Sporty‘s Adds Instrument Rating Course

Sporty's new instrument rating course is available on multiple platforms that sync.

Sporty's Pilot Shop, which came out with its greatly updated Private Pilot course last year has one-upped itself with its new Instrument Rating Course, which takes all the improvements to the Private Pilot product and adds even more cool features, which have also been added back into the Private Pilot course, as well.

The Instrument Rating Course, which sells for $199.99, is available for your computer, your iPad or your Android device. In fact, Sporty's encourages you to use it on multiple devices. The course keeps track of your progress as you move through the lessons, syncing your achievement across multiple platforms by keeping tabs on your performance on quizzes and tests. It even automatically prepares reviews for on types of questions the student has a hard time with so that hopefully by the time they've finished the course, there are no rough spots remaining.

As we've reported in the past, the FAA testing approach is different than its been in the past, when students could essentially memorize the answers to the questions on the FAA's knowledge tests. Today, there are relatively few questions published as samples, but by giving its students the tools to understand the materials and hammer out the answers to similar questions they will surely encounter on the test, Sporty's has done the student a double service, giving them solid test preparation and providing them with an even more important gift, a strong basic knowledge of the material, something that matters long after the student is done with the FAA knowledge test.

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There's more. The student can share their progress on the coursework with their instructor and get feedback and potentially reinforcement for specific skills and concepts in real-world training. And the integration of CloudAhoy (subscription required) into the course means that a student's maneuvers in the real airplane can be assessed second by second to see how the flight maneuvers in the practical test standards can be better met.

"Of course there's a lot more than just technical improvements," said Sporty's Academic President Eric Radtke. "We've added many hours of new HD video content, covering important topics like ADS-B technology, Air Traffic Control procedures, weather flying, communications tips, and much more."

And all the improvements to the Instrument Rating Course are now a part of the Private Pilot Learn To Fly Course, too, and owners of previous editions can get access to the improved products through their previous purchase.

To learn more or to purchase one of the courses, visit sportys.com.

Plane & PilotStaff