There is a difference between ground school and ground instruction. Ground instruction is typically given during a flight lesson before and/or after the flight portion of the lesson. Ground School meets a requirement to pass what is called a Written Test, required by the FAA. This Knowledge Test requires understanding of many subjects areas. Without a Ground School course, students won’t have a head-start when going to those flight lessons, and will likely spend more time and money getting their license.

Starting concurrently is the bare minimum. To start Flight Training first, and ground training (or ground school) later, will mean increases in time and cost. Students are best prepared by first taking a ground school, and then going to flight lessons, or at the very least starting them concurrently.

While you can start flight training without having started a Ground School, you’ll find that your progress is slowed by not knowing the subjects ahead of time. By having much of the book/class knowledge out of the way with a Ground School before starting, you’ll find your progress through flight training is much faster.

The Written Exam is valid for 2 years after the date of completion, giving the student more than enough time to go through flight training.

There are three tests required to become a private pilot; a Written Exam, Oral Exam and Practical Test. The Oral Exam and Practical Test are commonly referred to as the Checkride. The Checkride cannot begin without the Written Exam being completed ahead of time.

Our Ground School will help you complete and pass that required Written Test that you can then take to your Checkride.

As mentioned in other answers above, Ground School is much better completed prior to or at at the start of flight training.

This course is accredited by way of our instructor being FAA certificated. It counts just like any other school or University.

Nope. That’s the assumption we start with, that the class is starting from nothing. We’ll cover it from the ground up.

The other books are quite necessary, especially the actually flight planning tools you’ll be required to use on the test. Unfortunately, it does come with a bit of book work. There’s no way to get by without having some reading time involved. The FAR/AIM changes from year to year, and ends up being a waste if used in paper form. I prefer to use an app for FAR/AIM because it’s searchable. I’ll talk about that in the class as well (and how to manage a lot of other data)