PPL ground training study

[BaconRash]

This could be one of those " how long is a piece of string" questions but I'm interested to know approximately how many hours people spent / feel should be spent studying ground school.

Which subjects would you suggest its most useful to take first and which leave to the end.

Any recommendations or good / bad experiences with self study CDs

Thanks in advance

[abgd]

know approximately how many hours people spent / feel should be spent studying ground school.

How long is a piece of string?

The answer to that depends partly on educational ability and partly on background interests. The course includes quite a substantial amount of information, covering quite a lot of subjects, and a lot of it will be new to anyone. A good grounding in the sciences will help with aircraft technical, meteorology and medicine, but air law involves a lot of rote learning. I actually found ground-school very satisfying though.

Which subjects would you suggest its most useful to take first and which leave to the end.

Air law because you need this for your first solo and because once you've got this out of the way, the rest will seem positively fun by comparison. Also learn the phonetic alphabet early because you can practice reading car number plates every day, and it takes a while to become fluent.

If you have the discipline, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do the whole of ground school prior to starting the course. However, I would sit some of the exams (e.g. nav) after getting a bit of practical experience.

Any recommendations or good / bad experiences with self study CDs

I bought the Oxford RT CD and was unimpressed. It didn't tell me anything I couldn't have learned from a much cheaper book, and I could think of far more imaginative forms of computer aided learning. I also found it very slow. Admittedly, I had wanted it more for the practical than the theoretical test.

I would suggest AirQuiz - Online Practice Examinations for Pilots! - very reasonably priced; very responsive administrator and I gather it has just had a series of questions updated.

[lenhamlad]

Just got my PPL by courier this week having started back in August 2010. A great feeling. Agree with what's been been posted already. My CFI recommended doing a ground exam for every five hours of flying. That way you will not have lots of exams as you head towards your cross country qualifier and skills test. I found PPLQuiz.com very good as an indicator of how much I had learned but don't be fooled into thinking you can pass the test simply by remembering the correct answers. Ensure you have understood the concepts and where necessary revise where you have got the wrong answer. I have started rereading Airplane Tech and am finding it more interesting now that I don't have an exam to pass! Good luck.

[rats404]

Personally, as someone who revalidated last year, I thought the Oxford PPL CD's were terribly badly produced. In my day job, I deal with a lot of online and digital learning resources, and these CD's are shockingly bad from a production perspective.

Unfortunately, the UK student pilot population is so small compared to the U.S. that there is a relatively small market meaning that there is no real driver for someone to invest the money in producing good quality digital training resources.

Some of the U.S. AOPA online courses are very good in my opinion, but these are geared to licenced pilots.

However, AirQuiz - Online Practice Examinations for Pilots! is excellent value for money if you are a student pilot in the UK - as a complementary resource to studying with the books, not as a replacement.

[BobD]

Ground School Exams

It all depends on your chosen path to the PPL. I went to the States to get my PPL in four weeks, and I knew there was no chance for me personally to study and pass my exams in that timeframe (although there were other , younger, guys on the course who did). So I started studying about six months before I left the UK, and took five of the seven theory tests here (I decided that the Met and NAV exams would be best taken when I had more practical experience). I also did a few hours flight training in the UK to help understand the theory with some practical work.

I agree about Airquiz, it proved invaluable in self testing (and as you get two years membership, I also used it for my IMC training a year after my PPL).

The order to take the exams is an interesting question. Perceived wisdom when I did them was that Human Factors was the simplest. However, this subject has the least number of questions, which appears easiest on the face of it, but it also means it is the one with the least number of wrong answers you can afford, to acheive the pass rate.

Good Luck

[mark8647]

For me it was

Air law
Met
Human performance
Flight planning and performances
RT
Aircraft general
Navigation

After having a break from flying training, i decided to start again by getting the exams out of the way first in order to gain the most from my lessons. It has worked for me so far.

[BillieBob]

approximately how many hours people spent / feel should be spent studying ground school.

100 hours - at least, that is the minimum amount of theoretical knowledge instruction that ATOs are required to provide under Part-FCL.

[abgd]

I think that's for CPL. I got away with 1 hour obligatory ground school for mine, and if I'd sat the nav exams before doing my navexes, I could have probably managed without that.

[BillieBob]

No, that's for the LAPL and PPL - the requirement for the CPL is 250 hours. You may very well have 'got away' with only 1 hour's training but that was before the advent of EU regulation.

[Prop swinger]

Originally Posted by BillieBob

100 hours - at least, that is the minimum amount of theoretical knowledge instruction that ATOs are required to provide under Part-FCL.

Where does it say that? All I can find is FCL 115 & 210 which say:

The course shall include theoretical knowledge and flight instruction appropriate to the privileges given.

Appendix 3 states minimum theoretical knowledge study time of 350 or 500 hours depending on which type of course.

[BillieBob]

AMC1 FCL.210; FCL.215

"The following tables contain the syllabi for the courses of theoretical knowledge, as well as for the theoretical knowledge examinations for the PPL(A) and PPL(H). The training and examination should cover aspects related to non-technical skills in an integrated manner, taking into account the particular risks associated to the licence and the activity. An approved course shall comprise at least 100 hours of theoretical knowledge instruction."

Appendix 3 refers only to the CPL and ATPL and is not, therefore, relevant.

[Prop swinger]

Ah, those pesky AMCs, thanks.

This theoretical knowledge instruction provided by the ATO should include a certain element of formal classroom work but may include also such facilities as interactive video, slide or tape presentation, computer-based training and other media distance learning courses.

So, a conservative cumulative 5 hours of pre- & post-flight briefings + 95 hours (ahem) of home study will satisfy EASA.

For one ghastly moment I thought every student would have to sit through 100 hours of classroom before taking the exams.

[300-600]

So the Oxford CDs get the thumbs down.Does this mean there are no other decent PPL CDs out there? ? ?

[stevelup]

I don't interactive CDs are really necessary.

Just read the book, practice on AirQuiz, re-read the bit of the book that you messed up on and repeat.

[BillieBob]

So, a conservative cumulative 5 hours of pre- & post-flight briefings + 95 hours (ahem) of home study will satisfy EASA.

You haven't got to satisfy EASA, you've got to satisfy the 'competent authority' that approves the course structure. The CAA might approve a course comprising 95% unsupervised home study but, then again, they might not. Which would you put money on?

[Prop swinger]

I don't think I did even 5 hours of "classroom study" for my PPL back in the 90's. The CAA didn't care then & I don't see why they should in the future, either you acquire enough knowledge to pass the exams or you don't.

Oddly enough, the AMC specify that the syllabi & exams for the LAPL(A) & (H) should be the same as for the PPL(A) & (H) but there is no minimum study hours for the LAPL, only for the PPL, for exactly the same requisite minimum knowledge.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I don't think I did even 5 hours of "classroom study"

I did. Some of the instructors from one of the schools ran an evening class in one of the colleges. Very useful to be able to ask questions you can't ask of a book or CD.

[Cobalt]

I don't interactive [believe] CDs are really necessary.

Just read the book, practice on AirQuiz, re-read the bit of the book that you messed up on and repeat.

Different people learn in different ways. I learn best from books and reading. One of my PPL students found the books impenetrable and went for the Oxford CDs - he is very enthusiastic about them, they did the trick for him.

Before that I considered them a waste of money, but not anymore!

[caber0]

Its all there in the books! I worked through the books one at a time and used a variety of different question tools. the Great Circle had iPhone apps that were very useful as a study tool while travelling. Reading airlaw on flights got some peculiar looks from cabin crew, whipping out whizz wheel on a long haul got me a visit from a first officer! Most exams I did during weather enforced lay offs from flying. It seemed to work for me all exams passed first time with reasonable scores.

Caber