About
From the first lesson to the checkride.
Tailwind helps Private Pilot students make sense of what they’re learning, remember it, and explain it. The lessons follow the FAA Airman Certification Standards and link back to their sources.
Who writes Tailwind
Written by flight instructors.
We built Tailwind for the hours between flight lessons—when you’re on your own with a stack of books and a question about where to start.
Learn the topic before your next flight. Come back to the part that didn’t quite click. As the checkride gets closer, check what you remember and practice explaining it. The same knowledge serves you throughout training. Tailwind puts it in ACS order, with plain-English explanations and references you can check.
Bring the questions that remain to your instructor. And if something in Tailwind isn’t clear, tell us. We want to make it clearer.
What it is
A study companion for Private Pilot – Airplane training and checkride preparation.
Use a lesson alongside the topic you’re working on with your instructor, or follow the course in order. When the checkride gets closer, use the same material to find gaps and practice explaining your decisions. Around the chapters are the tools that make it stick:
- practice questions after each chapter;
- a test for each knowledge task;
- a practice oral graded by AI against examiner-style questions;
- a daily review that uses spaced repetition to bring back what you’re forgetting;
- interactive diagrams you can operate rather than just look at.
What it’s built from
Every chapter is written from primary FAA material and the example airplane’s handbook:
- ACS
- Private Pilot – Airplane Airman Certification Standards
- PHAK
- Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
- AFH
- Airplane Flying Handbook
- AIM
- Aeronautical Information Manual
- 14 CFR
- Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, linked to the current eCFR text
- POH
- Cessna 172S Pilot’s Operating Handbook
Other FAA handbooks — weather, risk management, weight and balance — are cited where a chapter needs them. The exact editions are listed on the colophon.
Follow the sources
Chapters cite their sources by document and page, so any fact can be traced back.
A regulation, an FAA recommendation, and a manufacturer’s procedure do different jobs. The lessons identify those sources so you can see where a requirement comes from and read the detail for yourself.
Use the linked source to check a rule, and your own airplane’s handbook for its limitations and procedures. If you find something unclear or out of date, tell us. It’s the most useful message we get.
The airplane
The course isn’t tied to one airplane.
Most of the ACS — regulations, airspace, weather, aerodynamics, navigation, human factors — applies to any airplane, and it’s taught that way, from general FAA knowledge.
Where a number is needed, the Cessna 172S is used as a clearly labeled example, and the systems task (Area I, Task G) is taught on the 172S. Where the G1000 and six-pack panels differ, both are covered. Whatever you fly, your own airplane’s POH/AFM governs.
Who it’s for
Student pilots working toward the Private Pilot certificate, from the first ground lessons to the week before the checkride.
It’s also useful for anyone preparing for the knowledge test or getting back into flying who wants the ACS explained clearly.
What it isn’t
Tailwind is study material, not flight instruction.
It doesn’t replace a certificated flight instructor, the endorsements only an instructor can give, official FAA publications, the POH/AFM for your airplane, or your judgment as pilot in command. The AI grader in the practice oral gives automated feedback and can be wrong.
And no study tool can promise you a pass — but it can make sure the examiner’s questions aren’t the first time you’ve heard them.
See it for yourself.