Tag: ground school

This is a follow-up to my previous post where I reminisced about earning my Private Pilot Certificate in 1977, but then put it on hold in 1979 when medical school, marriage, children, jobs, etc, etc, etc made it impossible to keep flying. Now, 43 years later, after stumbling into a beautiful little Pipistrel Alpha at our local airport, I’m suddenly wanting to pick it up again.

So here’s what I’ve done about it in the past 4 weeks:

• I decided to repeat a good ground school course.
• After researching the best online ground school for me, I decided on Fly8MA.
• I enrolled in their ground school course, and I’m 75% through it so far, passing the quizzes after each section. (I’m surprised at how much I remember from 43 years ago!)
• When I need more detail, I can consult Rod Machado’s Private Pilot Handbook, an excellent reference book I purchased to complement my other efforts.
• Then I’ll take Fly8MA’s Rusty Pilot course, and probably a few others, since I’m paying a monthly fee to access all their courses anyway.
• After that, I’ll learn how to use the Garmin aviation navigation programs. This part will be totally new for me, and I’m sure it’ll be a blast.
• Meanwhile, I found a local Aviation Medical Examiner and have scheduled an appointment for my flight physical. I need to pass this if I’m going to get off the ground at all. I’ll be prepared with my latest eye exam reports, as that is my weakest link, but I should be good to go.
• I did the required online portion of the flight physical at FAA MedXPress.
• If I pass the medical exam and they give me an updated Medical Certificate, I’ll be technically approved to fly. But I’ll update all my knowledge before I approach the flight school, including learning how to use ForeFlight.
• The Piedmont Flight Training school at our local Smith Reynolds Airport is close by and convenient. I’ve already picked out one or two of their instructors who I think would work well with me to bring me back up to speed.
• Before I approach the school, I’ll also be well acquainted with the POH (Pilot’s Operating Handbook) for the Pipistrel Alpha, which is the whole reason I’m doing this in the first place. Isn’t it cool!?!

I plan to be the best Rusty Pilot they’ve ever encountered!

I’ll post more updates as this project develops. 😀