Hey Creech,

The ground school that Kyp teaches is a really good one, and Kyp is a very experienced instructor (as well as an all around great person). You'd be in good shape with his ground school. I don't know if you're familiar with the West Valley Flying Club, but it's a fun, supportive place to learn to fly, with lots of activities, etc. to support your interests in aviation. Check out www.wvfc.org, if you haven't already. And Kyp's profile with the club is: www.wvfc.org/instruct/kypta.html. Feel free to ask me any questions as well, as he's a friend of mine and I'm quite familiar with how these things work. I think I also have a copy of his syllabus, if you're interested.

I teach a ground school at West Valley as well, but out of the Hayward Airport, which might be a bit of a commmute for you.

Oops, and to answer your question about cost......as far as the West Valley classes go, there's not much difference. It's a good deal for you, actually, since you're getting a $40 or $50 an hour instructor for 10 weeks at a total of a couple hundred dollars. So, to be honest, for the instruction you're getting, in a class with probably only a handful of students (which allows for lots of one on one time, if you'd like it), it's very cost effective. Your other choice, of course, is not to bother with a ground school- it's not a requirement that you take one- but then you're paying your own instructor their hourly rate to go over all the information. This gets expensive, even if you've studied on your own a bit.

I can't speak for other ground schools in the area, but I imagine it's a similar deal.