“I’ve been waiting for this,” the learner said as she stood in the lobby of the flight school. In her arms was a stack of books—the Jeppesen Private Pilot textbook, test guide, syllabus, book of pilot maneuvers, a FAR/AIM, a POH, a plotter, and a mechanical E6-B. The this the learner was waiting for was a private pilot ground school. She explained that she was taking the class that would terminate in the spring when there was more VFR weather, and she knew from experience that she learned better in a face-to-face class than online.
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Face to Face vs. Online
Over the past 10 years, online ground schools have grown in popularity. This was especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic when most schools relied on remote education. Although online is still popular, there are some learners who know they do better in an actual classroom and are willing to make the investment of time, arranging other aspects of their life to accommodate the class.
Private pilot ground school is more than just prep for passing the knowledge test (formerly known as the written). Ground school is about getting the information and the tools you need to be a competent and safe pilot.
Full disclosure: Teaching private pilot ground school is one of my favorite instructional activities.
Most private ground schools run 10-12 weeks and contain approximately 40 hours of instruction. At the end of the course, learners who successfully pass the class are given an endorsement that allows them to take the private pilot knowledge test. The endorsement is good for 60 days.
The cost of the course is often several hundred dollars per learner, plus the cost of books and other supplies such as an E6-B and plotter.
Most flight schools need to have a minimum number of students enrolled in ground school to make it economically viable for the flight school to offer. This covers the cost of the flight instructor’s time, which can include classroom prep such as making a PowerPoint presentation that draws on images in the textbooks that are used, creating quizzes and tests, and grading the tests—in addition to an illustrated lecture and classroom discussion.
Prepackaged Courses
Two of the bigger names in face-to-face ground school are Jeppesen and ASA. Both have been educating pilots for decades and have a kit for learners that contains everything they will need to be successful in ground school. The kits can cost between $200-$450, depending on their content, and there is often a markup if the kit is purchased from the flight school.
The classes are designed to be done in both Part 141 and Part 61 programs—the material is the same.
Make Your Own
An enterprising CFI can create a ground school using books available from the Federal Aviation Association. These books include the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25C), Aviation Weather Handbook, (FAA-H-8083-28A), Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), and current copy of the FAR/AIM.
These can be downloaded for free from the FAA’s website (FAA.gov). They are also available for purchase in paperback. For the instructors building the course based on FAA texts, it is easy to cull images from the online versions of the books to create the PowerPoint slides.
The learners will also need to have an E6-B flight computer, a plotter, and a VFR sectional. Expired ones work, but make sure you write “EXPIRED FOR GROUND TRAINING ONLY” on them so you don’t accidentally take them in the aircraft, because if they are outdated, they likely contain incorrect information.
The instructor will need to supply learners with VFR navlogs when the class reaches the cross-country flight planning chapter, and at least photo copies from a POH so they can learn and practice aircraft performance calculations. Yes, there are apps that do this, but they need to know how to do it “analog” to truly
understand the process and how the information fits together.
To make sure the ground school covers everything the learners need to know, create the course by referencing the Airman Certification Standards and the syllabus used by the school. The ACS defines what the learner must know, consider, or do to earn a certificate or rating. The syllabus defines how and why these standards are met. Many learners training with both gives them a better understanding of the flight training process.
Becoming an Instructor
When you earn a ground instructor rating by passing a knowledge test or getting your CFI rating, it is expected that you know how to teach. Many CFIs take on the responsibility of teaching a ground school in the winter months when their hours in the airplane are reduced because of weather. That’s fine as long as the instructor wants to teach and has classroom skills.
Sadly, there are some CFIs who think reading slides off a screen is teaching. Nothing could be further from the truth. The slides are there to prompt discussion and exposition on the part of the instructor. Reading words out of a book or slides off a screen is simply not teaching any more than sitting quietly in the aircraft as self-loading ballast is flight instruction. Don’t shortchange the learners.
- READ MORE: Shaking the Rust Off a CFI Ticket
At flight schools with an established ground school a novice teacher will be paired up with an experienced one. This allows the novice to gain experience and practice teaching with someone who can show them the ropes.
Another technique used is to have CFIs in training or commercial learners who will soon be CFIs in training teach a part of the class—like the lesson in weight and balance—under the watchful eye of the experienced instructor. The main ground school instructor is still in charge of the class and responsible for the content of the lesson, so no FARs are being broken, but it is a way for the trainee to get valuable experience.
Anatomy of a Class
On the first day of class, welcome the learners to the school and give them a tour. Show them the classroom, maintenance hangar and, weather permitting, take them on to the ramp and show them the aircraft, ramp, windsock, and airport makings such as taxiways. Assure them that by the end of the course they will know what all these things are and how they work together.
Give the learners a syllabus that includes the class schedule, so they can see the dates of when each chapter will be covered and when the tests are. There should be at least three section tests and two 60-question practice finals at the end of the course to prepare them for the $175 FAA knowledge test. If the class is under Part 141, the learners have to score at least an 80 percent on the final to pass the class. If the class is Part 61, they can pass with 70 percent.
You may find it useful to do a short multiple choice quiz at the end of each lesson consisting of no more than five review questions culled from the instruction. The class answers these questions as a group at the end of the lesson. The correct answer is highlighted in a different color. The learners should write down the correct answers.
Adult Education
Private pilot ground school is very much a college-level course. Expect adult learners. One of the aspects to note with adult education is that the adults have probably had success in another part of their life. They may be business owners, Ph.D.s, firefighters, or established professionals—this can make them be harder on themselves if they struggle with the class.
It is helpful to begin the class by letting the learners know about the four levels of learning: rote (memorization), understanding, application, and correlation. In the first few weeks of class, the information will be learned by rote—by the middle of the class understanding, and by the end, application and correlation will take place.
The pacing of the class is critical. If you teach at a pace like a squirrel on the other side of three double espressos, it is doubtful the learners will be able to keep up. Strive for a conversational style. Take breaks, 10 minutes or so, every hour to keep the class from getting buried.
Let the learners know they will see the information and concepts again on the stage tests (usually two or three chapters of information) and then again on the final exam. The quizzes and stage check tests are corrected in class with the idea being that learning takes place. If a learner does poorly on a test, stress that it is just a means of identifying their soft spots. And it may also help the CFI determine what they need to work on to present the information more clearly. If a learner is having difficulty, talk to them privately after class to see what you can do to help them. You don’t want to leave anyone behind.
Ask the learners to raise their hand when they have a question and wait to be called on, letting them know it is challenging when they interrupt during a lecture as it is highly likely you are about to answer their question. If a learner is asking irrelevant questions—like about the pressurization systems on Boeing 737 when you are teaching the systems of a Cessna 172—ask the learner to write it down for later discussion.
Think Visually
Visuals are key, which is why so many ground schools are done using PowerPoint. There is always one in the class who mutters “death by PowerPoint,” which is a reference to these presentations being dull. They’re not if the CFI teaching the class is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the topic and uses the slides as starting points for guided discussions.
The benefit of the words on the screen, often arranged in bullet points, help the learners see what the instructor is talking about and allow time for language processing as words can be misheard, misconstrued, or missed completely.
Hands-on visuals that can be passed around are also a big hit. I have a piece of fabric from a Stearman that ground looped (torn from the damaged wing by the owner of the aircraft who wanted others to learn from his mistake) for when we talk about aircraft construction, a few red-tagged, round-dial instruments given to me by the mechanics, a pair of red-tagged rudder pedals, a carburetor heat knob, a length of wire a learner snapped off one day, and part of a marker beacon wire antennae that become embedded in the runway after a Cessna 182RG did a belly landing (That’s for when we talk about 49 CFR Part 830, also known as “When do we have to call the NTSB?”).
In addition to classroom discussion, you may also want to do “field trips,” taking the learners on to the ramp or into a cockpit if appropriate to see the subject matter, such as the gold taxiway lines or nonmovement area markings on the ramp, or with permission from the mechanics, into the hangar to look at an airplane with the bonnet off. The aircraft practical, where the CFI points to an instrument or a part and asks the learner to identify it and the system it is part of, is an excellent review.
Ask Other CFIs for Help
The most complicated and labor-intensive tasks, like learning how to plan a VFR flight using a paper sectional and filling out the navlog, can be done if given proper time and the learners have support in the form of the CFI and additional CFIs helping out. The CFI leading the class takes the learners through picking out checkpoints, using the plotter and the first two lines of the navlog, where to find the performance information in the POH, and then the learners are on their own. The backup CFIs step in to assist if called upon.
Never rush this lesson. Ever. Even if the learners and CFIs rely on ForeFlight or another app for navigation, they still need to know the use of pilotage and dead reckoning over GPS, as according to the Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) community, a great many private pilot applicants show up for their check rides lacking basic VFR navigation skills. They are unable to create a navlog by hand and cannot correctly calculate aircraft performance, time en route, or navigate by pilotage and dead reckoning.
Make sure the lesson concludes with how to file and open a flight plan using a computer, phone, or over the radio.
Make It Relevant and Memorable
When teaching ground school, phrases instructors don’t want to hear include: “Is this on the test?” and “Why do I need to know this?” You need to know this because you will be using this information in the aircraft—that’s the big one—will see the concept on a quiz, will see a question about it on a stage test, and may see a question again on the FAA knowledge test.
To the CFIs, if you are asked a question you don’t know the answer to, or can’t remember exact details, don’t guess. And even if you do know the answer, reach for the FAR/AIM, POH, or other appropriate text as backup, and invite the learners to do the same. Verify the information. If the CFI models this behavior the learners tend to embrace it as well.
If the class is fun, learning usually takes place. One of my favorite instructors used to stomp his foot three times when something was going to be on the test. He would mention the concept, like the “three ingredients for a thunderstorm are high humidity, unstable atmosphere, and a source of lifting action” and then stomp his foot three times like a horse in the circus demonstrating math skills. It was highly effective, and I adopted this technique.
Beware the Interference Factor
There is no shortage of aviation content online. Some of this is reputable, such as FAA-approved ground schools and aviation organizations such as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE), and National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI), that put out short vignettes on topics designed to educate the flying community.
And then there are not-so-educational videos from self-proclaimed aviation influencers who may not be instructors and have opinions that, while thought-provoking, may be misleading. These can muddy the educational waters. Encourage your learners to be discriminating in where they acquire their aviation education.
You never know what the learners are going to take away from ground school.
Years ago, after the entire class scored in the 90s on a test, I announced dramatically, “Learning has taken place!” This became the catchphrase for the class. I would ask if they understood something, and they would shout back, “Learning has taken place!” One of them is now a CFI himself, and a few months back I was at his FBO and heard him use the phrase with one of his learners. Learning truly had taken place.
This column first appeared in the April Issue 957 of the FLYING print edition.
