Fly8Ma is an online pilot training website based in USA. Let’s see what they offer in terms of course content, quality and price. Here’s my full Fly8Ma review.
In aviation, there is a saying that for every hour of flying, there are two hours of paperwork. I believe this to be especially true during initial training. Fly8MA (pronounced Fly-eight-Mike-Alpha) offers a predominantly online training solution with regards to aviation ground school, i.e. Fly8MA allows a student to do some of the paperwork before heading out to the airfield to fly.
In this article, I will explore the course content and pricing, analyse this product, and help you decide whether they are worth the money or not.
The Good
- Could save money
- Effective knowledge transfer
- Flexibility in terms of training times and duration
- Easy to re-do a lesson
- Comprehensive content
- Wide variety of content and methods of delivery
- Available everywhere
- Mobile-friendly website and training (can be accessed from a phone)
- Can subscribe for life
The Bad
- It is an extra expense
- The benefit is hard to quantify
- No instructor on hand for an explanation of difficult concepts
- Courses are pre-designed and thus may not be individually suited
- If access to the internet is limited, training stops
- Some errors with timing of course content (as mentioned below)
Verdict: I believe the Fly8MA training is of high quality and worth investing in if aviation plays a major role in your life
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What is Fly8MA?
Fly8MA is an online pilot training website based in the US. The website specialises in providing aviation knowledge to pilots, whether they are prospective pilots with no experience or certified pilots looking for further training.
I must compliment Fly8MA on the initial website interaction – it has a big: “start here” button and the information on the three pages that you click through is useful, concise, and easy to follow.
Users of Fly8MA will benefit from the clear guidance the website offers. Uncertainty often scares potential pilots away, and Fly8MA addresses this in a manner that is both fresh and effective.
What does Fly8MA offer? Well according to the creators, they claim to be able to save students up to $2,000.00 on the total cost of a PPL (private pilots licence) In a nutshell, Fly8MA offers an online method to learn the theory of flying.
So what does that mean and why is it worth considering?
At the start of this article, I mentioned the paperwork component of flying. This is a reality of modern-day aviation, and the amount of knowledge that needs to be remembered and applied is very high. As a pilot, you need to learn about engines, aircraft systems, weather, law, avionics (radios, GPS, etc) , and flying rules. Not to mention navigation, performance mathematics, and airmanship. Once a pilot has the theory under control, there is also the actual flying training.
To top it all, pilots need to learn a semi-new language in terms of radio vocabulary. The learning curve is steep and popping trainees into a cockpit too early is bad practice and can result in costs and training time blowing out.
Fly8MA has separated the theory (knowledge) side of piloting, and put together courses that should teach you what you need to know from a knowledge perspective. This is invaluable to a dedicated and self-motivated student.
What pilot training courses do Fly8Ma run?
At the time of writing Fly8Ma had courses ranging from PPL basic knowledge through to CPL (commercial pilots icence) and IFR (instrument flight rules) courses.
After navigating through the “start here” process, a user will be presented with subscription options. Depending on the pricing option, a user will get access to different courses.
Courses include Basic Private Pilot Knowledge, Weather, Tailwheel, “rusty pilot refresher, Instrument Flying Course, and many more.
I was also very impressed with the size of the YouTube library that Fly8MA has uploaded and is available to view. I personally enjoyed the Alaska flying videos most, but there are many videos and topics being covered.
Fly8MA also offers drone flying courses, but I did not delve into them.
How much do these courses cost?
I was pleasantly surprised when looking at the pricing options on Fly8MA to see a lack of aviation tax. Pricing is reasonable for the hours of work required to provide courses and providing users with the option of either subscription or course-specific options is great.
There are three tiers of subscription service – Silver, Gold and Platinum. Each service has different access levels and courses included. A comparison can be found on the website.
I also like the fact that individual courses can be purchased. Full courses theory are priced around $350.00 for the course whilst a smaller “boot camp” costs around $150.00. Some courses are only available if a subscription is purchased.
The cheapest course I could find that was not free, was the “rusty pilot” course for $49.00. The most expensive course I saw cost $349.00 – there were two; the premium version of the PPL knowledge course and the IFR theory course.
Are there any free courses?
Yes! There are free courses. At the time of writing, there were 4 free courses which can be seen on their website. I enrolled in the “Would you crash this aeroplane” course and the “Basic Private Pilot Ground School.”
The courses were very well designed, and I really enjoyed the video and audio training that was included in the courses. The “Would you crash this aeroplane” course studied a Cirrus crash and the factors involved that led to the crash. The details were very good – real audio and flight paths. The discussion was also good, delving into the many factors that played a part in the accident.
I actively disliked the quiz – it was unclear what was being asked, how you were meant to answer and even how to complete the course. I only realised there was a second quiz when the course would not show “complete”.
I did a selection of the “Basic Private Pilot Ground School” lessons and the videos, text and pictures/diagrams are very good. I did notice a few interesting sequence choices that could potentially be improved, an example is noted below.
The second chapter of lesson 2 discusses P-factor and angle of attack, but the angle of attack is only covered in lesson 4 chapter 1. This layout requires the student to know and understand knowledge that has not yet been covered.
What’s involved in the training?
Most of the training offered by Fly8MA is online, however, one can book face-to-face training.
Fly8MA does have online forums, but I could not access them, despite multiple attempts. It might have to do with geo-location on browsers.
I approached the owners for comments as to how to set up face-to-face meetings and got a response within a couple of days. Apparently, it is as easy as emailing the company and setting up a face-to-face training, there is also phone numbers available to call.
How long do the courses take?
As mentioned previously, many of the courses are online. This provides the person taking the course with control over the course duration. Fly8MA’s introductory video mentions that courses were designed with flexibility in mind and were made as concise as possible.
Courses could be forced through in very little time, but the aim is to learn, and as such, needs to be approached with the aim in mind. If you are tired, working through many lessons will not be beneficial, even if you manage to complete them “quickly”.
Fly8MA should not be approached as a classroom, with set times and course duration, but as a method of learning when you can.
The course (on the Cirrus crash) I did consisted of just one lesson, and it took about 45min to finish the training and the quiz. I believe that is a good benchmark to use for lessons.
Also, take note that flight training has the flying component as well and one would not be “done” with a course until you have achieved the license or rating you are training for. Reviewing course material on a regular basis is majorly beneficial.
Advantages of training through Fly8Ma training school
Fly8Ma offers theory training ahead of committing to a full-blown PPL course. This pre-training can reduce the time required with instructors and more importantly free up “mind-space” during flying training, which allows a student to absorb more. The main advantages:
- Could save money
- Effective knowledge transfer
- Flexibility in terms of training times and duration
- Easy to re-do a lesson
- Comprehensive content
- Wide variety of content and methods of delivery
- Available everywhere
- Mobile-friendly website and training (can be accessed from a phone)
- Can subscribe for life
Disadvantages of training through Fly8Ma training school
The “expert” was forecast to become obsolete with the advent of the internet, but anecdotal evidence suggests that this has not materialised, and having a human teacher on hand is still very valuable. Fly8MA suffers the same disadvantages that all online training does, as laid out below:
- It is an extra expense
- The benefit is hard to quantify
- No instructor on hand for an explanation of difficult concepts
- Courses are pre-designed and thus may not be individually suited
- If access to the internet is limited, training stops
- Some errors with timing of course content (as mentioned above)
How does Fly8Ma compare to other pilot training schools?
Fly8MA will be competing against online training suppliers and traditional flight schools. Online aviation training is a growing sector and there are multiple training providers in the US (and growing) other good options are Boldmethod or the Pilot Institute.
I do not think comparison is necessarily the way to go when deciding whether to make use of Fly8MA or not. The question to ask is whether Fly8MA offers you as an individual the service you require.
If you are considering making use of Fly8MA, do a couple of free lessons, listen to the audio and video, and make sure the voice, word choice, and lessons are adding value and knowledge to you as an individual.
If you are shopping around, consider this ranking of online aviation suppliers by FlyingMag.
I personally reckon the product is very good and the lifetime subscription could be very useful to prospective career pilots.
FAQs about Fly8Ma Pilot Courses;
Where is the Fly8Ma company based?
Big Lake, Alaska, USA
How long has Fly8Ma been around?
Since 2017, when FLY8MA.com was created and founded by Jon Kotwicki. This was his way to give back to General Aviation. Jon wanted to help students, even when he started flying Airlines, and this motivated the creation of Fly8MA.
Our goal here is to make you a pilot. A pilot that is safe, competent, and confident.
We are here to help you through the process of becoming a pilot and being successful in aviation from start to finish.
Jon Kotwicki
Are there any practice tests?
Yes, at the end of every course is a quiz. Follow here for a PPL test.
Are there any study prerequisites?
No, but understanding Maths and Science will help.
Is Fly8Ma training school worth it?
The short answer is yes. I believe the product is of high quality and worth investing in if aviation plays a major role in your life.
I asked Fly8MA if they wanted to note something specific in the review, and they responded with the following:
“We offer complete ground school, written prep, and check-ride prep for Private Pilots through Airline Pilots. We also have additional courses online for Tailwheel, Seaplane, sUAS, Ski Flying, and more!”
Fly8MA might just be one of a myriad of aviation training tools/schools, but the product is of high quality and worth considering for all pilots. The free courses, pricing and quality of the products make this a good option to consider.
