Ground School
Ground school is the aviation word for the classroom half of learning to fly — the part that happens before you get in the aeroplane, and the part that decides how expensive the flying half turns out to be.
These are the answers we end up giving on the phone, written down. Every number in them is a range, because the honest answer is a range, and every regulatory claim carries the section it comes from so you can check it rather than trust us.
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What a private pilot licence really costs
The 40-hour quote versus the 60-hour reality, and where every dollar of the difference goes.
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Part 61 or Part 141 — which one is yours
Same certificate, same checkride. The three situations where the difference genuinely decides for you.
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What actually happens in your first lesson
The preflight, the exchange of controls, and who is really flying the aeroplane.
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The FAA medical, in plain English
What the fifteen named conditions actually are, and why most of them are a delay rather than a wall.
What we have not written yet
Twelve guides are planned and four are written. The other eight are listed here as plain text rather than as links, because a link that goes nowhere is the sort of thing this site is meant not to do. If one of them is the answer you actually need today, ring us and we will just tell you.
- How long it really takes, and what makes it take longer
- How to read a flight school’s price list
- What a checkride actually tests
- Choosing your first instructor
- The written exam, and when to take it
- What to buy, and what to wait on
- Flying in the Arizona summer
- From private certificate to a paid flying job
In the meantime, the questions page carries the short version of most of them, and the Arizona directory has every school we have verified.
Or skip the reading
Everything in these guides is something we will happily say out loud in two minutes on the phone. Free, and you pay the school directly at the school’s own price.