Becoming a ground school instructor

Jeff Szlauko

Jeff Szlauko

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jul 8, 2016
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ChopperJeff
Well, it appears a classic case of life getting in the way of a person finally completing their private pilot’s license, as I was recently laid off, and now cannot really put money into wrapping up my training.
Bummer!
Not only that, but I’m 62 years old now looking for a job in the high tech field.
So, I figured, why not follow a passion and stay within the aviation stuff, and become a ground school instructor?
I know you just need to pass a couple FAA written tests to become certified, but are there any good online courses to study up for them?
I found this Gleim one:
https://www.gleimaviation.com/shop/ogsfg/
However, it covers both ground school and flight instructor, so was thinking it may be overkill. I emailed Gleim about my concern, and their reply was not too definitive.
So, has anyone have experience with that Gleim course? Or, can someone recommend something else?
I’m set to sit in on a ground school class tomorrow at the flying club I joined a few months ago, so that should also get me going in the right direction.
 
Sheppard Air hands down. I made a 100 on the FOI and 96 on the AGI with only a couple days study.
 
The ground instructor and flight instructor written tests use the same test banks.
 
If you get your ground instructor rating do you have to take either of the written exams again when it’s time for full CFI?
 
Salty said:
If you get your ground instructor rating do you have to take either of the written exams again when it’s time for full CFI?
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IIRC, if its beyond 2 years since you passed your written tests, you'd need to take again. However, the FOI is locked in after you get your Ground Instructor, so no need to take again.
 
Definitely Sheppard Air for written. Don't waste your time with anything else.
 
MauleSkinner said:
The ground instructor and flight instructor written tests use the same test banks.
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I can't remember if this was the agi, fia tests or the igi fii tests, but there were some helicopter questions on one of the ground instructor test banks. I didnt pony up the cash for sheppards ground instructor "courses", so i got them wrong. It was only 2 questions on one test (ifr mins for helicopters). Of course, they were the only questions i missed and the guy at the fsdo gave 2 craps.
 
I'm using Sheppard for commercial right now. It's pretty bare bones and dry if you ask me. I am the person who wants to know why. I generally don't accept an answer unless I can understand the reason for it. I find Shepard does not suit me all that well. I'd rather read a book instead of studying answers to questions I don't really understand.
 
Unit74 said:
I'm using Sheppard for commercial right now. It's pretty bare bones and dry if you ask me. I am the person who wants to know why. I generally don't accept an answer unless I can understand the reason for it. I find Shepard does not suit me all that well. I'd rather read a book instead of studying answers to questions I don't really understand.
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I used Sheppard for my commercial. Scored in the high 90s on all my practice exams and when I took it for real made an 87 or something. Go figure. Obviously I knew the answered but nothing looked familiar to me on the real test.

They do have a feature that tells the 'why' though. But it may just be for some questions, not all. I can't remember now. But I am a just study to pass the test kind of guy. I'll learn the whys and all that other stuff later.
 
Unit74 said:
I'm using Sheppard for commercial right now. It's pretty bare bones and dry if you ask me. I am the person who wants to know why. I generally don't accept an answer unless I can understand the reason for it. I find Shepard does not suit me all that well. I'd rather read a book instead of studying answers to questions I don't really understand.
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Are you clicking the button to read the explanations? Most of them are pretty good.

Regardless, the point is to ace the written. You can easily score in the high 90s after a couple of days of study and then do whatever you like to learn the material in-depth.
 
You will not likely be able to make a living at it, although I suppose it would pull in some beer money.

On a side note, I just get a bit of heartburn having student pilots teaching ground school, and possible CP ground school.
It’s not that they don’t have the required knowledge, but rather they have ZERO experience in the field (other than being a student).
Just seems like an extremely odd (lack of) regulation.
 
ZeroPapaGolf said:
Are you clicking the button to read the explanations? Most of them are pretty good.
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Yes.

Most of it is the garbage the FAA publishes. A few sentences to explain what this or that is, is not enough to explain what it is and why it is so. I don't like it. I used the King videos for my PPL and that was great. Jeppesen for my IFR. I read Machado's IFR book before IPCs. The Shephard system is memorization and not much else. It should work for the intended purpose, but by no means does it examine the actual knowledge of the airman. I would be very concerned going into an oral only haven studied the "test cracker" systems.
 
MauleSkinner said:
The ground instructor and flight instructor written tests use the same test banks.
Click to expand...
to a greater degree.... There are some questions in the flight side that don't appear in the ground side.

And like many, I chose to do the AGI and FIA on the same day.

Then returned a few days later and did IGI and FII on the same day.

All due to taking advantage of the question banks having significant similarities.
 
Unit74 said:
I'm using Sheppard for commercial right now. It's pretty bare bones and dry if you ask me. I am the person who wants to know why. I generally don't accept an answer unless I can understand the reason for it. I find Shepard does not suit me all that well. I'd rather read a book instead of studying answers to questions I don't really understand.
Click to expand...

ZeroPapaGolf said:
Are you clicking the button to read the explanations? Most of them are pretty good.
Click to expand...

I agree with @ZeroPapaGolf, the information in the explanation button thoroughly covers the important details related to the question. AND supplies the citation of the FAA texts the question is quizzing you about.

So if you want the deeper explanation of the question and the answer, just use the citation to go into the book/text and read that section. It is what I did when I needed/wanted to and that worked out fine.
 
Unit74 said:
I would be very concerned going into an oral only haven studied the "test cracker" systems.
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As would I.

But this is why the "open book" of the ACS exists.

If the airman preparing for their oral will make their way through each of the tasks, taking note of what is covered and asked for their, as well as doing the appropriate reading/research/note taking from the cited items of the FAA texts, then they will do well. Any items that the airmen doesn't quite grok can be reviewed with their CFI.
 
Unit74 said:
I'm using Sheppard for commercial right now. It's pretty bare bones and dry if you ask me. I am the person who wants to know why. I generally don't accept an answer unless I can understand the reason for it. I find Shepard does not suit me all that well. I'd rather read a book instead of studying answers to questions I don't really understand.
Click to expand...

Sheppard is definitely "test prep" and not instruction.

For me, after reviewing the questions, I can immediately identify the areas of the test where I am weak. That info is great for supplemental self instruction. I find that understanding the material, and answering questions correctly on an faa exam, are not the same thing.

Another thing with sheppard, they identify the bad questions. You know what they are, why they are bad, and can get them "correct" while understanding why they are bad.
 
Just purchased the Sheppard Air course, for the FOI. Only cost $35, so figured it’s worth a shot, plus it’s had some very good reviews. Now sitting here in the ground school course. As I said before, I’m doing this to just get the feel of how a class goes, and this flight club was kind enough to let me sit in. Funny, I just asked the instructor how she studied for the instructor test material, and she said she used Sheppard Air.
Will also need to wrap up my studying for the FAA written test for Private Pilot. The ground school instructor told me that I should do that first.
 
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