Pilot Path
Where you are, and what to do next.
Five questions about your stage, your goal, why it matters, the rhythm you can sustain, and how you want to be supported. If you have never flown, answer the first option each time — “still exploring” gives a real plan. You get the route that fits, why it was chosen, three steps, and the parts of the platform that belong in it.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is stored, and answering questions never changes what your account can open.
New to aviation? Plain-language meanings of the words on this page
- Certificate
- The main FAA pilot credential — think of it as licence-style, in plain terms. It defines what kind of flying you may do, within its own privileges and limitations.
- Rating
- An add-on to a certificate, such as the instrument rating. It adds specific privileges — and specific requirements — rather than replacing what the certificate already covers.
- Knowledge test (the “written”)
- A multiple-choice exam taken at an authorized testing center. It is one milestone in training, not the training itself.
- Checkride
- The FAA practical test with an examiner: a spoken part on the ground and a flight. Passing it is how a certificate or rating is issued.
- CFI
- Certificated Flight Instructor — a pilot certificated by the FAA to give flight instruction within the ratings on their own certificate.
- Ground school
- The classroom or self-study side of training: weather, regulations, systems, and planning, learned outside the airplane.
- ACS
- Airman Certification Standards — the FAA document describing the knowledge, risk-management, and skill areas an applicant must demonstrate on a practical test.
- AME
- Aviation Medical Examiner — an FAA-designated doctor. Only an AME or the FAA can tell you whether you personally qualify medically.
- Part 61 / Part 141
- Two FAA training frameworks. Part 141 schools follow an FAA-approved syllabus; Part 61 allows more flexible training. Each has its own eligibility and experience requirements.
Question 1 of 5
Where are you today?
Pick the closest description. If none of it is familiar, the first option is the right one. Nothing here is stored or shared.
Other ways in
- Decision planPilot First StepsTurn the decision you are actually stuck on into an ordered plan you can act on this month.Generate a decision plan →
- Agenda plannerAviation Orientation SessionChoose the topics that matter to you and get a structured agenda to bring to an instructor conversation.Plan an agenda →
Everything a path can point to.
Pilot Path never invents its own material. Each destination is a real part of the platform, and every one of them links through to its canonical page.
All destinations
- First Steps GuideRead this before spending money, so the first decisions are informed ones.
- THE PILOT METHOD PRIVATE PILOT COURSEThe ground knowledge behind the certificate almost every path starts with.
- Instrument Rating CourseThe next rating when weather and cross-country flying start limiting you.
- Commercial Pilot CourseWhere a path turns from personal flying toward flying for compensation.
- Multi-Engine CourseAsymmetric thrust and systems reasoning before the airplane is unfamiliar.
- CFI / CFII / MEI TrackFor pilots whose next step is teaching rather than another rating.
- Checkride ReadyStructured readiness work when a practical test is the immediate milestone.
- Written PrepFor the knowledge test sitting between you and the rest of your training.
- Mock Oral SessionsPractice explaining your reasoning out loud before an examiner asks.
- Flight Review & IPC PrepFor returning pilots and currency deadlines rather than new certificates.
- Quick Reference LibrarySource-mapped answers that stay useful long after any checkride.
- Scenario ReviewKeeps decision-making sharp between flights when nothing is due.
- Aircraft Transition PacksFor moving into an unfamiliar airplane rather than a new certificate.
- Avionics AcademyWhen the panel, not the airplane, is the part that is new.
- Live CFI SessionsWhen a specific question is better answered by a person than a page.
- CFI FinderFor finding the instructor who fits your schedule and the flying you want.
- School Finder & CompareFor comparing training environments before committing to one.