Print 1 copy for yourself, if you will be teaching a class: Intro to Ground School – First Class
Print student copies:
DISCUSSION:
- Aviation is the science of flying.
- How many people have been on a plane? (show of hands)
- How many people have been on a small plane (less than 10 passengers)?
- How many people have seen an aircraft cockpit?
- What did you notice?
This class is called “An Introduction to Ground School.” Ground school is where people learn what they will need to know to become pilots. Flight school is where people practice flight skills, actually learning how to fly. “Ground School” takes place on the ground and comes first. “Flight School” takes place in the air and comes after people have acquired some important knowledge that will help them learn to fly safely.
This course is not ground school. But it will give you a good idea about the types of things you would learn in ground school.
You’ll find that there’s a whole lot more to learning to fly than just learning how to drive an airplane, just like there is a lot more to driving a car than just learning to steer and use the gas pedal and brake. Both require you to learn and use good judgement so that you can get around safely and manage risk to other people’s lives and your own.
What sorts of things do you think pilots need to understand in order to learn to fly?
- Airplanes
- Types
- Systems
- How they fly (aerodynamics, weight & balance)
- What to do if something goes wrong (emergencies)
- Airports
- Laws
- Airspace (where you can fly)
- Certification
- Navigation
- Geography
- Weather
- Flying Skills
- Flight Planning
Today we will be begin our studies by learning about aircraft.
Distribute Aeronautics Glossaries: Aviation Glossary
What is an aircraft?
Describe types; use model airplanes (Find model aircraft here)
Distribute model Cessnas (Model Cessna 172) and homework pages Intro to Ground School: 1 Aircraft
Character core curriculum 