Special Subject #: 16.687 Selected Topics in Aeronautics & Astronautics–Private Pilot Ground School (to receive credit, students must register under 16.687)
Subject Title: Private Pilot Ground School
Prerequisites: Register for 16.687 and attend all sessions
Units: 3-0-0
Level: U (graded P/D/F)
Enrollment: Unlimited – not limited to MIT students. Advance sign-up required.
Pre-register at: http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/ground-school/
To receive MIT course credit, also register in WebSIS under 16.687.
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions.
Instructors: Dr. Tina Prabha Srivastava; Dr. Philip Greenspun
Schedule:

• Jan/11, Wed, 09:00AM-05:00PM, room 1-390
• Jan/12, Thur, 09:00AM-05:00PM, room 1-390
• Jan/13, Fri, 09:00AM-05:00PM, room 1-390

Subject Details:
Would you like to fly a plane, helicopter, or commercial drone? Or understand the engineering behind today’s human-occupied aircraft and air traffic control system? Come spend 3 days with us and learn everything that an FAA-certificated Private pilot or Remote Pilot needs to know for the official knowledge test. The course includes qualitative aerodynamics, airplane and helicopter systems, practical meteorology, navigation and cross-country flight planning, and human factors. We present the FAA-required theory, pose some thought-experiments, and offer practical advice based on instructors’ real-world experience.

Additional prerequisites: A few evenings of reading. Download three free PDFs from the FAA web site: Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (read Chapters 1, 3-8, 12, 14-16), Airplane Flying Handbook, (read Chapters 1-3, 7-8, 10), and Helicopter Flying Handbook (read Chapters 1-4, 9). Download ForeFlight (iOS only) or Garmin Pilot (Android or iOS) and set yourself up with a 30-day free trial. Bring a device to class, if convenient.

Course staff: Dr. Tina P. Srivastava, pilot and MIT alum (Course 16 S.B.; System Design and Management S.M.; Ph.D supervised in Course 16, ESD, Sloan); Dr. Philip Greenspun, an FAA Airline Transport Pilot and Flight Instructor for both airplanes and helicopters, MIT alum (Course 18 S.B.; Course 6 Ph.D).