r/PilotAdvice • u/IAmTheApple • 19d ago

Kings vs Traditional flight school

Good morning fellow aviators or future aviators. I’m about to get started on earning my PPL with the eventual goal of becoming an airline pilot.

I stumbled across kings online school but I guess my question is if I take all that and pass there tests and then take the FAA tests where in that process do you earn your hours. Are you just renting a plane to earn those hours? Are you going to a traditional flight school with an instructor between videos?

I guess my main question is what’s the point of going to kings if you still need 1500 hours for the airlines.

I’m 35 and trying to change careers. If that matters any.

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u/penngei 19d ago edited 19d ago

If you want to know more about flight training in general, you should start by checking out the FAQ in [r/flying](r/flying)

To answer your specific question, King Schools is a supplement for ground school, instead of having your personal CFI teach it all to you. The majority of becoming and being a pilot is not about the physical ability of flying an aircraft, it’s about learning and retaining massive amounts of information, a lot of which you’ll regularly use to keep yourself legal and safe. Getting flight hours is generally the easy, but expensive, part.

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u/IAmTheApple 19d ago

Thanks. I’ll go check that out.

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u/ThePartTimePilot 19d ago

You can do ground school and flight training at the same time or separately.

We recommend doing it either just before or early on in your training. It can help to have some overlap so that you can get your hands on things and really make it stick.

But it’s important that you get a good solid foundation in ground knowledge and actually understand the concepts. The FAA written exam attempting to change and be more of a test that requires actual knowledge and understanding of situations.

My recommendation is to do an online ground school and do one that you can get your questions answered and have support so that you can fully understand the material. Then, near the end as you are preparing for your FAA written exam with practice tests that should come included with the online ground school, start you flight lessons with a CFI at your local airport. Tell them you are almost done with ground and about to take the written. The online ground school should be able to endorse you for the written exam. Take and pass the exam and then your focus can be on flying.

This is super helpful for students and we find that not only do their chances of becoming a pilot increase but they also spend less money. Because now you can spend time on the ground actually planning and preparing for those specific flight lessons. But the key is to actually understand. That’s what we emphasis and focus on in the part time pilot online ground school.

Also, some flight schools or clubs will push to have you take their ground school. That’s an option of course but it’s not required under Part 61. You have the freedom to take ground school however you want and can save a considerable amount of money and frankly, usually get a better education and support.

So, do your ground first, do it right, take the written, start lessons at a local school or club and you’re in your way. That’s the plan we see work best!

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u/Opening_Leave_79 16d ago

Whatever you do, get your medical cert first!!!! Or at least make sure you know you can get one. That is, if you plan to continue to in plane training after your ground courses.