Ground School

A big part of your initial training will be spent learning the science of flight. You’ll need to study and understand the basics of aerodynamics, aircraft performance, weight and balance, flight instruments, sectional charts and cross-country planning, airspace, weather, communications, flight operations, and navigation. It sounds complicated now, but a good ground course can distill these topics down to easily digestible bites. It’s a whole lot simpler than figuring out tax forms!

There are several ways to accomplish the ground school portion of your aviation education. You can take part in a traditional classroom course offered at a local college, flight school or through the Taylorcraft Flying Club. The up-side is the accessibility of a live instructor to answer your questions and make sure you understand the material before moving on.

Probably the most commonly used method for ground training is the home study course. These come in video and/or computer formats and are available from a number of reputable vendors. Naturally, each claims to be the best and all have their own strengths and weaknesses. The most appealing factor to home-study is that the video/computer course is available on your schedule, and allows you to work at your own pace. Your Flight Instructor can assist you with any questions you might encounter with the home study method.

You can also take ground school instruction on the Web. One advantage to this is the availability of up-to-the-minute information of regulations and knowledge test questions.

At the conclusion of your ground school training, you will take the FAA’s Knowledge Test. This is a 60-question multiple choice exam covering all of the areas listed above. This test is administered by computer directly from the FAA testing branch. A passing score is 70%, but I suggest you aim for something in the ninetieth percentile. Would you want a surgeon who only scored 70% on his medical boards?. You will undoubtedly study hard for this test, and you’ll probably look back on it as one of the most painless exams you ever took.