Free · Nothing to install · Aligned to the six CAA subjects
So, you want to fly planes?
Excellent choice! A slightly questionable financial decision, but still a bloody excellent choice! 😉
Getting your New Zealand Private Pilot Licence is an incredible journey, but there’s a lot to learn along the way. Air law, meteorology, navigation, aircraft systems, radio phraseology… and enough acronyms to make you wonder if pilots are purposely attempting to out do other NZ Government Departments.
KiwiPilot is here to make learning all that stuff a little more fun, practical and memorable.
Play. Practise. Test yourself. Make mistakes. Learn from them. Then do it again.
Whether you’re preparing for your first lesson, studying for your PPL exams, or simply want to get better at the things pilots are expected to know, KiwiPilot gives you a place to build your knowledge and confidence before you even leave the ground.
Kia ora koutou, and welcome to KiwiPilot
My name is Dean Rainey, and I created KiwiPilot to help people who are learning to fly, whether you’re doing it for the sheer enjoyment of flying, or you’re taking those first steps towards an aviation career.
I’ve been around aviation on and off for a while, and I’ve recently had the rather exciting (and slightly terrifying) privilege of going solo in a taildragger. So yes, I suppose that means I’m officially allowed to call myself a pilot now…
However, what I have been doing for a long time (some might say too long 😉 is education. I’ve spent more than 20 years teaching, leading, learning and generally finding ways to explain things so they appear less difficult than they really are. Or is that more difficult than they really are?
KiwiPilot is my attempt to bring those two worlds together: aviation and education.
When the Hobbs meter is running, learning can get expensive.
If we can practise some of that knowledge on the ground, in our own time, before our instructor is sitting beside us and the Hobbs meter is happily eating our wallet, then we can spend more of our valuable flying time actually flying.
The Trainers
Four things every student pilot gets wrong at first. All of them are pass/fail on the day, and all of them are far easier to drill than to read about.
Light Gun Circuit
Your radio has quit and the tower is pointing a signal lamp at you. Every colour means two different things, and which one depends on whether your wheels are on the ground.
Radio Trainer
Nobody freezes on the flare. They freeze on the transmit button. Key the mic, make the call out loud, and get it marked against the four pillars of every New Zealand radio call.
Met Dispatch
It is a beautiful day in Canterbury and you should not be going flying. Meteorology is the subject students dread, and the exam is only half the reason. Here you get the flight bag, and you decide.
Four real New Zealand flights with a GRAFOR and the actual reports, five decisions each ending in a go or no-go, and a twenty question mock exam marked at the same 70% the CAA uses.
Air Law: Find the gaps. Close them.
When you sit air law, the CAA gives you a Knowledge Deficiency Report: a list of syllabus codes for the things you got wrong. This trainer works off those codes. It drills each one until you can get it right three times running, and every answer comes with the rule that proves it.
Thirty second challenge
Do you actually know the alphabet?
Everyone knows Alfa Bravo Charlie. It falls apart somewhere around Quebec. Every wrong answer here starts with the same letter as the right one, so guessing from the first letter will not save you.
Your best so far: 0 correct in thirty seconds.
0
New personal best
Six steps between you and a licence
Nobody hands you a clear list of what a New Zealand PPL actually takes, so most people work it out in the wrong order.
| Step | What it is |
|---|---|
| 01 | Do a Trial Flight, and sit in an aeroplane before you spend anything else |
| 02 | Get a class 2 medical certificate, early |
| 03 | Choose an instructor you can stand for 50 hours – I choose Terry, or has Terry chosen me 😉 |
| 04 | Pass the six written exams at a minimum of 70% |
| 05 | Fly the hours, including your first solo and your cross-countries |
| 06 | Pass the flight test |