As an Instructor/Examiner in the microlight industry for nine years, I feel that we are let down by the study material offered to our students. Unlike other branches of aviation which benefit from a multitude of online study courses and text books from numerous authors, microlight students are stuck with the one book which we all know well.
I've lost count of how many times students have asked if I have any practice tests for the microlight exams, or after they have taken the exam they look disheartened and say, "well that wasn't in the book!".
This led me to think about how I can address this problem - and Quizaero was born.
The first product was practice tests, which started with around 350 questions but has now grown to have much more. As an active examiner who sees the real written exams day in, day out, I was able to write realistic questions which have a similar format to the real ones. Though none of the questions are the same as the real ones!
The purpose of this product was to give the student an idea of what the real exams would be like and to gauge their technical difficulty.
Having received positive feedback, I pushed to further my web development skills to create QuizAero Bitesize Online Ground School.
Bitesize Online Ground School is a full replacement for the study book. It is an online course containing all of the theoretical principles for the written exams. The theory behind every real question is covered and that's a guarantee!
The information is spread over 25 chapters in bitesize chunks to help the student digest it. After each chapter is a progress test and at the end of each subject is a competence test which check if the student is ready for the real exam. The student can also directly share their results with their instructor.
Bitesize contains beautiful animations, clear diagrams and simple explanations. It is designed to make the learning process enjoyable. It works on desktops, tablets and mobiles so it is possible to stop at any time and take it up later on another device. Being mobile friendly also means that the student has it with them at all times, even for five minutes of cramming before the real exam.
Being web based, it allows me to keep it up to date with all rules and regulation changes so the student never has an out of date study guide.
The final product is the Radiotelephony Audio Course. Microlight pilots have very capable aircraft which can operate over long distances. Unfortunately, due to their training environment and the fact that the Flight Radiotelephony Operator's Licence (FRTOL) is not mandatory for the microlight syllabus, many microlight pilots are ill equipped to handle flights in controlled airspace or at aerodromes with ATC control.
This course is designed to assimilate the student with the flows of VFR radio calls so they become familiar and routine. It contains 12 tracks which are a mixture of real world and scripted audio. I thought it would be good to burn the tracks to a CD and play them each time you drive your car in order to brainwash yourself into knowing them off by heart.
It also contains Radiotelephony guide in which I have explained the principles of ATC and the services available.
It is not intended to replace the FRTOL, but it is designed to make pilots more confident in using ATC services.
When combined together, these products create a powerful learning tool that will help students ace the exams. The feedback I have received so far is overwhelmingly positive.
What can it do for instructors?
At the instructor seminar, I announced a referral scheme which allows flying schools to receive commission on sales via a referral code. So far the take up has been good. Please email me (contact@quizaero.co.uk) in order to set this up.
Quizaero will also improve your school's exam results. This means you will have happier, safer and more confident students and you will spend less time on ground school and more time in the air.
What does it do for the community as a whole?
Quizaero provides a lot of insight into student's understanding of various subjects. It provides me with a statistical analysis of test results so I can see where students are consistently failing and where they are doing well. I can provide feedback to the BMAA on these areas which can be trickled down to the instructor community and more focus can be placed on those aspects of training. Ultimately, this will improve training and safety standards
The future for Quizaero
So far, Quizaero represents over 900 hours development time and significant financial investment. In the future, I intend to add further products and bring new ideas to my existing products.
Thank you to everyone who has supported Quizaero so far.
Take a look at our microlight student products here.
