One plan · one payment · lifetime
The first lesson is free, forever.
This is the rest of the course.
You fly stage 1 with no account and no card, and replaying it never costs anything. One payment opens stages 2–7: the stall, the circuit, an 18-knot crosswind, the short-field box, the engine-out, the famous runways, and the full written-exam bank. No subscription, no expiry, no upsell.
What the one payment opens
Stage 1, with the real controls and the real Cessna 172 flight model, costs nothing and needs no account. The licence is for everything past it.
- ✓Stages 2–7, every mission in them. Slow flight and the stall, the traffic pattern, an 18-knot crosswind, the short-field box, the engine-out from 1,500 ft, and the famous runways: St Barth, Courchevel, Catalina, Lukla.
- ✓Nine more missions, 45 more guided steps. Each step has live tolerances and an AI instructor that tells you what you did wrong the moment you do it.
- ✓The full written-exam bank. 90 questions across seven areas, earned by the flights that just exposed them, plus a 60-question mock in 120 minutes.
- ✓Twelve measured skills. Each level is the recency-weighted mean of your last eight attempts, measured not awarded. A crash still credits what you flew correctly.
- ✓Progress on every device. Your skill levels, exam readiness and flight history are stored against your account, not the browser.
- ✓Lifetime. No recurring fee. Pay once. Every future stage, mission and question we add is yours.
What it does not do
Stated here, plainly, because the list above is only worth trusting if we also tell you this one.
- –No FAA written endorsement. That is a CFI's signature under 14 CFR 61.35, and no app can sell it, including the four in the table below. Nothing flown here counts toward a certificate. Your three real paths to the signature.
- –No loggable hours. BLACKBOX is not an FAA-approved training device. It makes your first real lessons go further because you arrive already able to fly the attitude; it does not replace them.
- –The exam bank is 90 questions today. The incumbents ship bigger banks. Ours is written to what the simulator actually teaches, and every question we add is covered by the same licence.
- –No password reset or email verification yet. The account system is young. If you lose your password, email the address on your receipt and a human will sort it out.
How it sits against the incumbents
None of them let you fly. They sell the FAA written endorsement — the CFI sign-off that lets you sit the exam. BLACKBOX does not and cannot give you that. It is the hands-on layer that makes their theory stick.
| Course | Price | You fly? |
|---|---|---|
| BLACKBOX | $99 founding | From minute one |
| Sporty's Learn to Fly | $299 | No |
| King Schools | $349 | No |
| Pilot Institute | $279 | No |
| Gleim | $160 / 12 mo | No |
Questions
Does BLACKBOX give me the FAA written endorsement?
No, and anyone who says an app can is lying. The endorsement is a CFI's signature on a logbook, earned under 14 CFR 61.35 and 61.105. BLACKBOX is not an FAA-approved training device and is not a substitute for a certificated flight instructor. It is the fastest way to feel the flying and understand the theory before you pay for one. When you are close, print the readiness report — the evidence pack a real instructor reviews (and questions you on) before deciding whether to endorse you under AC 61-65K's home-study process.
So what am I buying?
A lifetime licence to the full flying course, the exam bank, and every stage and mission we add afterwards. One payment, no expiry, no subscription, no upsell. The founding price is $99 for the first 100 students or through 14 September, whichever comes first; after that it is $149. Both limits are enforced by the server, not by a banner.
Is the flight model real?
The aerodynamics are a Cessna 172S model validated against the POH. You fly real attitudes, real speeds, real energy management, with stalls, slips, crosswinds and short-field landings that behave the way the aeroplane does. It will not teach you to land a real Cessna by itself, but it will make your first hour in one feel like your tenth.
What if it's not for me?
Fourteen days, no questions. Email the address on your receipt within fourteen days of purchase and we refund the full amount. You keep nothing: the access closes with the refund, and you lose nothing.
Do I need a joystick?
No. It flies on keyboard, with the arrow keys for pitch and bank, the throttle on the up/down arrows, and rudder on A and D. It also accepts a joystick if you have one. The whole point is that you are flying within a minute of opening the page.
BLACKBOX is an educational flight simulator. It is not an FAA-approved aviation training device, is not affiliated with the FAA, and no time flown in it counts toward any certificate or rating. It does not provide the aeronautical knowledge endorsement required to take the FAA Private Pilot knowledge test under 14 CFR 61.35. Always train under a certificated flight instructor. Prices are in USD. BLACKBOX is a product of Empathy Labs.