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4 Answers

Ground Instructors

Asked by: 4300 views Flight Instructor, General Aviation, Instrument Rating, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

Are there people who actually work as certified ground instructors? Do they mainly teach at the universities, flight academies, and places like FlightSafety? I haven't encountered any at the general aviation, private pilot level. It seems as if few CFIs teach much ground school outside of lesson briefing/debriefing--and that most students use either the King or Jeppesen materials. What is the state of official ground school education these days? Just curious. Do you think a real class-oriented ground school should be required?

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4 Answers



  1. Kent Wien on Feb 07, 2012

    Airlines have them. At AA, there are dozens per aircraft type. Usually they come from a military background (not necessarily as a pilot) or former airline or corporate pilot ranks.

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  2. Ash on Feb 07, 2012

    I was a member of a great flying club (Wings of Carolina) in the Ralegh-Durham area that offered ground schools (private, instrument and commercial) taught by a certified groud instructor. All the class time was logged, and the instructor even signed the students off for their writtens at the coclusion of the class. My point is ground schools do exist and are a great way to learn the material. Much better than the home-based study courses or “crash” courses out there, which do little more than teach you how to memorize test questions. If you can’t find a flying club in your area that offers ground schools, you might want to check out your local community college, they often offer aviation classes.

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  3. Gary Moore on Feb 08, 2012

    Personally – I always have signed off student endorsement for written tesst under my Ground Instructor certificate rather than my Flight Instructor certificate.  The main reason being there is no requirement to maintain records for the Ground Instructor – so I never had to worry about it 🙂

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  4. Shih-Cheng Chang on Jun 12, 2014

    We teach students in Taiwan and sign their endorsement for written test. Before they really fly, I believe students need ground course.

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