Online Flying Lessons: Are They Safe?

When you see the words “online flying lessons” your first thought may be either operating a flight simulator or doing the bookwork that is required when taking the lessons. Depending on which source you use for online flying lessons, both can be true.

As for the safety factor, depending on your online flying lessons source, you would have access to material that covers safety facts and techniques. These would be included in the course or lesson syllabus that you would follow. You would want to choose a reputable company or organization for your online flying lessons. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would be a good choice, as they are the arm of the Federal Government that oversees anything to do with airplanes, air traffic—basically anything to do with flight and flying, period.

The FAA offers online courses, seminars, and activities that allow one to learn many things before ever actually flying a plane. Lessons are available for subjects ranging from reading instruments to navigating airspace to preflight information, as well as many others. Online flying lessons would not take the place of the actual flying hours that you would need in order to get your pilot’s license. Further, the online flying lessons would provide the safety theory, but you would not have the opportunity to put it to use until you were actually at the controls of a plane.

In addition, the FAA would not accept the hours “flown” in a flight simulator. The experience required for getting an FAA-approved pilot’s license would have to come in a real plane, not a computer-generated aircraft.