By Martin Pauly ✈ October 31, 2020
You want to be a pilot – congratulations, you are at the beginning of a wonderful, rewarding journey. It won’t always be easy, but most pilots will agree it is well worth the effort.
Here are some helpful things to get you started:
- The Steps to the Private Pilot Certificate
- Life after the Private Pilot Checkride
- Learning materials
- Your flight bag
- Good Reads – a collection of articles you may find useful
Useful websites
- www.skyvector.com – a website that displays sectional charts (and others) on a computer, with overlays such as weather radar and TFRs (areas of temporary flight restrictions).
- www.airnav.com – allows you to look up a lot of detailed information about US airports, such as airport diagrams, instrument approach charts, runway information, and reviews of FBOs and other on-airport businesses.
- www.1800wxbrief.com – this is the official Flight Service website from the US government for flight briefings and flight plan filings. If you don’t want to use one of the popular iPad apps for this task, this website offers a free service.
- www.boldmethod.com – a nice collection of articles and videos explaining aviation concepts. Many are free of charge, others are for purchase.
- Here is an old but very nice video explaining ground reference maneuvers. It was created for the US Army a long time ago.