Learn to fly at the San Diego Air & Space Museum - Enrollment now open for piloting class

(August 10, 2007) - The San Diego Air & Space Museum is not just a place to see aircraft: now you can learn to fly them too. The museum has announced that enrollment is now open for a private pilot Ground School at their Balboa Park location, beginning in September 2007.

This 13-week course prepares attendees to take the written examination for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Private Pilot certificate; students can take the course either prior to or in conjunction with actual flight training.

Classes are held in the Museum's state-of-the-art Education Center. Experienced Museum educators and FAA certified Advanced Ground Instructors present the course using the King Schools' FAA-certified materials, augmented with "special touches" unique to the Museum, including hands-on applications of lesson objectives.

The curriculum material for the Museum's course is centered on DVD courseware from King Schools, Inc. John and Martha King, co-founders and co-owners of King Schools, are widely known within the aviation industry. At least half the people who have earned their private pilot certificates in the United States in the last several years have trained with the Kings' video and computer media.

"Our Ground School is very basic training for the beginner or solid refresher training for former pilots" museum educator and pilot Ross E. "Rossco" Davis noted. "We're trying to reach new and non-traditional audiences for pilot training - the skeptics, the unsure, the uninitiated - who might shy away from formal commercial flight schools. We have no planes to rent, no fuel to sell, no ulterior motive - we just want more people to learn what it takes to fly!"

Classes are planned for a minimum of 10 students and a maximum of 30. Each class is offered twice weekly - Wednesday evening from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday morning from 10:00am to Noon. Classes are offered for $15.00 per lesson, or $180 for the entire 13-session course. Registration begins today through the Museum's Education Department at (619) 234-8291, ext. 19.