IR training.. Preference

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flightdoc5242

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Flightdoc5242
Hello,

I am starting into the world of getting an Instrument Rating. I was looking for some opinion if anyone has used the "Sporty's Instrument Rating" course for the Ipad/PC ? I also was looking at the "Anywhere Education" course.

I am a part 61 with 110 hours as a PPL. so any other GS courses that you all can suggest are helpful.

Thanks !
 
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King's was a great program for me! With an exception of Martha's hair dew... It's a great series!
 
I tried Sport's Private course and returned it due to poor quality...but can't comment on their IR. Fearing more of the same, I bought the King IR course...absolutely fantastic...easily the best on-line course I've ever purchased. Explanations are clear and detailed. It's a great balance between teaching concepts and teaching to the test. HIGHLY recommended...and this is from a teacher!

And hmmmm...yes...but Martha loves what she's doing, knows her stuff, so who cares?
 
I use Shepard Air, the King course, Shepard, Bob Gardners book, Gleim audio CDs while driving and I do have Sportys for iPad.

Sheppard and King teaches for test, with King offering to the point explanation, Bobs book explains, Gleim audio reinforces while driving, and Sportys adds some different perspective.
 
I took a classroom ground school and found it entirely lacking. Mostly I believe this had to do with the fact that the Jepp-Sanderson course materials sucked badly. There's no way you'd get the real test questions with either their practice tests or the material in the book. For instance, there's one paragraph on the RMI with unexplained statements like "The RMI makes flying DME arcs easier." None of the practice questions mimic anything like what you are asked on the exam (don't get me started as to why they devote multiple questions on an IFR exam to RMIs which weren't even ubiquitous in the day let alone now).

I did the king's tapes next (about 14 hours total if I recall) and I thought they were pretty good (I can still hear Martha saying Localizer Darn Angle approach in the back of my head). I used their drill and kill software they also provided to cram for the actual written. That and their takeoff videos (which they through in) gave a lot of good background on instrument flying in addition to what you need for the test.

As far as something to drill and kill your way through the written, I've tried a few for the IR and other exams and I still think that Irwin Gleim still has the best one. Not too useful for anything but written prep but extremely good for that. They have the best "online" system so you can study using just your computer.
 
Welcome and Good Luck with your training.

flightdoc5242 said:
Hello,

I am starting into the world of getting an Instrument Rating. I was looking for some opinion if anyone has used the "Sporty's Instrument Rating" course for the Ipad/PC ? I also was looking at the "Anywhere Education" course.

I am a part 61 with 110 hours as a PPL. so any other GS courses that you all can suggest are helpful.

Thanks !
Click to expand...
 
VWGhiaBob said:
I tried Sport's Private course and returned it due to poor quality...but can't comment on their IR. Fearing more of the same, I bought the King IR course...absolutely fantastic...easily the best on-line course I've ever purchased. Explanations are clear and detailed. It's a great balance between teaching concepts and teaching to the test. HIGHLY recommended...and this is from a teacher!

And hmmmm...yes...but Martha loves what she's doing, knows her stuff, so who cares?
Click to expand...


Unfortunately, VWGhiaBob failed to connect with my joke... so for you sir, taking my comment TO seriously, this one is for you.

King's was a great program for me! "HERE COMES THE JOKE" With an exception of Martha's hair dew... "END OF JOKE" It's a great series! :idea:
 
asgcpa said:
I use Shepard Air, the King course, Shepard, Bob Gardners book, Gleim audio CDs while driving and I do have Sportys for iPad.

Sheppard and King teaches for test, with King offering to the point explanation, Bobs book explains, Gleim audio reinforces while driving, and Sportys adds some different perspective.
Click to expand...

I used the Gleim's audio CD's in my truck at work! Driving around the airfield for hours, they came in handy. They helped me to reinforce what I learned by picturing the systems! I too recommend the Gleim products.
 
This board gets the "What can I use for my IFR training" question so often, we need someone to create a good series of posts listing the various resources for ground schooling and flight training, detailed reviews of the products, side by side column summary review of what each has to offer, and more.

Something on the order of what I've seen in Consumer Reports when they do a review of TV's, Washing Machines, and other consumer electronics.

Then once that's complete, we need the moderators to make it a sticky post and make it easy to find for the folks about to ask the "What can I use..." question.
 
akpilot907 said:
I used the Gleim's audio CD's in my truck at work! Driving around the airfield for hours, they came in handy. They helped me to reinforce what I learned by picturing the systems! I too recommend the Gleim products.
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Alex, the only thing I hated about Gleim was their never ending advertisement of their other products. No shame....
 
I just read the Jeppesen-Sanderson book. My typical ground lesson was this:

The night before I would read up whatever we were going to do that day.
The instructor would ask me if I understood and to explain what we were going to do.
95+% of the time he said there was nothing we needed to go over, and we just went flying.
The other 5% was about a 3 minute explanation on whatever it is that didn't seem to make sense.

Then again I was the guy that taught himself physics, chemistry, and algebra and then slept in those classes while the teacher droned on about stuff I already knew.

To prep for the test I used risingup or exams4pilots and just took practice test after practice test. I scored a 95 and it would have been 100, but I didn't feel like doing the calculations for flight plans that I wasn't going to fly, so I just randomly picked an answer for those questions.
 
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asgcpa said:
Alex, the only thing I hated about Gleim was their never ending advertisement of their other products. No shame....
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HAHA! Agreed... You'd be listening in on a segment and they'd be like.. "An ILS localizer antenna's effective range is 18 miles, have we mentioned you can buy more of our crap by going online at www.www.www.we want your money!" This is me... :mad2::mad2::mad2:
 
Quote: We now recommend you concentrate your energy on blah blah segment of the Gleim online or prep course CD. If you are not enrolled contact an aviation counselor at 1 -800-bend over, or used the Gleim IR book.....

Cannot stand this.....makes me want to go out and buy Sporty's.....
 
I used both - Sporty's and Anywhere Education (eKneeboard product) when studying for my IR. I got more value out of the Sporty's product, although I primarily leveraged the software for the test bank. AE simply recorded materials straight from the FAA guides, and even used FAA's graphics. The content was painfully dry.

I found there were enough free online resources, youtube videos, and of course the gliem and Jepp books, to get me through the materials without needing either of the above.

Good luck.
 
Go to www.asa2fly.com and look at their products. They have several for the instrument rating test.

Bob Gardner
 
flyingron said:
For instance, there's one paragraph on the RMI with unexplained statements like "The RMI makes flying DME arcs easier."
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How much easier can you make it than with a DG and DME? Set the DME so it shows speed to/from the station as well as distance. Keep the velocity as close to 0 as you can and away you go. About the only thing I use the GNS430W for is the count-down timer to the turn (makes life easy). :D

I've never flown anything with an RMI, so other than seeing them in the test prep, I have no experience with them.
 
akpilot907 said:
I used the Gleim's audio CD's in my truck at work! Driving around the airfield for hours, they came in handy. They helped me to reinforce what I learned by picturing the systems! I too recommend the Gleim products.
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I used Gleim, also. I can't say they are any better than the rest b/c I don't have anything to compare. The internet updates were nice, and I did very well on the written portion.

I did use King and Sporty's for my PPL and couldn't see a whole lot of difference. I just figured instrument would be the same story.
 
I ended up utilizing a combination of Rod Machados program (both the book and audio) and the sportys "online" instrument course to complete my rating.

I first eagerly watched all of the sportys videos and was not completely impressed BUT after studying a few months THEN watching them again I had a much better understanding and felt they were more comprehensive the second time around. They also are currently updating the segments like replacing the IFR flights in the Aztec to new york with example flights in a Mirage to chicago with full glass cockpit.

Then I used the sportys study portion to do example written tests and flash card mode. I did like option to review any previous study session to see the areas I needed work on. YES I did try the exams for pilots and a few others on line but went back to the sportys cause I liked tracking my progress all in one place.

The Rod Machado audio was helpful cause I listened to it constantly while driving. Then at night I could go back to the book and read verbatim what I had heard (and see the added pictures to go with all the quirky humor).

I looked at the King Schools, but could not connect well with the examples they had and the material seemed a little dated at the time (more than the sportys) but maybe its better now.

I also got the Gleim books to do it the way I did on my PPL but found myself going back to the sportys material.

Good luck!!!!
 
I have used Giles for all my ratings except private. Took the private in 69, used the FAA publications,study guides where just coming out then.
 
Thought I would add another 2 cents worth.
I purchased the PC option of the sportys course so I could run it on both my IPAD and desktop computer (on lunch at work) or any other computers connected to the internet.

BUT the downside to this was the fact it was streaming and using bandwidth when I was watching videos or practicing exams whereas I think the ipad can be used in an offline configuration. So if you do not have an internet connection where you will be studying then maybe the IPAD option would be best.

I did get around the problem by purchasing the study buddy test prep but found I only needed to use it a small handful of times.
 
Sheppard air to pass the written. Then go hit the books or DVD's to learn the material. I used jeppesen (i was part 141) wrote down any questions from the dvd's and book then asked the CFI-I. Worked great for me!
 
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