Webinars: Almost As Good As Being Outside

The undeniable sense of being stuck inside during the COVID-19 crisis has led a number of companies to replace in-person meetings and seminars with virtual ones, and many of these are free of charge. Here’s a brief sample of webinars for GA pilots.

AOPA is offering a new webinar series that’s free to members; it’s a collaborate effort with Boeing and ForeFlight. “AOPA is excited to partner with Boeing to provide exclusive educational content to AOPA members,” said Jiri Marousek, AOPA senior vice president of marketing. “During this complicated time, many of us don’t get to fly as much, or at all, so it’s even more important that pilots of all levels continue to keep their skills sharp and learn as much as possible in other ways, such as taking in some great online training. It doesn’t get better than having an opportunity to provide additional knowledge to our members from the experts at Boeing.” The first installment went live today but can be replayed on the signup page. AOPA is planning one a month, in addition to its usual slate of multimedia productions.

If you're home tonight, you can drop in on AOPA President Mark Baker's live stream at 8pm Eastern.

Hosted by the Experimental Aircraft Association are webinars that should appeal to pilots of both certified and homebuilt aircraft. The “Choosing and Using Tools for Your RV Build” takes place at 7 p.m. (all times Central) on April 23, hosted by Van’s Aircraft’s Greg Hughes and Mike Lauritsen. “What’s Involved in Kit Building?” will be hosted by EAA’s Charlie Becker on April 20, with the next webinar, “Flight Testing 101,” hosted by KITPLANES editor at large Paul Dye. Vic Syracuse will be hosting a webinar called “Amateur-Built Condition Inspections” on May 27. Maintenance expert Mike Busch has a couple of webinars in the near term, including “Is It Legal to Install?” on May 6, and “Predictive Maintenance” on June 3. 

For CFIs waiting out the pandemic, there’s Sporty’s free online refresher course. “Sporty’s eFIRC was developed from scratch with today’s modern CFI in mind so you won’t find just a rehash of regulations and dry FOI theory,” says Sporty’s Academy President Eric Radtke. “Rather, you’ll learn about topics pertinent to today’s flight training environment.”