Welcome!
The Tomvale Ground School is based on many years of educational research, and has been used in aviation,
but also in other disciplines. It is guided by the principals that everyone learns differently, that discovery learning
is far more effective than rote memorization, and that all learning should be individual and interactive.
Because our ground school software isn't just one application, but includes many different applications, widgets and utilities,
it takes some time to learn about all that it can do. We've designed this visual tour to speed up that process.
It uses the Private Pilot package as an example, but the others work the same way. The images below use a lower resolution
than the software is capable of, but they serve as examples. If you already have the software,
(you can use the Demo), you can try it as you read through. It should be noted that all the features,
(except for some options),are contained within the software, so once installed, no net connection is necessary.
Download the PowerPoint Version of this Tour
As always, you can contact us if you have any other questions or suggestions.
Let's start...
(We've used lower resolution screenshots to make this site load faster.)
Below is the Main Menu. It's one of many menus in the Ground School. All menus consist of tiles which you can click on to take you to those sections. There are also underlined shortcuts, which you can use to navigate instead of clicking, by pressing the 'alt' key and the shortcut. If you hover over a tile, you'll see a tool tip with a brief explanation of what that tile does. The Main Menu is the only menu where you can exit the Ground School. When you exit other menus, they will eventually return you here.
If you are using the Ground School on a tablet, each menu has an Onscreen Keyboard link. When you tap it, the virtual sizable keyboard, will appear as shown below.
When you right click on a tile, you'll get a Help Widget with a more detailed explanation of what that tile does. It also lets you search other Help topics, while you're there. You can also access this by clicking on the Software Help tile. As shown below, the Your Preferences tile has been right clicked and the Help Widget for that tile has appeared.
Sometimes, when you click on a tile, you'll get an input box and be asked to provide more information. Below are examples of this:
The Main Menu is divided into five groups. Shown below, (outlined in red), on the far left is the Question Banks Group which contains the thousands of questions for that licence, (the Private Pilot Licence in this case), organized into the sections that you would find on the Transport Canada Exam. There might also be added sections, such as the Novice Bank in initial licences, or the Challenge Bank in the Commercial.
When you choose a Question Banks Group tile, you'll be taken to the Question Order Menu. This lets you choose:
• The order you'd like the questions in; Normal Mode or Random Mode
• Exam Mode which asks you 25 random questions, and does not give you help.
• Specific Question which lets you begin the questions where you left off
• Search Mode which will pick out the questions on a topic you choose. e.g. VORs
• Elimination Mode which temporarily removes any question you answer correctly, so the next time only your problem questions will be asked.
The Email Questions tile allows you to send 20 random questions to your device, so you can work on them away from home. e.g. your phone .
(You can do this via a normal email, or by text using your carrier's Email to SMS address.)
As seen below, the Question Banks Group tile Meteorology has been clicked and the Question Order Menu has popped up.
As an example, we'll click on the Normal Order tile. Below, you'll see the Questions Screen.
• For each question you can click on the number choices, or get help using one of the help tiles.
These include the PDF File associated with the question, the Aviation Calculator, the Dictionary/Glossary,
the Canadian Aviation Regulations Search, the Help Classroom, (like an aviation encyclopaedia), and the Weather Report Decoder, (more about these later).
• You can also search the Web for help. Any Web Search tile in the Ground School will search Google, Wikipedia, and the Transport Canada website.
As seen below, The Questions Bank Group - Navigation tile was chosen, then Question Orders Menu - Normal Order was chosen.
• When you answer a question, you will be given the correct answer and references.
Some of these references are automated and will be ready when you click a Help tile. e.g. If a reference includes a CARs reg., the CARs tile will take you to that reg
.• Beneath the Help tiles are Question Utilities. These let you omit a question from the bank, restore all the questions you've omitted, and report what you believe to be an error.
• The top right will display your progress as visual gauges. At the end of a session you will be asked if you want these to be added to your Progress Chart, (more about this later).
• Throughout the Ground School, you can take notes for yourself. These My Notes will persist through your session, and you can print them later.
In this Question Screen, double clicking on the question will add it to your notes.
• In Exam Mode, only the answer choices are displayed and none of the help is available.
In the example below, the question was answered incorrectly, and references were given, (recorded for later).
The question was double clicked to add it to My Notes, and a note was typed in.
Widgets
1. The Dictionary Widget: An interactive dictionary linked to visual aids, pdf files, and a web search.In the example below, the term 'nimbostratus' was typed in (into an input box as seen above), and the definition was displayed. A visual aid would be displayed by clicking on the Visual Aid tile, or you could search the net for that term.
As seen in the Questions Screen, there are widgets which appear throughout the software. These include:
2. The Aviation Calculator Widget which calculates winds, speeds, distances, conversions, and includes a navigation database which outputs distance and direction between 2 aerodromes.
In the example below, the user has asked for the distance and course between Toronto and Honolulu
3. The Weather Decoder Widget which translates any weather report into plain language.
You can copy and paste a weather report, or in the Questions Screen,
you can double click on an aviation report question and it will be pasted into the decoder.
Returning to the Main Menu ...
The next Menu Group from the left is Foundations.
From the top...
:• How to Start gives you very detailed instructions about the Ground School, (like this tour but in text form.)
• Exam Writing Guide' is a Help Chapter, (more about Help Chapters later), which explains the most common mistakes made on exams, and how to avoid them.
• Study and Reference Guide takes you to the Transport Canada document which explains what you are required to know for this aviation's written exam.
• Your Preferences, lets you adapt the software to your individual needs.
• The bottom tile is a Slide Show of the many images in the ground school. It acts as a screen saver when the software is idle, or when you click on it.
When you click on Main Menu - Your Preferences, you'll be taken to the Preferences Menu as seen below.
Let's look at each of the tiles in the Your Preferences menu.
The Colour Scheme tile lets you change the colours used throughout the software. For example below:
The Font tile lets you change the Font used in the Ground School, as seen below in the Main Menu with a different font.
Other tiles in the Your Preferences menu include...
• Sound lets you turn off the sound cues in the Ground School.
• Small Form Resize enlarges input boxes and widgets for those who prefer this.
• Tablet Friendliness vertically spaces the information making it easier to tap.
• Screen Ratio toggles between a 4:3 ratio and a 16:9 ratio.
• Screen Size changes the actual screen size to better suit your device.
When you first install the software, the screen size default will be 'Fill Screen'. (slightly smaller than your screen size) .
However you may want to change this.
The example below shows a Screen Size of 800x600 with a normal Screen Ratio.
(Icons are eliminated in this screen size.)
The example below shows a Screen Size of 1080x1920 with a wide Screen Ratio, (too wide for this site)
Returning to the Main Menu...
The third Main Menu Group is Learning Aids.
You've already seen the 3 bottom widgets in the Learning Aids Group, (Dictionary, Calculator, WX Decoder). These widgets are linked and accessible throughout the software.
The Learning Aids top tile - Help Classroom is, an interactive, browser-like aviation encyclopaedia, (browser-like because it includes common browser functions such as Back, Forward, Bottom, Top, Home, Favourites), and includes 420 chapters, (click for a list of chapters and resources).
These Chapters are categorized into Essentials, (those you must read), and In Depth, (much more detailed).
You'll notice that the Help Classroom includes the widgets we've already mentioned, but also adds:
• Manuals tile linked to all the included manuals, documents and pdf files,
• a powerful Search function which searches all the Help Chapters, Aviation Dictionary, Manuals, Aviation Information Publication, pdf files etc.,
• Find function which will search within a Chapter or Cars Regulation.
Chapters have multiple links at the end, and bring up photos and animations when relevant.
In the example below, Chapter 138 in the Help Classroom Main Index was chosen and this chapter, Standard Instruments, (an Essentials Chapter), was displayed.
(In the software, you would scroll down to read it all.) The chapters visited are added to My Notes and History. Clicking on the image would enlarge it.
In the example below we see the first part of the Learning Aids - Help Classroom Main Menu with the Favourites tile extended, (by hovering over it).
In the example below we can see the top part of the Learning Aids - Help Classroom where a search for 'ADF' took place.
Returning to the Main Menu - Learning Aids Group...
The CARs search widget searches the Canadian Aviation Regulations for any term or regulation number, and displays the results in the Help Classroom,
The complete Aeronautics Act and CARs are also included as a PDF document.
In the example below, the CARs tile was clicked, the search string '401.02' was typed in, and the results were displayed.
Each time the term appears in the CARs, the line is shaded green. The entire section which includes the search term is included.
In the software, you would scroll down to read each instance of the search term.
Matching the CARs format. when a Regulation, (401.02), is searched, the matching Standard (421.02) will also be searched.
At any time during a session, you can double click on the My Notes window in the Help Classroom, or the Questions Screen, and view all the notes which you've taken. You can also print, or email these notes to yourself, through normal email or by text, using your carrier's email to SMS address.
In the example below, a student has made some notes after working on Meteorology in the Question Banks.
Returning to the Main Menu...
The fourth Main Menu Group is My Data. This is data and information all about you.
Going from the top of the My Data group...
The Tomvale Pilot Logbook is a logbook which conforms to Canadian requirements. (please ignore the pretend entries), It includes an aerodrome database which will look up the correct designator, shortcuts to add times to various columns, a search function, (e.g. how many times you flew with Chuck), provision for comments, and complete statistics on your flights, (e.g. longest flight time, tailwheel time etc). You can click on this link for instructions on how to use it. Tomvale Pilot Logbook More Info.
The next tile, Your Progress Chart summarizes your last 30 Question Bank sessions. The low scores are in red, and the high scores in green. (If you are using the Flight School Package, your instructor will be able to view this.) You can print, email, or text this chart to yourself, or your instructor.
The next tile in the My Data group - Your Favourites takes you to your Help Classroom Favourites listing, (see above).
The two tiles below this focus on the questions you answered incorrectly.
Ordered Help as can be seen below, will go through each question and open the Help Chapter dealing with that question topic.
and the bottom tile, Page References lists all the questions you answered incorrectly along with their references, and lets you print this for future study,
(more about the verification code later).
Below, we can see the results for a session with the Meteorology Question Bank. The number of questions answered incorrectly for each topic are in brackets.
Each column lists the Help Chapters for that topic, as well as sections of other documents which vary depending on the licence.
As with other My Data, You can print, email or text this chart to yourself, or your instructor.
The last Main Menu Group is Textbooks and Manuals. There are many more in the Help Classroom, (Click here for List),
but the Main Menu displays the ones most relevant to the licence that you're working on, (in this case, the Private Pilot Licence). In the example below,
the Aeronautical Information Manual tile was clicked, and the menu with the A.I.M. section tiles was displayed.
And that's all she wrote. We've come to the end of the tour.
If you're an individual pilot candidate, you can stop reading here.
We realize that there's a lot in the software, but we feel it's better for you to ignore some of it rather than need more to complete your pilot training.
Happy Flying!
Click Here to Download the Demo
Click here for the Tomvale Aviation Ground School Website
Except for...
If you're wanting to know about the Flight School Package, you can keep reading.
The Flight School Package is designed to be used by many students, in a room with multiple computers,
connected to a server. Each student logs on to the Ground School, chooses the licence he/she is working on,
and continues in the same manner as we've discussed in the tour above. The major benefit of this
is that the instructor can access each of the student's progress, then guide the student to better prepare her/him.
(There's also a non-networked version of the Flight School Package.)
The first screen in the Flight School Package is the Licence Menu. It lets the student choose what licence to work on, then log on.
As you can see in the menu below, the licences are grouped according to Aircraft Categories, (the Instrument Rating applying to all.)
The student clicks on a Licence Tile, enters his/her log on into the pop-up, and is taken to the Main Menu of that Licence, (the one at the top of this tour).
However, if instead, the instructor logs on with his password, (as seen above), he is taken to the Student Progress Listings.
In the example below, the instructor has logged in, clicked on the Aeroplane - Private Licence,
and all of the data for the students working on that licence has been displayed.
The instructor can then click on the student's name, and that student's Progress Chart, (as seen above), will be displayed.
For example, he may notice that Howard isn't doing too well. Howard's Progress Chart will tell him why, and he can then give him the appropriate guidance. In addition, when a student answers the questions in Exam Mode, where no help is given, his References Page can be printed out. This gives the instructor specific information on the student's problem areas, but also assigns a unique code to verify the results. This can then be used by the instructor to determine the student's readiness for a recommendation letter.
And that really is the end of the tour.
Feel free to contact us, if you have any further questions. We pride ourselves on our software support.
Download the Demo
Back to the Tomvale Ground School Website
Updated - 04/01/24
