Building a flight record for college applications, or finally checking flying off the bucket list — one-on-one training built around your goals and your schedule.
A standing monthly membership for high schoolers who want to start flying now — and graduate with a Private Pilot Certificate already in hand. While most of their classmates are just finishing driver's ed, your student could be walking into college applications as a licensed pilot.
You already know the game: every applicant has good grades, a sport, a club. Admissions officers see the same résumé hundreds of times. A Private Pilot Certificate isn't something they can check a box for — it's proof of discipline, real-world responsibility, and the kind of student who follows through on something hard and rare.
Additional flight lessons available at $300/hr (~1 hour per lesson). Additional ground lessons available at $60/hr, duration as needed.
Ground school covers the aeronautical knowledge you need for the FAA written exam. Any of these will get you there — pick the style that fits how you learn.
All-in-one video ground school with test prep, real-world flying tips, and lifetime access.
A long-running, well-established video course with a pass guarantee — straightforward and easy to follow.
35+ hours of short, easy-to-follow video lessons with a first-time pass guarantee on the written exam.
I also offer one-on-one ground school tutoring, via Zoom or in person — great for working through concepts that aren't clicking or reinforcing what you're learning. This is meant to support your online ground school or independent study, not replace it.
Here's what I recommend having before we get going, with approximate current prices. This is separate from flight training and ground school costs.
| Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge The main FAA textbook — ASA softcover edition |
$32.95 | Buy |
| ASA Student Pilot Kit Flight bag with logbook, plotter, E6-B, exam guides & more |
$139.95 | Buy |
| David Clark H10-13.4 Headset Durable, reliable training headset |
$369.95 | Buy |
| ForeFlight Basic Plus (annual) Charts, weather, logbook & flight planning |
$120.00 | Subscribe |
| Estimated total | ~$662.85 |
Prices are approximate and set by each retailer — always check the current price before buying. This is a one-time startup cost (plus the annual ForeFlight renewal); it doesn't include flight training or ground school.
Every lesson starts on the ground: clear expectations, the desired outcome for the flight, what we're working on, why, and what "good" looks like before the engine turns over.
When a maneuver or concept isn't clicking, we identify the underlying cause rather than treating the symptom, so the correction holds up in future lessons.
You'll know exactly where you stand after every flight, and exactly what to work on before the next one.
I'm Samuel Helzerman. I grew up as a missionary kid in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, where small airplanes are often the only way into remote villages. Watching that firsthand is where my love for aviation started.
Flying was all I ever wanted to do from that point on — and now that I've been able to build a life around it, what I want most is to help other people experience how fun aviation is, and get them flying too.
After finishing flight school, I instructed for a company for a few months before going independent. I've had zero failures in training, and every student I've sent to an exam or checkride has passed on the first attempt — a 100% pass rate I take seriously.