About the Course

Prerequisites: None
Approximate Time to Complete: 3 hours

Once you start to venture out from your home gliderport, you need to be able to figure out where you are and how to get where you want to go. Aeronautical charts help you to plan your flight and keep track of your progress. They also depict terrain, airspace, and other important features.

In this course, you will learn about using latitude and longitude to determine position, the different types of aeronautical charts available, how to decipher the information given on aeronautical charts, and how to plot and fly a course.

Purchase of this course entitles you to one year of access to the course material.

Please Note: This course is designed for use by a single individual. It is against the Terms of Use to share this course, in part or whole, with other users, or to teach others using the content from this course. The time and effort that goes into the development of these courses is immense. To ensure that we will be able to offer more courses, we need to collect a fee from every student who takes a course. Thank you for supporting our effort!

About the Course

Course Curriculum

  • 1
    Course Overview
  • 2
    Latitude and Longitude
    • Section Overview
    • Video
    • Quiz 1 | Latitude and Longitude
  • 3
    VFR Aeronautical Charts
    • Section Overview
    • Video
    • Reference Links | VFR Aeonautical Charts
    • Quiz 2 | VFR Aeronautical Charts
  • 4
    Reading Aeronautical Charts
    • Section Overview
    • Video | Airports
    • Quiz 3 | Airports
    • Video | Airspace
    • Quiz 4 | Airspace
    • Video | Surface Features
    • Quiz 5 | Surface Features
  • 5
    Navigating
    • Section Overview
    • Video | Pilotage
    • Quiz 6 | Pilotage
    • Video | Deduced Reckoning
    • REQUIRED MATERIALS for Quiz 7
    • Quiz 7 | Deduced Reckoning
    • Video | Lost Procedures
    • Quiz 8 | Lost Procedures
  • 6
    Final Exam
    • REQUIRED MATERIALS for Final Exam
    • Final Exam

  About the Instructor

  • Russell Holtz

    Russell Holtz

    Russell is the author of two well-respected and widely-used soaring flight training books in the United States - the Glider Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and the Flight Training Manual for Glider Pilots.

    Russell grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.

    He obtained his Private Pilot Certificate in gliders in 1995, in airplanes in 1996, his Commercial Certificate in Gliders in 1998, and his Certified Flight Instructor rating in gliders in 1999. He completed the FAI Silver Badge requirements in 1997, and the Gold and Diamond requirements in 1998. Russell has given over 2,800 hours of primary, cross-country, contest, and aerobatic flight instruction, and has over 4,000 hours total time in gliders.

    Russell's passion for understanding and communicating soaring knowledge is evident in his teaching.