Gold Seal Online Ground Schools Reviews 575

Awesome ground school. I scored a 93% on my PPL written. The content is really engaging and thorough, and three instructors at my flight school have complimented me on my knowledge, and I owe it to Gold Seal. The program also has a great option to ask a Gold Seal instructor questions if you're stuck. I've used this resource twice, and once Russ Still himself helped me through the problem. I can't recommend Gold Seal highly enough.

Date of experience: July 02, 2025

I was a little unsure about getting my endorsement from an online ground school, but Gold Seal was awesome! The courses are really well put together, and the instructors explain things clearly, especially with the animations they use. It's way better than just staring at boring slides—it's like you're interacting with the material, which makes it stick better. What's cool is that you can go at your own pace, which was perfect for me. It's not the same as being in a classroom, but it gave me a great base of knowledge before I even stepped into a plane. Definitely worth it if you want to get a head start on learning to fly!

- Cooper Amendola

Date of experience: June 22, 2025

I compared several online ground schools. I actually paid for more than one, just to be thorough. While the other online school was well reviewed and highly recommended, and I still refer to it for variety, I keep finding myself coming back to Gold Seal. The engaging delivery, the 3D illustrations and animations, and the fantastic design and user experience can't be beat. I actually signed up for 2 other courses as well. Highly recommended.

Date of experience: June 20, 2025

I used Gold Seal to prepare for my PPL written exam and am now on track to complete my IRA with them as well. I highly recommend this platform. Unlike others that rely heavily on rote memorization, Gold Seal takes a methodical approach - its video lectures break down complex topics in a clear, digestible way and do an excellent job preparing you for the test.

Date of experience: June 16, 2025

I really enjoyed my PPL ground school with Gold Seal. I had a great experience and the lessons were very thorough and enjoyable to watch. It must have worked pretty good as I scored %100 on my PPL knowledge test.

Date of experience: May 19, 2025

I was introduced to Gold Seal through my flight school. I had a great experience with the PAR, IRA and FII tests. I was in and out of the testing center quickly at 90% and above on the writtens. You will test confidently and pass with this ground school! AND - it's pretty entertaining to get through and has good resources! I liked it so much when my school switched to a different ground product, I bought the Commercial course on my own. So far - easy breezy! I'll pass that written in a couple of weeks!

Date of experience: June 05, 2025

Been using Gold Seal since my PPL and have now used it to complete my instrument ground school. Easy to follow along with and learn, Russell and crew make it easy to understand and correlate knowledge to actual flying. Highly recommended and you bet I will be using them again when it’s time for commercial ground school.

Date of experience: May 23, 2025

I was not sure who to go with when it came to enrolling in a ground school course. After the free trial and research I decided to go with Gold Seal. Now I am halfway through the Instrument ground school course and I’m certain I made the right decision. It is nice to actually understand the concept rather than just having rote memorization and I even referred back to the course before my checkride. I’m confident to say that the PAR written was a breeze thanks to Gold Seal and I recommend 100%!

Date of experience: May 23, 2025

I chose Gold Seal after reviewing other schools, one was the many positive reviews and the other was how the course was structured!

I find learning as you go way less stressful and also how affordable Gold Seal is compared to other schools.

Thank you Russ and your entire staff for your dedication to helping everyone find success in our aviation journeys as well as the informative videos. I highly recommend Gold Seal 10stars plus!

Date of experience: May 23, 2025

Very interactive. I like how there are built in questions. The accessibility it great.

Date of experience: May 14, 2025

The user interface is simple, seem-less, and up to date. The instruction is kept short and simple, and the learning blocks are organized in a way that doesn't feel daunting to finish. I appreciate the interactive portions of flash cards and quizzes to help cement the knowledge base and retain the information. The visuals and explanations go a long way as well when you are tackling a tough subject or concept.

Date of experience: May 13, 2025

As a 72 year old student pilot, retaining exam information isn't as easy as it was in my college years. However, Gold Seal's information was organized in an easily digestable and understandable way that allowed me to complete the course and walk away confident that I will be successful when I sit for the FAA Knowledge exam. Thanks to Russ and his team for a great online ground school.

Date of experience: May 10, 2025

Being a flight instructor myself, I insist that all my students use Gold Seal.
You would ask, what’s wring with the other 27 famous groundschools? They are all giving the same required information!
Yes, they do, but how?
In today’s world, where the best of us have an attention and memory span of a goldfish and any sentence longer than five words is considered a longread, Gold Seal somehow managed to hold the student’s attention for hours without them pulling out their phones and watching tictocks while taking the course.
And the proven track of my students getting even higher scores on actual written than they had on GS practice test is the best sign of a proven best training product!
Profound respect!

Date of experience: May 10, 2025

I have used Gold Seal Online Ground School since I began my journey in aviation. Their Private Pilot and Instrument courses prepared me to take my FAA knowledge exam and I successfully passed both on my first attempt. I was thrilled to learn of their new commercial course and I know that it will prepare me for that exam as well. The course teaches you the material by effectively using written materials, along with visual diagrams and simulations, coupled with easy to understand lessons presented by their instructors. Following each lesson you are able to study flashcards and take the quiz. If you haven't tried any of their products, sign in and each course has a demo that you can try. I believe you will love the format as much as I did and that's why I have continued to make them my choice when it comes to ground school!

Date of experience: May 03, 2025

Gold Seal Ground School is an excellent course with clear lessons, engaging videos, and helpful quizzes. It was a pleasure to have help from Russ himself, the CEO, who personally assisted me in setting up my CFI account. The whole experience made learning smooth and enjoyable.

Date of experience: April 30, 2025

I’m very much a hands on visual learner and gold seal made it very simple to understand concepts and ideas 10/10 recommend

Date of experience: April 27, 2025

Great online course for your PPL ground training. Very well laid out and easy to navigate. Good work Gold Seal!

Date of experience: April 24, 2025

The 3-D models helped the most. I am not a "death by PowerPoint" learner, and the more practical and demonstrative lessons were beneficial. However, I would often find that A LOT of the test questions would cover stuff that was not verbalized, and only shown as text on a "review" screen at the end of lessons. So it may be beneficial to cover those as visuals and talk about them within the lecture section of the course, as opposed to just typing it out on the slides at the end.

Date of experience: April 24, 2025

I’ve taken the Private Pilot and Instrument ground school with Gold Seal and scored a 98 and 93 respectively. Gold Seal has proven to be the best place to actually learn the material through short interactive lessons (that you can bang out instead of scrolling social media) and expose you to FAA style test questions. In my case no other prep was needed. Wrapped up the ground school on a Sunday and walked in to test on Wednesday!
Clear skies!

Date of experience: April 22, 2025

I started my aviation journey in 2020 with Gold Seal while working on my Private Pilot Certificate, and I’ve stayed with them all the way through to my Commercial. Simply put—there’s no better ground school out there.

What really sets Gold Seal apart is how fresh and regularly updated the content is. Nothing feels stale or outdated, which is rare in aviation ground schools. They’re clearly on top of the changes in regulations, airspace, procedures, and more—and it shows.

The course is filled with interactive lessons that go beyond just watching videos. You get to drag and drop components, practice in simulated environments, take quizzes, and actively engage with the material. It makes learning complex topics like aerodynamics and weather so much more intuitive and less overwhelming.

Another huge plus is their community. Gold Seal has a thriving Facebook group where you’ll find students from all over the country—and the Founder and Chief Instructor, Russel Still, is personally active and always ready to help. It's rare to see someone of his experience so accessible and genuinely involved in helping students succeed. No matter what your question is, someone in that group will jump in to support you.

Gold Seal doesn’t just prepare you to pass the FAA knowledge test—they prepare you to be a safe, competent, and proficient pilot for life. Their focus is on building real understanding, not just test scores.

If you’re serious about aviation and want to invest in a ground school that grows with you through every certificate and rating, Gold Seal is the one to go with.

I can’t recommend it enough.

Date of experience: April 21, 2025