The Finer Points has released Ground School, a new flight training system for the iPad.
The iPad app “completely reinvents the way flight training products work,” says CFI Jason Miller, the forced behind The Finer Points.
Ground School is divided into two parts: Knowledge and Skill.
The Knowledge section contains all the animations, videos, and unlimited practice tests you’d find in most legacy flight training products, but Ground School “delivers so much more,” Miller notes.
“Expert CFI tips are peppered throughout the app to provide insights gained from 20 years of experience,” he says. “The FAA textbooks and important ACs are all there with page references.”
The Skills section is like taking flight lessons from a real CFI, he adds.
Each lesson starts with a briefing, then moves to the airplane for the actual lesson, then returns for the debrief, which covers all of the common errors.
The in-flight videos are filmed using a custom video setup called Pilot Perspective, which puts the viewer in the pilot’s seat. Four cameras help the user identify the proper sight pictures.
Creative evaluations called Tap Target then solicit the viewer to tap the screen where they see the flight start to go wrong.
Other creative evaluation types such as Drag and Drop allow the user to re- organize equations and other knowledge elements that are otherwise difficult or boring to learn, he says.
Knowledge Recall emulates pilot proficiency/currency by indicating a user’s knowledge is fading in previously completed chapters and prompting short quizzes to “recharge” their knowledge.
“This form of spaced repetition works equally well on both the Knowledge and Skill sections and dramatically improves a pilot’s ability to remember massive amounts of arbitrary data,” Miller says.
The development team is comprised of FAA award winning CFI Jason Miller, pilot and senior software engineer, Todd Eichel, and veteran Silicon Valley designer and user experience expert, Brad Olcott.
A free three-day trial available at GetGroundSchool.com. After that, the app is $149.99 for three months or $299.99 for one year.