Preflight

Navigating Online Resources

I've always been amazed by the diversity of the pilot population in the United States. There's no end to the factors that draw us into aviation, or to the influences that ignite our passion for one part of the aviation spectrum - or several parts, or even all parts.

That diversity extends into the student-pilot population as well. Many of today's students aspire to be airline pilots, and they have the foresight to look beyond the economic woes, exacerbated by the effects of last September 11's terrorist attacks, that currently plague much of the commercial aviation industry. They realize that reduced airline travel is a temporary condition - indeed, some airlines barely slowed their pilot hiring.

Other student pilots are living the storybook aviation dream. Perhaps they grew up in airplane-oriented families. A lucky few began their flight training early, soloing on their sixteenth birthday and taking the checkride on their seventeenth - the earliest possible under the federal aviation regulations.

And sometimes people come into aviation because they're afraid to fly.

Yes, afraid to fly. In mid-July I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, covering the rollout of the first Eclipse 500 - an innovative new six-seat light jet that boasts a very low price (for a jet) of less than $1 million - for AOPA Flight Training's sister magazine, AOPA Pilot. I struck up a conversation with a pilot who, six years ago, was afraid of small airplanes. He told me how he was "tricked" into flying one home from a lunch trip to storied Meigs Field on the Chicago lakefront - and he was hooked.

He started flight training, earned his private pilot certificate in 90 days, and bought a Piper Saratoga. Later he upgraded to a twin-engine Cessna. Today, six years and 1,200 flight hours after his first lesson, he's excited about taking delivery of his own Eclipse jet.

What do all these student pilots share? Whether they dream of an airline career, simply love to fly, or are afraid of small planes, student pilots have a need for information - accurate, timely, and complete information.

And nothing's revolutionized the delivery of such information more than the Internet. When I began my flight training in 1989, fax machines were the exciting new thing. E-mail was rare, only through private services such as Compuserve, and modems were a blazing 2,400 baud.

In those days, a student pilot with a question had three choices - try to find the answer yourself in a textbook or manual, ask somebody hanging around the coffee pot in the airport office, or hope that you could remember the question until your next lesson, when you could ask your flight instructor. But the Internet - and faster modems - have changed that. Now, all kinds of aviation information is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you've spent much time on the Web, you know there's some good information out there - and some bad information, and everything in between. The credibility of online sources is very important, and AOPA is pleased to put its name behind the most comprehensive online general aviation resource out there. Access to AOPA Online is free with membership, even the free six-month AOPA Flight Training Introductory Membership.

The site has nearly 30,000 pages of aviation information - a daunting amount to navigate, especially if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. To help you in that process, we've created some online resource guides. Visit AOPA Flight Training's page ( www.aopa.org/flight_training ) and at the very top, you'll see links to our Online Resources for Student Pilots and Online Resources for CFIs. These pages contain links to a variety of useful information, including the magazine's online article archive, tips for finding an instructor or a flight school, and many other references for student pilots and instructors.

If you find these pages useful, bookmark them in your browser for easy reference. They are works in progress; we appreciate your suggestions for future additions.

Another feature that many readers find useful is our Web links page ( www.aopaflighttraining.org/ftmag/links_menu.cfm ). Magazines today increasingly refer their readers to Web sites for additional information, and we've collected all the URLs in each issue on one page for you - no more typing unwieldy Web addresses; just click your mouse. The page includes a link to our online advertisers' index, where you're one click away from more information on nearly every product or service advertised in AOPA Flight Training.

If online research doesn't answer your flight-training question, or raises new ones, you can ask your instructor during your next lesson. Or you can e-mail your question to a special AOPA address ( [email protected] ), where it will be answered by a knowledgeable pilot, often by the next business day.

Regardless of your reasons for learning to fly, AOPA and Flight Training can help by providing accurate, timely, and complete information.