable margin for all training aircraft including the Beechcraft Duchess on multi-engine takeoffs
GPS/RNAV and ILS approaches: Runway 09 has a full ILS, ideal for instrument training
Class B transition to Ontario International (KONT) 10 nautical miles north, LAX 50 nautical miles west
March Air Reserve Base (KRIV) Class C is 5 nautical miles southeast, useful exposure to military airspace operations

Airspace within 30 NM of Riverside

A student flying out of KRAL gets exposed to airspace they’ll see in any professional cockpit:

Class B: Ontario (KONT), Los Angeles (KLAX)
Class C: March ARB (KRIV)
Class D: Riverside (KRAL), Chino (KCNO), Corona (KAJO), Long Beach (KLGB), Fullerton (KFUL)
Class G practice areas to the south and east
Special use airspace including the R-2515 restricted area at Edwards AFB and W-289 over the Pacific

Cross-country students routinely fly to San Diego (KSAN), Catalina (KAVX), Palm Springs (KPSP), and Big Bear (KL35) for landing requirement and density-altitude experience.

View from a training aircraft flying over the Riverside area, Southern California — Cross-country territory south of KRAL: coastline, mountains, and Class B airspace all within an hour.

What we offer at Riverside

Part 141 structured training

Riverside is our Part 141 facility. Part 141 students follow an FAA-approved structured syllabus with formal stage checks, lower hour minimums (35 hours PPL, 190 hours commercial vs. Part 61’s 40 and 250), and eligibility for VA benefits / GI Bill funding subject to current VA approval.

Part 141 is generally the right choice if you’re:

Using GI Bill benefits
On an accelerated career-track timeline
Funded by an employer or sponsor with structured-program requirements

Part 61 flexible training

Most of our Riverside students train Part 61. The curriculum is the same FAA Airman Certification Standards. The pace is yours.

Programs available at Riverside

Every program we offer is available at Riverside, including the ones that aren’t offered at Redlands:

Private Pilot Certificate (Part 61 or Part 141)
Instrument Rating (Part 61 or Part 141)
Commercial Pilot Certificate (Part 61 or Part 141)
Multi-Engine Rating: Beechcraft Duchess based at KRAL
CFI / CFII / MEI: including Multi-Engine Instructor (MEI)
Airline Transport Pilot: checkride prep
Career Track (Zero to Hero)
High Performance & Complex Endorsements: Piper Arrow based at KRAL
High Altitude Endorsement: available, Redlands is the primary location

Fleet emphasis at Riverside

Riverside hosts our complete fleet types: Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Piper Warrior, Piper Cherokee Arrow (PA-28R) for complex and commercial training, Beechcraft Duchess (BE-76) for multi-engine, plus a Redbird simulator configured for instrument and multi-engine emergency procedures. Specific tail availability rotates with maintenance schedules.

Beechcraft Duchess multi-engine training aircraft on the ramp at Riverside Municipal Airport — Beechcraft Duchess (BE-76). Multi-engine training lives here.

Who trains at Riverside

Career-track students: the path from PPL to CFI lives here. Multi-engine is here. Most students aiming at the airlines do the bulk of their training out of KRAL.
Working adults: Riverside’s geography puts it within 45 minutes of most of Orange County, the Inland Empire, and southwestern Los Angeles County. Reasonable commute for evening and weekend training.
Out-of-area students: accelerated PPL students relocate to Riverside for 30 to 90 days. We can help with referrals to local short-term housing.

Getting to Riverside Municipal

From Orange County: 35 to 50 minutes via the 91 or 55 freeways
From Los Angeles: 50 to 75 minutes via the 60 or 91 freeways depending on traffic
From San Bernardino / Redlands: 25 to 35 minutes via the 215 / 10
From Palm Springs: 60 to 75 minutes via the 10
From San Diego: 75 to 90 minutes via the 15

The airport sits in a commercial industrial zone bordering the Santa Ana River. Plenty of parking, easy ramp access, no security theatre between you and the airplane.

What a typical training day looks like at Riverside

A pre-solo Private Pilot student arriving at KRAL for a mid-morning lesson generally follows the same flow.

Arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled lesson. Brief with your instructor for 15 to 20 minutes on the day’s objectives, weather, and NOTAMs. Walk to the ramp, perform a preflight inspection on your assigned aircraft (about 15 minutes), call clearance delivery if needed, and taxi to the run-up area. Depart Riverside’s airspace either to the southeast practice area (over Lake Mathews and the Cleveland National Forest foothills) for maneuvers, or to a satellite airport like Corona (KAJO) or Chino (KCNO) for pattern work and landings.

Most lessons run 1.5 to 2.0 hours block time, giving 1.0 to 1.5 hours of actual flight time. Total time at the airport including brief, fly, and debrief: about 2.5 hours.

Instrument students train similar timing but often depart on a filed IFR clearance for approach work at nearby fields. Commercial students run longer cross-countries to fields like Bakersfield (KBFL), Palm Springs (KPSP), or San Luis Obispo (KSBP).

Student pilot and Certified Flight Instructor reviewing training material at the Riverside office — Pre-flight briefing inside the academy office at Riverside.

Equipment and facilities at the field

Riverside Municipal has fuel (100LL and Jet A) available on the field. Maintenance is on-airport. Ramp access is direct from our office suite. There’s pilot lounge space, briefing rooms, and the Redbird simulator for instrument and emergency procedure work.

The airport is open 24/7 to general aviation. Tower hours dictate when controlled-airport operations require ATC communication; outside tower hours (2100 to 0700 local), KRAL operates as non-towered, which gives students unusual flexibility for night training or early-morning departures.

Discovery flights from Riverside

A discovery flight from KRAL gives you 30 to 60 minutes in the left seat with a CFI. Routes our students enjoy most:

Catalina Island (KAVX): over-water, mountain landing, the iconic Southern California flight
Disneyland airspace boundary: fly the edge of the Class D shelf, see the park from 2,500 feet
Hollywood Sign / Griffith Park: VFR transition through LA Class B, the photo every new pilot wants
Dana Point / Pacific coastline: south to the coast, return via the Cleveland National Forest

Book a Discovery Flight from Riverside