New Get Started Learning to Fly course available in Pilot Training app

Sporty’s Pilot Training app has helped tens of thousands of pilots earn their pilot certificate, add new ratings, learn how to use a wide variety of advanced avionics systems and get checked out in new aircraft types. The platform is famous for its relentless pace of innovation, bringing new content, new training tools, and technological enhancements every year.

The latest update adds a new free Get Started Learning to Fly course, as well as lots of new content in the Instrument Rating and ForeFlight courses. Here’s what to check out.

Free course – Get Started Learning to Fly

Learning to fly is a process, but oftentimes the most confusing part is taking that first step. How do you find a flight school? What should you ask a prospective flight instructor? What’s the difference between a Sport Pilot and Private Pilot certificate? Sporty’s has recently released a new course to help answer these questions, and it’s completely free.

The course, called Get Started with Learning to Fly, features videos, articles, and other resources for the brand-new pilot and is available online and in Sporty’s Pilot Training app. This includes:

Four video segments covering the basics of learning to fly, finding a flight school, and what a first lesson looks like
A twelve-part article series that addresses common questions, like Part 61 vs. 141 schools, FAA medical requirements, and cost
A flight school directory, searchable by zip code, with contact information for nearby schools
High-resolution Cessna 172 and Cessna 182 G1000 cockpit posters, great for getting acquainted with a common training airplane
Helpful links to other resources and essential pilot supplies

The course is 100% free, but registration is required. You can sign up here.

New ForeFlight and Instrument Training content

Sporty’s offers lifetime access to its Private Pilot, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot courses after a one-time purchase, and includes free updates for video and training content as well. In the latest update, the Instrument Rating course added a wide variety of new content covering the following topics:

IFR flight planning – how to use paper and digital charts on your iPad to plan routes and procedures
Alternate airport considerations – legal vs. reality
Jeppesen chart differences vs. FAA
Getting a modern IFR weather briefing use online and app resources
IFR cockpit organization
Transitioning from the IFR en-route system to the instrument approach
Approach lighting systems
Flying with supplemental oxygen
Turbocharging and pressurization systems
Digital engine instrumentation

The Flying with ForeFlight training course was also updated to cover all the new features in version 12.4 of ForeFlight, including internet-sourced traffic, split-screen multitasking, the new More menu and how to customize the tab bar.

Course Sorting

Sporty’s Pilot Training app initially launched with 6 courses a few years ago and has now grown to offer 26 aviation courses in the app today. To help pilots stay organized and keep current courses easily accessible from home screen, there is now a Sort Courses option available at the top right of the screen, which allows pilots to rearrange the course order as needed.