Course Preview
This is a mini course that shows the kind of content you can expect in our other courses.
Since you’re here, we figured we’d make ourselves useful and teach you something of value. In fact, the best advice we could possibly give you is in this short course. It’s a little thing called chair flying.
We’ll also teach you the basics of a takeoff, explain how carburetors work, explore weight and balance physics, and clarify about a frequently-confusing point of weather: pressure altitude.
At the end of the course is a sample practice exam, similar to the real ones we have at the end of our Private, Instrument, and Commercial courses.
Course Organization
We break courses down into sections and lessons, similar to chapters and subchapters. This course only has a single section, with a handful of lessons. Our other courses may have a dozen or more sections and many more lessons. In many of our courses the end of a section is marked with a review quiz to check your own knowledge and ensure you’re ready to progress further.
How We Teach
You’ll notice that we use a combination of teaching tools including virtual blackboard videos, writing, handouts, practice exercises, and quizzes. There’s a few things you won’t find here, including videos where we stare at you while we talk about flying (we’re not so easy on the eyes), and super fancy animations will slow robotic scripted voice-overs that take forever to finish and are so slow that you stop listening even if you’re really trying…we have been victimized enough by those, we didn’t think it right to subject you to that. Instead, we try to have a conversation with you. If it’s sometimes a little fast, the good news is you can always rewind!
Features
The sample course will give you a general idea of what the course layout looks like and how it functions. But there are other functions that only work if a user is logged in. These include:
- Every one of our courses has a built-in messaging system that students can use to message their instructors. Every course has a primary instructor, but we’re very much of the mindset that it takes a village to train a pilot. You can reach any of us via direct in-app (or in-browser) messaging.
- Yes, we have an app. For now it’s limited to iOS/MacOS, but it’s free to download and includes lots of free resources like the Resources Directory and Blog.
- A “dark mode” for when you’re studying late into the evening. Take a little strain off your eyes. Our courses are designed to display cleanly in both light and dark modes.
- If you like to study with friends, we also have separate classroom forums for each course, where you can ask questions and study with classmates. Don’t be shy!
Okay, that about covers it! When you’re ready to jump in, click the lesson “Maneuvers: Takeoff”