Learning to Fly? These are the 10 Best Online Aviation Courses for Pilots in 2023

Before starting your flight training and investing in some cool pilot gear, it’s important to select a quality ground school course.

But finding the right aviation course can be a challenge. Especially since every website and flight instructor seems to be offering his own online ground school courses these days.

Luckily, there are a few established brands and instructors that you can trust for creating high-quality, interesting and enjoyable online courses, packed with lots of value. In this guide, we have included some of the best online aviation courses for (student) pilots.

We’ll start this guide by mentioning a great online ground school for the new private pilot (or for those who want to brush up again on their knowledge), followed by a few very affordable extra courses that could provide value to almost any pilot!

Best 2023 Online Private Pilot Ground Schools

1. Rod Machado’s 40-hour Private Pilot eLearning Ground School

Let’s start this list with our personal favorite: Rod Machado’s new 40-hour+ private pilot eLearning ground school. This course has been one of the most popular courses we have mentioned on Hangar.Flights and keeps receiving great feedback from students who purchased it.

(We recently gave away a free license to this course on our Instagram account @hangar.flights, so make sure to follow us if you want to participate in future giveaways!)

This highly animated, interactive eLearning course is one of the most comprehensive, private pilot ground training programs on the market today. Its 26-course modules span 40-hours of highly educational, fun and interactive aviation ground training. The depth of material covered in this course is what you’d find in your traditional single-semester, college aviation ground school.

Online ground school sounds kind of boring, but it doesn’t have to be at all!

2. FLY8MA – 2023 Private Pilot Ground School Premium

A second great option when it comes to online private pilot ground schools is the one offered by FLY8MA.

This course will cover the basic knowledge required of a private pilot to pass the Private Pilot Airplane written exam and will prepare you for your flight training in an actual aircraft with your flight instructor. The complete course covers 20 easy to follow lessons, plus the extra free course included: Private Pilot Written Prep BootCamp.

The course includes:

• 20+ More videos than the Free Course
• Get your Endorsement to Take the Written
• Access to Tech Support
• Extra topics inside many of the lessons.
• Compatible for both Sport and Private Pilots
• Includes both the Private Pilot Ground School and Written Prep BootCamp

Best 2023 Online IFR Ground Schools

When it comes to quality IFR ground schools, again there are two major sources who offer great quality IFR courses: Rod Machado and FLY8MA.

1. Rod Machado’s Instrument Pilot eGround School

Rod Macjado’s online IFR ground school provides everything you’ll need to understand critical IFR concepts at a deeper level–whether you’re a student just starting to work on your rating or an experienced instrument pilot looking to brush up. It really is the ultimate IFR knowledge library. It includes:

• 26 complete online courses
• 686 short video lessons
• 50+ hours of focused training
• 151 quizzes
• 3 practice exams

Everything is presented in short lessons that tackle one topic at a time. Whenever you need to brush up on a topic, you can log in at your convenience and jump directly to that specific area. A simple-to-navigate menu structure makes it easy to find exactly what you need. For a busy pilot, this is gold. It beats watching hours of video or looking through textbooks in search of an answer.

2. FLY8MA – 2023 IFR Instrument Pilot Course

Go from zero to hero using FLY8MA’s Premium IFR Instrument Pilot Course. Learn everything you need to know for your written exam, flight training, and checkride, as well as what you need to know to keep yourself safe flying under IFR after you get your ticket! Track your progress step by step with 15 Lessons broken down into easy-to-digest sub-topics. Watch helpful videos with each lesson, and see what it is like to fly in the real world under IFR with over 20 Case Study examples combined into the course!

Best 2023 Online Aviation Courses for Pilots

Below are some additional courses that can provide great value for new pilots, or for those who want to learn more or brush up on their theoretical knowledge.

1. Understanding Weather – Interactive eLearning Course

Rod Machado’s interactive eLearning course on Understanding Weather is precisely the course you need to help you make sense of the basic weather concepts you either missed or never quite understood in ground school. Presented in Rod’s highly popular Laugh & Learn training style, this 5.5-hour course will have you feeling a lot more comfortable about the environment in which you fly.

The best option short of private ground school with Rod Machado. Understanding Weather isolates specific pieces of the weather puzzle in each module and fits them all together as you proceed, using Rod’s trademark humor and thorough teaching style. I completed the course before a cross country trip from MN to AZ in my 172. Frontal systems, lapse rates, atmospheric stability, wind shear, turbulence and mountain waves all came in very handy. Highly recommended whether you are an IFR or VFR Pilot. – Michael Kennedy

2. FLY8MA – Rusty Pilot / BFR Prep Course

In this course by FLY8MA, they’ll take you through a few quick brief refreshers for those of you who are getting ready for a Flight Review with an instructor, whether you fly regularly or even if it has been 10 years since you’ve been in the cockpit!

There is no time requirement to complete this course. You can spend as much time reviewing as you wish, or just skip around to the information you want to review the most.  At the end of the course, you’ll see a full Flight Review (it used to be called a BFR, now we call it a Flight Review) on the ground and in the air (The required 1 hour of ground and 1 hour of flight).

3. Handling In-Flight Emergencies – Interactive eLearning Course

If you’ve ever wondered whether or not you could handle some of the more common and rare in-flight emergencies a pilot might experience, then this is the course that will train you to do so. Rod provides practical strategies for dealing with these emergencies and does so in a fun, interesting and highly educational way. Not only are these ideas presented with animation, you’ll also see actual, in-flight demonstrations of certain emergency procedures. This six-hour course also contains questions to test your knowledge. You can even download the course to your tablet device for offline viewing.

I couldn’t wait for Rod’s Handling In-Flight Emergencies course to come out. As a Flight Instructor, it’s critically important to me to explore the many scenarios of what could go wrong with my students. Sometimes scenarios are difficult to makeup when they are not derived from real-life experiences. Rod’s course allows me to explore the possible issues that could arise and talk with my students to evaluate the risk factors and what-if’s. Highly recommended for all pilots. – Amy Smith

4. Secrets of Instrument Approaches and Departures – Interactive eLearning Course

If you’re an active IFR pilot or preparing for an IPC or even your ATP or IFR rating, then this course is for you. Why? Because the IFR pilot’s weakest link is approach and departure knowledge as it relates to instrument charts.

I only discovered this course halfway through my IFR training. I had then already completed the full Cessna IFR syllabus. Yet, every session in Mr. Machado’s course was full of information I hadn’t seen anywhere else. I think I’m finally starting to grasp the big IFR picture. And, as usual, it is all delivered in a light-hearted fashion. Highly recommended for students and seasoned pilots alike! – Christian Plante

5. The Art of Takeoffs and Landings – Interactive eLearning Course

Every flight starts with a takeoff and ends with a landing, yet many pilots lack the fundamentals to do them consistently because they weren’t properly taught, or they haven’t practiced enough to be proficient.

That’s where this course comes in. If you use it to pick up just one useful takeoff or landing technique, it will be worthwhile because you will use the technique over and over.

But there are lots of useful techniques in this course. Some of the techniques Rod teaches are unique while others you may be familiar with, but Rod often puts a different spin on them or provides an example that suddenly makes things crystal clear. In some cases, Rod will validate a technique you are already using and that can be just as valuable.

Good takeoffs and landings start with a solid understanding and good technique — and that’s exactly what Rod delivers in this course.

6. Basic Cross Country Flight Planning for Beginners – Interactive eLearning Course

If you are a student pilot who would like to learn the essentials of basic cross-country flight planning, then this is the course for you. It is intended to teach you the basic skills of pilotage and dead-reckoning navigation as well as the knowledge necessary to pass the private pilot knowledge exam in these areas. These are the navigational skills that every pilot needs to know.

As a CFI I go through the whole program with my students. The way rod explains the various topics, along with the great visual displays makes it easier for the students to understand. I would recommend this to any private pilot, or CFI! – H. Philips

This course can also be used by flight instructors to help them prepare their students for dual and solo cross-country flights.

Best 2023 Online Checkride/Test Prep Courses for Pilots

Next, let’s look at a few checkride and written test preparation courses, helpful for your next private or commercial checkride/written test.

1. FLY8MA – Private Pilot Checkride Prep Crash Course

Want to pass your Private Pilot Checkride on the first try? Take this course and you’re guaranteed to pass.

2. FLY8MA – Commercial Pilot Written Prep BootCamp

Everything you need in one place to pass your Commercial Pilot written exam!

3. FLY8MA – IFR Written Prep BootCamp

See the questions you’ll see on your written test here first. Prepare to ace your written exam by practicing real questions and calculations from the FAA Instrument Pilot Written Exam. Students have a 100% pass rate when they complete this course!

Other interesting courses worth checking out

Finally, here are a few other interesting courses you may want to check out if you’re looking to gain some extra knowledge on specific subjects, or if you just want to become a better and safer pilot!