Sporty s Pilot Training Reviews

The online tests and videos match my experience in the private pilot with jeppesen. This review is not about the content.

This review is about the download ability in SportysPilotTraining . If you have no problems being tethered to WiFi. If you can afford to download 185+mb videos over your cellular connection SportysPilotTraining is great! However if you like to download videos at home to take on travel, the functionality is severely lacking. The video will start downloading, but they take forever to download. If you switch apps, your downloads resets to zero and stops when you switch back. The download functionality is rendered useless by this. I’m doing this on a 15Mbps connection so it’s not the internet connection.

I downloaded this about 2 weeks ago and have completed about 1/2 of the course. I was following everything fine until about the 25% way through the program, I am guessing because it was fairly simple stuff. When things get more complicated they really rush through the charts and explanations and might cover 5 topics in a 8-10 minute video. It is almost like they are assuming that you are already exposed to a decent amount of the IFR language, charts and acronyms. I constantly find myself going back on the video to try to figure out what he is talking about. Personally, I feel that a 17 minute video with many new introductions is completely overwhelming. I am taking this course because I am a novice and do not know IFR and the charts.
I also purchased the private pilot program 2 years ago and found it to be better and it didn't just whip through the explanations and terminology's.
I am not impressed for the price they charged. Wish I had tried one of the cheaper ones first.

For whatever reason the developers of SportysPilotTraining store any videos downloaded for offline use in SportysPilotTraining ’s “documents” directory, meaning that they’ll be automatically be backed up to iCloud as part of iOS’s iCloud backup feature. This is not only a waste of iCloud storage space (I can download the videos again via SportysPilotTraining if necessary), but in my case it prevented iOS from backing up altogether as uploading 6GB of instrument training videos over my slow DSL connection would take an eternity. I’m very lucky that nothing happened to my iPad in the weeks between downloading the videos and iOS notifying me of the lack of completed backups, as it very likely would have resulted in losing important data.

Additionally, the offline download functionality is poorly implemented. Want to download all videos in a given section? SportysPilotTraining will begin downloading all videos at once, leading to it taking an eternity for even a single video to complete. What’s more, if you switch away from SportysPilotTraining for more than a moment or two, the video downloads are interrupted and you’ll need to manually start them again. And start again they will. Even if the video was 90% downloaded, an interrupted download will start over from scratch. This means that on all but the fastest connections you’re forced to sit and keep your device awake to let the download complete, lest you be forced to start the download over again.

SportysPilotTraining is fine for what it is. I would say the best functionality of SportysPilotTraining is allowing one to download the videos for offline use. Overall the desktop browser site is 99% of the time what I use just because the tools for studying tend to be much better. Also you can click to watch specific parts of a video pertaining to a question on the desktop site. SportysPilotTraining is good but could use some work and I find myself gravitating to the desktop browser version even when on the iPad.

First, if you’re training for your private pilot certificate, get this course! It’s VERY helpful.

I had this as a 4 star rating previously. I’ve moved it to a 5 star with the latest release. The prior version had terrible downloading capabilities if you wanted to download all the video for viewing while on the go. Several of us customers raised the issue and they resolved it. SportysPilotTraining now properly queues multiple downloads so they don’t all start at the same time and for each chapter you can download all the videos in that chapter (tap of the three dots in the upper right hand corner). You can also set it to play continuously.

SportysPilotTraining works great on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV and the developers are responsive to feedback as to how to improve SportysPilotTraining .

Also, I have exchanged emails a few times with their CFIs to get clarity on some issues I wanted a better understanding of. They were responsive and helpful.

Combine the great customer service with the great content and the great apps and throw in the guarantee that you pass or your money back and it really doesn’t make sense to me why you wouldn’t get this course if you’re serious about getting your pilot license. Do it. Do it noooow.

Great app, however there are two things that are not working:
1. It doesn’t track the watched videos like the webpage
2. Some videos after being downloaded and click play they play another video, happened with “Get Started Learning To Fly”, “How do you Learn to Fly?” Every time I click it played the first video “Why learn to Fly?” Even after removing the download, restarting SportysPilotTraining and trying again.

A recommendation, would be nice to be able to Airplay directly without having to download a third party app, which doesn’t work with pausing and volume controls.

Edit: Looks like video completion status syncs between all devices now. Thanks!

10 days after purchase, I have completed all the modules and I am scoring over 80 on all the practice tests. Very satisfied.

1: Show progress / completion status of each video within a module. If I take a couple of days off, sometimes I need to select a few videos to remember where I left off. 2: Sync video progress across all devices. I watched 4 videos from module 2 on the AppleTV platform, and on my iPad OS progress, it only shows completing 10 of 14 videos. Otherwise, so far so good, and I am enjoying the course.

I am currently finishing up my private pilot certification and bought both Sporty’s and Kings ground schools. I will be continuing on with the goal of becoming an airline pilot. Of the two schools I personally believe Sporty’s is the superior choice. Sporty’s is more interactive, better teaches you how to use the information thought and how to fly, and gives better real world views of the information. Kings is more talking head based and feels more like a test prep course that gives the information needed to pass the FAA written exam. I think there are positives to both but if I were to do it over I would forgo Kings completely and only buy Sporty’s.

I went through Sporty’s learn to fly course in its entirety before beginning my flight training. It was an approachable way to get more familiar with aircraft, their systems, weather, airspace, and procedures. I enjoyed it so much that I bought the remote pilot course - also worth the money - and took the FAA part 107 test, only missing a single question.

The recent updates have fixed a bug where the remote pilot course would disappear and I’d have to restore the purchase every single time. The only thing I’d like to see improved is not having to chromecast each individual video, but automatically play the next if there isn’t a post-lesson quiz.

This course is the best resource I’m aware of. Tue sample tests were so accurate, I actually scored tue exact same on my FAA written as I did on the Sporty’s practice tests.

I took a 20 hour ground school as well, and got little to nothing from it. The instructor stood up for two hours and taught, with no opportunity to discuss or ask questions. At least with SportysPilotTraining (and online) I could rewatch and rewind as many times as necessary. ALSO, there is an “audio only” option so you can listen while commuting.

This course touched on every topic needed to master private pilot knowledge fundamentals and establish the foundation you need to grow in the future. Can’t say enough great things!

Sporty’s customer service is out of this world. I originally purchased the pilot training in 2016, life happened and I never got through it. Fast forward 5 years to October 2021 and I couldn’t access the program, called Sporty’s and they got me set up with the new pilot training app and online access at no additional charge!

Background: Retired military helicopter pilot with commercial helicopter instrument certification. Nine years later, I started private pilot training in airplanes. I am also a former public school teacher.

The instructional delivery and quality of the presentations found in this course are exceptional. This course allowed me to acquire the knowledge I needed and refresh that which had been forgotten in an incredibly efficient manner. I passed my checkride with the absolute minimum flight hours and did it within three weeks from starting the training.

I have already purchased the instrument course and will begin this add on rating immediately.

By far the best study app you can use. I studied with it for two months straight and was able to pass my private pilot written exam with a 90%. Practice questions are in a similar layout with some questions very similar to the exam. If you pass the practice exam on here with over an 80% you’re guaranteed to pass the exam. The studying resources SportysPilotTraining off is second to none. I will have to say…I do wish SportysPilotTraining video segment would go in order instead of jumping around, circling back around in later segments. Example weather will be discussed in multiple chapters making it hard to take notes, that’s the only shortfall. Overall, this WILL make you pass your exam if you’re consistently getting over 80%.

This is an excellent 1st class course for new pilots or for those like me who flew long ago & now wish to become current again. In my younger days I was a CFI, but I needed to get a career started & I stopped flying.

The videos & text reviews are spot on. They are very thorough. They explain everything a private pilot needs to know & more. The flying videos demonstrate most of the maneuvers in ways easy to understand.

And the quizzes are fun. Some are a little tricky in that one should look at the words carefully before answering, but then pilots should always look at things carefully for safety reasons.

After not flying for 25 years, the hardest thing to deal with was the rapid fire ATC communications. The flying comes back fast, the navigation and weather have been made crazy simple by tech but communications, oh my goodness it was way harder than I expected. This course is fantastic as it updates you on the best practices and shows you real examples for much of what you need for cross country flights. Arriving/departing Cass D, C & B airports. I would have liked more interaction of filing VFR ICAO flight plans and more interaction with Flight Service. But it helped me a lot!

The information was well presented and informative. For pilots like myself who may have not flown in years, this course brings you up to speed with present day tools and techniques. The curriculum skillfully explains the various aspects of flying from regulations, airspace categories, weather, all the way to practical flying recommendations. I have my flight review scheduled in a few days and I feel much more confident after reviewing this course. Well done!

Absolutely amazing. I recommend everything Sportys. I paid for the instrument course 4 years ago when it was still on its own platform. I did the entire corse along with reading all the material the FAA has online an passed the written with flying colors. But due to certain circumstances I didn’t finish my rating. Now that’s it’s time to get it done unfortunately I have to retake the exam again so I contacted Sportys because the videos where no longer functioning in the old app. The guy that helped me gave me access to the new platform with proof of purchase and to top it all off they sent me a second endorsement to take the exam this second time no extra charge! Five stars all the way!

I didn’t do a lot of research of other institutions programs. I was recommended this route per instructor, fellow pilots, as well as determing it’s what I was going to use from other students using other courses and having trouble passing FAA written.
I breezed through videos, took practice tests, and passed written on first try. This took two weeks from start to finish! Due to my personal success, I continue to recommend.

I used the older version for the pts standards and I scored a 93 on my written. Now with this later version it is so much better being able to cue the videos 15 sec forward and back. I just passed my BFR with the help of this.

I used the older instrument course but my eyes started to glaze over from that content. But now with the cueing feature. I might be able to back up the videos often enough to make it sink in. I’ll be getting to work on that soon

Thanks Sporty’s. Nice Update!

They did a great job simplifying the information with attractive videos that are easy to follow along. My only gripe is that SportysPilotTraining will occasionally crash. Not the end of the world. It was the reason I passed my written. Not sure where they get their average for students because no one asked what my final score was. I passed. Whatever.
I’ll absolutely buy the other courses and hopefully they are as good as the private pilot package I purchased.

At my CFI’s suggestion, I decided to use Sporty’s Instrument training course for my Instrument written/knowledge learning. So far, I’m picking it up fairly easy. I plan on going through the course at least two, if not 3, times. The beauty is you can do this as much as you need…..to chop down that test when you’re ready to take it. And, did you know that some DPE’s will pull your test results and really focus on testing you in the area(s) that you weren’t proficient in? Neither did I, until I heard one admit to it in an interview. If I were a DPE, I might use that as a tool myself.