Built on Experience
Lessons shaped by classroom, cockpit, and emergency-response discipline.
Established Standards · Part 61 Ground School
You don't build good pilots by teaching them to memorize the ACS. You build them by teaching them to think.
Pilot Standard was founded by a certificated flight and instrument instructor with a background in emergency response. Every lesson is built around one standard: pilots who understand the material, manage risk before it compounds, and carry that discipline into the cockpit.
Risk First
Anticipate, assess, and manage risk before a situation compounds.
Think Like a Pilot
Deep understanding over rote memorization. Judgment that transfers.
FAA-Aligned
Structured around required aeronautical knowledge and ACS standards.
14 CFR §61.105Knowledge Areas
ACSScenario Alignment
CFI-LedInstructor Standard
Part 61Ground School
No ExpirationCourse Access
The Curriculum
What we teach
14 CFR §61.105 aeronautical knowledge
Complete coverage of the knowledge areas required for Private Pilot training — regulations, weather, systems, aerodynamics, navigation, and airspace — structured for understanding, not memorization.
Scenario-based instruction
Lessons tied to decisions students will actually face. Weather calls, airspace interpretation, performance planning, and risk management in the context of real situations.
Instructor-led perspective
Built by instructors with Part 61, Part 91, Part 141, military, and Part 121 experience. The material reflects how real operations work.
Audiences
Built for the people responsible for training records
For students
Complete FAA-aligned ground school, track lesson progress, connect with a CFI, and retrieve eligible endorsement templates.
Learn more →For CFIs
Review linked student progress, manage training relationships, and generate compliant endorsement templates for students you instruct.
Learn more →For flight schools
Manage instructor affiliations, school-scoped student visibility, documents, branding, billing, and analytics from one operating surface.
Learn more →Founder's Method
How Niko teaches
Niko came into flight instruction from emergency response — a background where the absence of a plan in a high-stress environment produces the worst outcomes. These principles run through every lesson.
- 1Weather decisions belong on the ground. Once you're airborne, your options are already narrowing.
- 2Identify the hazard while it's still manageable. Most situations that become accidents had a workable window earlier.
- 3Staying ahead of the aircraft is a discipline, not a reflex. It requires structure and anticipation before conditions get busy.
- 4PAVE, IMSAFE, and the 3P model are working habits — applied every preflight, not recalled for a test.
From Enrollment to Endorsement
How it works
From enrollment to FAA knowledge test endorsement in four steps.
- 1Enroll and access the course
Register online and get immediate access to the student portal. No waiting period.
- 2Work through structured modules
Twelve modules covering the §61.105 knowledge areas. Each lesson connects the material to real decisions — not just to the test.
- 3Earn the endorsement and schedule your written
Complete the course standard, receive your instructor endorsement, and sit for the 60-question FAA knowledge test at a PSI testing center.
- 4Carry the habits into the airplane
The preflight discipline, risk management process, and decision-making frameworks you develop here transfer directly to flight training.
Platform Capabilities
Records that follow you past enrollment
The student portal supports more than course access. It connects training progress, CFI oversight, school management, and endorsement templates into one relationship-driven record system.
Student progress and CFI oversight
Students can complete gated lessons while linked CFIs review active students, course progress, and generated endorsement templates.
School management
School owners and school admins can manage instructor affiliations, school-scoped student visibility, and operational settings.
FAA endorsement templates
Eligible CFIs can generate AC 61-65K-based templates that are printed and signed in pen for legal validity.
14 CFR §61.105 · FAA Risk Management
This course covers all required aeronautical knowledge areas for Private Pilot training. It also trains students in the risk management process published in the FAA Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2A): identify the hazard, assess probability and severity, decide on an appropriate course of action, and maintain a defined margin of safety throughout. The FAA knowledge test measures whether you studied. This course measures whether you are ready to operate safely.
Who Will Teach You
The instructors
Two instructors. Two distinct courses. Both built around operational experience, not textbook knowledge alone.
Founder and Lead Instructor
Peter "Niko" Stavros
CFI · CFII · AGI · IGI
Former firefighter. Developer of an Aircraft Emergency Training Program that trained 800+ first responders. Teaches regulations, weather, systems, aerodynamics, and structured aeronautical decision-making with an emphasis on pre-departure discipline and real-world risk management.
Legacy Airline Bonus Course
Pete Stavros
ATP · CFI
Currently flying the line for a major U.S. carrier. 10,000+ hours, military and Part 121 background. Teaches CRM, threat and error management, standardization, and the operational mindset of professional aviation — from someone doing it now.
Get In Touch
Contact & location
Pilot Standard Ground School
Contact us for current address and class schedule.
Phone: Contact us via the form
Email: See contact page
Office hours: Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm
Classes: Evenings and Saturdays