Doctor Aviation ~ Review

I have a unique product to introduce to you all today, called Doctor Aviation, if your family enjoys anything to do with aviation then this may just be right up your alley. My high schooler has been undertaking a course in aviation education and was provided access to the complete course in order to bring this review to you.

What Is Doctor Aviation

This product is the brain child of Daryl Smith, aka Doctor Aviation. The course is an introduction to all things aviation and will provide the student with the basic tools and knowledge to take off into the world of flight. The course is recommended for ages 16 and up, of course if you have a younger student that is a very keen aviator then be sure to take a look at the trial lesson on their website.

Doctor Aviation himself has a long list of credentials, including those of United States Airforce Command Pilot, Instructor Pilot, Research Pilot, he has authored an aviation book and is currently a college professor.

The program is based around a series of video lectures, that all average 60 minutes in length.

The lesson structure is broken into sections, with each section containing two - four accompanying lessons. It is broken down as follows.

Section One - Course Overview
The Aviation System

Section Two - The Aircraft
The Major Components Of An Airplane
Axes & Forces
Why An Aircraft Flies - The Secret Of Airfoils & Lift
Why An Aircraft Turns, Pitches & Slides - The Flight Controls

Section Three - Air Traffic Control
How We See An Aircraft Miles Away - The Secrets Of Radar
The Air Traffic Cops - How Air Control Works

Section Four - Aircraft Maintenance
Keep 'em Flying - Propeller Engines
Keep 'em Flying - Jet Engines

Section Five - Airfield Operations
The City In & Of Itself - Running A Large Airport
The Small Airport & Running An FBO

Section Six - The Aircraft II
Flying In The Clear & Not So Clear Air - VMC & IMC
Important Pilot Instruments - Attitude Indicator
Important Pilot Instruments - Airspeed Indicator
Other Aviation Ships - Gliders, Helicopters, Airships

Each section also contains a printable guided notes pdf. This is intended to be downloaded and completed as you watch the video lectures.

For those that wish to delve even deeper there is also a 'To Learn More' page, this area has a huge array of further resources to take the learning to a deeper level. Here you are given recommendations of books to read, websites to visit and further study ideas all pertaining to that particular lesson.

As you progress further into the course you will have the option of printing off Exam Practice Questions. Potentially allowing the student a complete high school credit option if they chose to undertake all of the learning opportunities housed within here.



How Did We Use Doctor Aviation

My teen chose to use the site in its simplest form, that of watching the live lectures and completing the printed guided notes, as you can see in the image above.

Whilst we do spend some time looking at the extra resources to see if there is anything there he would like to follow further, for now he is content in simply increasing his introductory knowledge of aviation.

What We Didn't Like

This is a thorough course, giving a great introduction to aviation and it is designed for students 16 years and over. My son is 15, he is able to complete this independently and whilst he has found the video lectures extremely informative, he personally doesn't overly enjoy the basic lecture style of video presentations.

His wish was two things, for it to be somewhat more animated in the delivery style and for the videos to not be quite so long, therefore expanding the number of videos included. This is always going to be a personal preference though.

What We Did Like

He is however truly enjoying the sharing of information and the exploration of aircraft. He does feel he is learning a great deal from this program. If aviation was a possibility on his list of potential careers then I know that this course would be a truly valuable asset.

Further Details

Visit the Doctor Aviation website for a trial of the first session, The Aviation System.

Doctor Aviation on Facebook

Doctor Aviation on Twitter

If you would like to see more reviews about this product simply click on the image below.

Book Adventures: The Glorious Flight

We recently spent some time learning about the History of Flight.

In particular the first man to fly across the English Channel, Louis Bleriot.

This is an interesting story, although it didn't have the kids on the edge of their seats. It's slow and methodical but we all learned a great deal about flight, perseverance and Louis Bleriot.

We completed several of the lapbook components found over at Homeschool Share. A huge thank you to all that contribute over there. It is a fabulous resource.

When Lego Lover saw what the younger crew were up to he was fast to jump in and ask for his own copy of the lapbooking materials. He has always had a keen interest in flight so I wasn't surprised when he asked to do this one.

Here's a closer look at some of the mini books.

We found and labeled all of the parts on an airplane.

We had some fabulous discussions about trying your hardest, 'getting back up on that horse' so to speak and perseverance with the pack of quotes that are included. We found many ways to relate these quotes back to ourselves so now when someone looks like giving up we jump in with a reminder about Louis Bleriot and his perseverance.

We found France and England on the globe, looking at the English Channel and coloured a small map to go along with that. It took Bleriot thirty six minutes to cross the channel back in the early 1900's.

The kids used google image search to find various images of "ways to travel'.

You simply cannot read this story without looking more closely at the History of Flight itself, this timeline is included in the lapbook materials.

I found this short clip on You Tube - The Animated History of Aviation. It is very well done. Albeit very short and you need to be watching very carefully to see all of the details.

This You Tube Clip is done by a boy for a school project, it's not too bad for covering this in just a few short minutes.

Our cute little popstick plane magnets were a hit and oh so simple!

One of the books we used along with The Glorious Flight was How People Learned To Fly put out by Lets Read & Find Out Science. This covers the history of flight from a scientific viewpoint but is aimed at and written for children. As always with this series it was a great addition to the theme.

Once again I displayed whatever items we have on hand to go along with the current topic/theme. The kids did a quick run around and found any planes we had, which wasn't many so they decided to put one together with bristle blocks.

Whilst not one of our most exciting Book Adventures we sure did learn a great deal.

Please visit my Pinterest Board for all of the links to the printable materials, crafts and other Glorious Flight activities.

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