Sporty’s Pilot Shop and Aviation Supplies & Academics (ASA) have joined forces to educate the next generation of flight instructors through Sporty’s new Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) Test Prep Course, now available in the popular Sporty’s Pilot Training app.
According to Bret Koebbe, senior vice president at Sporty’s, the course is designed to supplement in-person training done at flight schools and prepare the applicant for the fundamentals of instruction (FOI) and both the flight instructor airplane (FIA) and flight instructor instrument (FII) knowledge exams.
Sporty’s offers over 30 online courses covering everything from flying sport pilot to commercial pilot along with specialty courses such as learning to fly tailwheel or seaplanes. The company has also offered an online flight instructor refresher course (FIRC) for several years.
Koebbe said Sporty’s learned from flight schools of the need for a better means to prepare CFI applicants for their knowledge tests and check rides. Both Sporty’s and ASA have been educating generations of pilots for decades, and Sporty’s has been a distributor for ASA’s exam guides.
“The flight schools needed this,” Koebbe said. “ASA is known for their check ride prep and test prep, so we partnered with them on this one. Their content and our content brings the best of both worlds.”
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Greg Robbins, president of ASA, sees the venture as a win-win for both companies.
“We were discussing things that both companies do and decided this was something that could really help the CFI community,” Robbins, President said. “We worked with Sporty’s on a FAR/AIM app and have done some smaller projects. This is the largest collaboration going with what they do and what we do for delivering content to the customer.”
About the Course
The course is all-digital and interactive. Sporty’s has partnered with ASA by integrating ASA’s trusted instructor pilot/CFI prepware into Sporty’s proven training platform, resulting in a learning experience that provides the user with an instructional level of knowledge.
The questions are scenario-based and can be randomized or served as topic specific, a helpful tool when the applicant discovers a particular soft spot in their knowledge. The course is also designed to help applicants develop their teaching skills.
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The course includes:
• Complete prep for all three FAA CFI knowledge tests: FIA, FOI, and FII
• 3,500-plus FAA-style questions with detailed explanations
• Oral exam flashcards from ASA’s Oral Exam Guide
• Built-in endorsement for the FOI knowledge test
• ChatDPE, a virtual check ride examiner for oral prep
• Smart analytics to track progress and highlight weak areas
• Digital access to Bill Kershner’s The Flight Instructor’s Manual
The course is available online and in Sporty’s Pilot Training app, and can be accessed across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, AppleTV, Roku, FireTV, AndroidTV, and Chromecast.
If a user has a question, they can contact Sporty’s pilot support team here.
The CFI Test Prep Course is available for $199.99 at Sportys.com. Once purchased, it is automatically available in your Pilot Training account across all platforms.
