The point I tried to make to my student is that passing the test shouldn't be the objective. If all we do is prepare for the test, we'll be woefully unprepared to deal with the realities of flying. The airman knowledge test is only one measure of our knowledge. Our real objective is to learn everything we can about aviation and be prepared to deal with whatever comes our way. If we've really done our homework, and really learned about flying, we do more than skate through the airman knowledge exam.
We have several ways to acquire aviation knowledge and meet the FAA's ground school requirements. Which method you choose depends on personal preference. For most students, preparation for the knowledge exam and the oral portion of the checkride combines a variety of training elements, references, and learning aids.
Formal Ground School
The first option is the formal ground school where students congregate in a classroom to listen and learn under the direction of an instructor. The quality of classroom courses hinges primarily on the instructor. Good teacher, good course. Bad teacher, bad course.
Formal ground schools are part of two- and four-year aviation degree programs, and are often integrated into Part 141 training programs. Most flight schools offer ground school, as do continuing education and adult evening education programs at many high schools, colleges, and universities.
Classroom ground schools have advantages and disadvantages, and one man's punch may be another man's poison. A regularly scheduled class helps keep some students on track with their studies. For other students, working a regular class time into their schedules is next to impossible.
Most classroom courses combine lectures with other teaching aids and materials. You'll find a wide variation in quality, from stick figures and hand-drawn illustrations to color slides and professional video presentations.
Few instructors can match the professional presentation found in some of the training videos, but they may make up for it in other ways. Perhaps the biggest advantage of a classroom ground school is the instructor, who can answer your questions and explain material in a different way if you don't grasp the concept. On the other hand, there's always the one student in the class who routinely gets the instructor off on a tangent and makes you feel like you're wasting your time and money.
Home Study
Students who have trouble conforming to a fixed schedule or simply detest the classroom, have the home study option. You can study at home under the direction of a certificated flight or ground instructor, or you can use a self-contained home study program. In either case, home study allows you to take advantage of a multitude of exciting new training materials including videos, computerized learning systems, test preparation books, and conventional text books. In fact, many flight schools are migrating to this type of format instead of the traditional ground school.
Test Prep Guides
Books published by ASA, Gleim, Iowa State University Press, Jeppesen Sanderson, and others have been the test preparation staple of student pilots for decades. The format for each is slightly different, but they all include the answers, plus an explanation and references for each question on the airman knowledge examination. Some of the books combine a textbook with the test preparation material.
The test prep books are great to put the razor's edge on your readiness for the exam, but don't think of them as a complete resource for your ground training. To round out your knowledge, you'll need several other references, including a textbook, the current federal aviation regulations and Aeronautical Information Manual, an airplane flight manual for the aircraft in which you train, a copy of the practical test standards (PTS) for the certificate or rating you want to earn, and perhaps even some special interest books on various aviation topics.
Video Courses
In the age of MTV, it's no surprise that many students and aviation educators alike prefer video ground school courses over other forms of ground school. Video ground school courses are nothing new. What is new is the way instructors use this medium to present the material. Early video courses were often little more than videos of typical classroom ground school lectures. Today's videos offer a much higher degree of sophistication, which makes learning faster and more fun.
As John King of King Schools explains, "Video is a very powerful teaching tool, and improvements in recent years have enhanced its value tremendously. An instructor can't bring an airplane into the class with him, nor bring in an engine and show you how it works during a two-day ground school, but you can do all this on video. We can now show such things as the inside of an engine with the piston going up and down, valves opening and closing, the charge burning, and you can see all this in motion. We can show a control surface moving and the motion of the airflow and the airplane as the control surfaces deflect. You can put a person in the cockpit and show them the view they'll have as they complete a landing or maneuver."
The advantages of a video program include professional presentation and the ability to illustrate key concepts clearly, using a combination of video footage, computer graphics, and animation. Most importantly, the pause button makes it easy for students to stop and take notes; the rewind button lets you watch segments as often as you need to; and you can watch the videos on your schedule.
Certainly, video courses have their limitations and disadvantages. You can't look something up on a video, so you still need conventional textbooks and references to complement a VHS or video-based home study course. Publishers often package videos and conventional resources together in a complete kit.
Computer-Based Training Materials
If you have a computer, computer-based home-study materials are an excellent element to add to your training arsenal. Before you buy, make sure the software is compatible with your computer. Processor speed, memory, and operating system requirements vary from one program to the next. Many programs require a CD-ROM, so consider adding one to your system if you don't have this accessory.
Major differences exist among the many computer ground school courses. Some publishers offer a computerized version of their test preparation and conventional resource materials such as the FARs, AIM, and other texts - on disk or CD-ROM. Usually the CD-ROM versions are more comprehensive than the hard copies, covering a broader spectrum of the regulations along with hundreds of other resources including FAA advisory circulars and handbooks.
Computer-based references can be a key element regardless of your strategy for completing ground school. A typical CD-ROM packs a bookshelf of publications into a single disk at a fraction of the cost. As Jackie Spanitz of ASA explains, "The biggest savings is time. Few people read the FARs like a book. We usually look something up in it and the other FAA reference materials. Where CD-ROM is helpful is you can type in your key word, and it will send you directly where that topic is found in the FARs, the AIM, Flight Training Handbook, and the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, and you can go to any or all of the sources to read or print out the material."
Another variation in computerized training adds video to the curriculum. The ASA syllabus augments its CD-ROM references with other commercially available video courses, such as Jeppesen, Sporty's, or King Schools. Similarly, the Jeppesen multimedia courses combine a text, video course, and multimedia portion of their computer-based training (CBT), and are designed to take advantage of whatever resources (computer, video, etc.) a school or student may have.
King, and Jeppesen provide multimedia exam review courses that use interactive CD-ROM technology. These products allow enhanced step-by-step learning, testing, and evaluation. If you get a question wrong, you don't have to look up the answer because the program takes you right to the reference, or to a short video clip (stored on CD-ROM) that explains the material clearly and concisely. As John King notes, "Some material lends itself much more readily to a video explanation. It's much easier to show someone how to use graphs, tables, and charts on video than it is to describe the process in words."
When it's time, you can take a knowledge test using one or more of the same formats used by the commercial computer testing centers that administer the FAA tests. What's more, with the reference materials stored on CD-ROM, you can go right from the question to the reference material to clear up any confusing questions.
One-On-One Instruction
For every student who receives flight instruction, one-on-one ground instruction is part of the program. Throughout our training, instructors provide a steady stream of critique, review, and revelation as part of the preflight, flight, and post-flight briefing. The same instructors often provide a full or partial ground school program for those willing to pay the price for individualized instruction.
My student finally saw the light, and in spite of a strong distaste for examinations, managed a high score on the knowledge test. Passing the test with a high score not only took the pressure off, but it helped lay a sound foundation for his aviation training, building confidence and positive self image.
Ground Instruction In The Information Age
The information age is truly upon us, and it's bringing changes that may influence the way we train. With the revival of single-engine aircraft production, Cessna is revamping its training syllabus and ground instruction program. Together with King Schools, they've reinvented the way flight and ground training work together and have developed new programs that help students learn quickly and maintain their motivation. As redefined by Cessna, here's how a typical lesson in the future will go.?
You arrive at the flight school, and while your instructor completes a lesson with another student, you start your lesson. You sit down at a computer, click on an icon, and the screen displays a graphic depicting your path to becoming a pilot. The graphic depicts your entire training program, shows you where you are, and helps you understand how today's lesson fits into the entire scheme of training.
Today's lesson addresses towered airport traffic patterns, and before you meet with your instructor, you get a full multimedia lesson that teaches everything you need to know. More important, you get to review the entire flight lesson on computer, viewed from the pilot seat, along with typical instructions your CFI will give you.
Now on screen is the airport, complete with the control tower and your airplane. Using the mouse, you click on the tower and hear the controller's instructions. Again using the mouse, you drag the airplane to a new location to comply with the controller's instructions.
If you make a mistake, a video clip explains the controller's instructions and shows you what you should have done. As you go through the lesson the computer keeps track of your progress and gives your instructor a printout that identifies areas that may require more attention during the flight lesson.
Before you fly you get a printout of the entire lesson plan, along with any items from previous lessons that might not have been completed or require additional practice. "Because the student is so well prepared, the instructor's job now," explains King, "is to provide the associations, insights and guidance needed to help the student master the skills, and to be a very good safety pilot."
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