Flight Training ToolsBeta

Guides 

A growing collection of interactive tools, aids and demonstrators for student pilots and instructors: instruments, circuits, navigation, ground-school calculators and full IFR cockpits. They are listed below in the order a student meets them, from the first lessons to the instrument rating, and each is a self-contained page you can drive from the front of the room. Free, no sign-up, and nothing to install.

Stage 1 · PPL exercises 1–11

First lessons

How the aeroplane responds and how to control it by attitude and power. Big instruments, the view outside, and no autopilot or radios to get in the way.

Ex 4, 6–9

Standard six-pack panel
Drag the yoke, rudder pedals and throttle and watch the classic six round instruments respond in real time.
Open trainer →

Ex 4

Effects of controls
The aircraft from outside beside its instruments: the primary and further effects of each control, power and flap.
Open trainer →

Ex 6–8

Attitude & power
Straight and level, climbing and descending: set the attitude, set the power, trim — then fly set targets and get a score.
Open trainer →

Ex 9, 15

Turning & the compass
Rate-one and steep turns in balance, and the magnetic compass turning and acceleration errors against the heading indicator.
Open trainer →

Ex 10

Slow flight & stalling
Stall warning, symptoms and recovery, and how the stall speed rises with bank angle and load factor.
Open trainer →

Stage 2 · PPL exercises 12–18

Circuits & navigation

Flying the circuit and finding your way: wind and drift, radio navigation and altimeter settings.

Ex 12–13

Circuit pattern
Fly round a visual circuit with the checks, radio calls and configuration changes on each leg, and the drift on downwind.
Open trainer →

Ex 12–13, 18

Altimeter settings
QFE in the circuit, QNH for navigating, standard above the transition altitude — and what the altimeter reads if you get it wrong.
Open trainer →

Ex 18a

Wind, drift and navigation
Fly a planned track in a crosswind: the drift that takes you off the line, the correction that keeps you on it, and the 1-in-60 rule that gets you back.
Open trainer →

Ex 18a

E6B flight computer
Work the wind problem on the instrument itself: turn the disc, mark the wind, set the course, slide to the airspeed and read the heading off the face.
Open trainer →

Ex 18c

VOR/ADF navigation
Drag the aircraft around a VOR and NDB and watch the CDI/OBS needle and RMI respond — the classic "which way do I turn" trainer.
Open trainer →

Stage 3 · Exercise 19 → IR(R) → IR

Instrument flying

Flying on instruments alone, then the instrument rating course: holds and instrument approaches — ILS, RNP, VOR/DME and NDB — with the step-by-step tutor, failures and a debrief marked to the skill-test tolerances, up to a mock instrument rating test. Fly it on a glass panel or on steam gauges.

Fly it on
The course and every lesson open on the glass panel.

IR(R) · IR

The whole course

All 36 lessons in 11 levels, in syllabus order: from the instrument scan to a mock instrument rating test, each one briefed, talked through by the tutor and marked. Progress is saved in this browser.

0/36
Start the course →Straight and level, climbs, descents and rate-one turnsThe syllabus, with every brief →

Any procedure

Free play

Set up your own session: any approach, departure or arrival at Jersey, Exeter, St Joseph or the practice aerodromes, the weather, failures and how much help you get. A short wizard the first time, then change anything at any time.

Free play: glass panel →Free play: steam gauges →

Or pick a lesson

Any lesson, in any order: open a level to see its lessons, then pick one. It opens with its briefing, set up and ready to fly.

  1. Level 10/1 lessons doneBasic instrument flight
    1. 1.1Straight and level, climbs, descents and rate-one turns
  2. Level 20/4 lessons doneVOR tracking on the CDI
    1. 2.1Intercept and track a radial, TO and FROM
    2. 2.2Find your radial, then track it inbound in a crosswind
    3. 2.3DME: hold a range, read groundspeed and time to station
    4. 2.4Fly a DME arc, ten degrees at a time
  3. Level 30/2 lessons doneRNAV tracking
    1. 3.1RNP RWY 27 (LNAV) from the centre IAF
    2. 3.2RNP RWY 36 (LNAV/VNAV) from a side IAF
  4. Level 40/3 lessons doneNDB: QDM and QDR on the RMI
    1. 4.1QDM intercept, homing versus tracking, station passage, QDR outbound
    2. 4.2Outbound on the QDR, base turn, inbound on the QDM
    3. 4.3Intercept the QDM from a vector
  5. Level 50/4 lessons doneHolding: the three entries
    1. 5.1Direct entry, still air
    2. 5.2Teardrop (offset) entry, still air
    3. 5.3Parallel entry, still air
    4. 5.4Direct entry with 20 kt of wind
  6. Level 60/6 lessons done2D approaches: VOR, NDB and radar
    1. 6.1Brief an approach (Jersey VOR/DME RWY 26)
    2. 6.2VOR/DME with a base turn (Jersey RWY 26)
    3. 6.3NDB(L) without DME: timed to the MAPt (Exeter RWY 26)
    4. 6.4NDB(L)/DME with a procedure turn (Jersey RWY 26)
    5. 6.5Surveillance radar approach (Exeter RWY 08)
    6. 6.6Circle to land on the other runway
  7. Level 70/4 lessons doneILS: vectored and procedural
    1. 7.1ILS from radar vectors, 8 NM final
    2. 7.2ILS via the hold and a racetrack (Jersey RWY 26)
    3. 7.3ILS joined from a DME arc (Exeter RWY 08)
    4. 7.4Localiser only: glide path unserviceable (Jersey RWY 08)
  8. Level 80/4 lessons doneRNP approaches via different IAFs
    1. 8.1RNP RWY 26 (LPV) from TIDMA, the centre IAF
    2. 8.2RNP RWY 26 from NENRI, a side IAF
    3. 8.3RNP RWY 26 from TIXON, holding first
    4. 8.4Hold-in-lieu of procedure turn (St Joseph RWY 35)
  9. Level 90/1 lessons donePartial panel and unusual attitudes
    1. 9.1Attitude indicator failed: limited panel
  10. Level 100/4 lessons doneDepartures, en route and arrivals
    1. 10.1SID: LUSIT 1A from Jersey RWY 26
    2. 10.2SID: CHIEF NINE from St Joseph RWY 35
    3. 10.3STAR: SKERY 1J into the ILS RWY 26
    4. 10.4STAR: BQS EIGHT into the ILS RWY 35, vectored
  11. Level 110/3 lessons doneMock instrument rating test
    1. 11.1Section 1: ORTAC 3A departure from Jersey RWY 26
    2. 11.2Section 4: hold, then ILS RWY 08 and the missed approach
    3. 11.3Section 5: NDB(L)/DME RWY 26 with a procedure turn

Alongside · Any stage · VFR or IFR

Glass cockpit

For pilots moving from round dials to a glass panel: what each screen and function is for at every stage of the flight, and what to do when part of it fails — flying visually or on instruments.

Glass cockpit trainer
A free trainer for the Garmin G1000: learn the screens, the map, the radios and the autopilot through each phase of a flight, VFR or IFR, and how to recognise and handle a screen, sensor or GPS failure.
Open trainer →

Alongside · Any stage

Ground school tools

Planning calculators to use alongside the flying lessons.

Weight & balance / CG
Load fuel, passengers and baggage and watch the centre of gravity plotted live on the envelope.
Coming soon
Take-off & landing performance
Work out take-off and landing distances with the factors for grass, slope, a wet surface, temperature and altitude.
Coming soon

Unofficial training aid. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Garmin. Not for flight: always follow the approved pilot's guide and your instructor. Garmin and G1000 are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.