In-Person Private Pilot Ground School 23/24
Topic outline
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Weekly, In-Person Class Oshkosh, January-March 2024
Learn the fundamentals of aviation in an interactive classroom setting with other students.
Gain confidence in your ability to learn the body of knowledge required to fly before committing to thousands of dollars of flight training.
$100 (plus student-purchased books/materials)
Class Format
- Hybrid class with weekly online activities and a weekly in-person class session.
- In-person sessions held Saturdays 2-5 PM at Wittman Regional Airport Terminal in Oshkosh. First meeting is January 6, 2024.
- Planning for 10 weekly sessions, but skipping February 24.
- Significant at-home study required including reading, quizzes, and final exam.
- Instructor help available via learning portal during the week and during office hours before and after class.
- Endorsement to take the FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Test given with acceptible attendance and final exam score.
- Online activities open late December.
In-Person Sessions January 6, 13, 20, 27; February 3, 10, 17; March 2, 9, 16
Take a look at the Course Syllabus and Required Materials sections for details on how the course is organized and the additional materials you'll need to complete the course.
Signup
The signup process requires that you create an account with the Hoss Flight Learning Center, complete the email address confirmation, and log in before you can pay for the class.
After registering your account and logging in, sign up using this link. If you are logged in, there will be a link at the bottom to pay the course fee of $100 via PayPal (credit cards accepted).
If you have trouble getting signed up, please contact the instructor using the contact form on the Hoss Flight website.
Additional Info
How Ground Instruction Usually Works
Typically, ground instruction for the private pilot license is provided in lockstep with flight instruction. In this mode, instructors teach students one-on-one or one-on-a-few. Lessons will have a ground component and a flight component, where new information is presented on the ground and then immediately applied in flight.
This is a time-tested approach and results in the best outcomes for flight training. However, this method generally does not provide comprehensive preparation for the knowledge test. Most flight instructors still supplement their ground instruction with a ground school or test prep book, app, or website to ensure students receive training on all of the information needed for the airman knowledge test.
A Unique Learning Opportunity
In-person ground school, particularly at the sport, recreation, or private pilot level, is not very common. Many professional flight schools don’t even teach primary students, requiring students interested in pursuing a career in aviation to earn their private certificates on their own before coming to school. This means that private pilot education is provided by a decentralized web of instructors, clubs, and small flight schools that often simply are too busy providing flight training to teach a full ground school course.
Considerations
There are pros and cons to participating in an in-person ground school as opposed to using a self-paced course. Depending on your personality, circumstances, and goals, it might make sense for you.
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PRO: Gain confidence in your ability to build up your aviation knowledge to the level required to be a pilot.
Some people are interested in flying, but unsure that they will be able to learn and retain everything they’ll need to know to actually do it. Working through a ground school program is a good way to prove to yourself that you can do it. -
CON: There are self-paced ground school programs that may cost less or demand less time.
Books and apps allow a much larger student-to-instructor ratio and have much lower per-student costs. Many do not require you to purchase any supplies other than the ground school program itself, and cost less than just the materials for this class. With this class, you are paying more for the opportunity to learn in-person with an instructor and other students. -
PRO: Your flight training will go faster.
Since you’ll have most of the knowledge already, your flight instructor will be able to spend less time on ground instruction during your flight training. -
CON: You’ll still need to receive ground instruction during flight training.
Whether or not you take a ground school course, your flight instructor is still required to provide some ground instruction as part of your flight training--but far less thanks to this course! -
PRO: In-person learning provides benefits that other modes simply cannot provide.
Have a question? Raise your hand and get an answer. Already bought an online ground school a couple years ago but couldn’t stay motivated to finish it? We’ll be taking attendance, so you don’t want to miss a session. Maybe interacting with other students excites you and helps you learn. These things are just not possible with a self-study app. -
CON: It’s kind of a big time commitment if you’ve got a full time job and/or family to worry about.
Most ground school programs take around 25 hours of study time—which is a lot—and this class will probably require a bit more than that if you figure in the outside-of-class assignments and studying you’ll need to do. That said, most people will find their depth of understanding and retention of the material to be much better with an in-person class compared to a self-study course. If your goal is simply to pass the knowledge test, a self-study course is likely the shortest path to your goal. -
PRO: Winter is a crap time for flight training in Wisconsin anyway.
So why not spend that time in a cozy classroom learning so that when spring chases the snow away, you’re ready to hit the sky?
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