Pilot Institute AR Lab
Pilot training in 3D and AR
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
iPad
Take an engine apart, raise airspace off a real sectional, fly VOR tracking, hold entries and instrument approaches in 3D, on your desk or in AR.
Pilot Institute AR Lab turns the hardest ground-school topics into models you can take apart, turn around and fly through. Place them on a real table in augmented reality, or switch AR off and use them on a virtual desk anywhere, even in a cramped room.
ENGINE TEARDOWN
A carbureted Lycoming four-cylinder in 459 parts. Run it and watch the four-stroke cycle cylinder by cylinder, scrub through the firing order, see inside with see-through, explode it by layer, and read what every assembly does. Two quiz modes, Find it and Name it, check what you learned.
AIRCRAFT STRUCTURE
A Cessna 172, a Piper Warrior and a Diamond DA40, inside and out. Tap any part to learn what it is and what you check on the walk-around, then turn on see-through to find the spars, ribs, firewall and control runs under the skin. A Find it quiz covers the whole airplane.
3D AIRSPACE
Every US sectional, draped over real terrain. Tap a boundary and the airspace rises from its floor to its ceiling, with its VFR entry requirements. Plan a cross-country with airports, VORs or GPS points and see every airspace you cross and where you get close to terrain. Load a ForeFlight or Garmin track to replay a real flight, and switch on live ADS-B traffic over the chart.
VOR TRAINER
Fly a Cessna over a real sectional with a CDI or an HSI, a joystick or a yoke and power lever. See the TO and FROM halves and the radial you are on, and learn to intercept and track.
IFR HOLD TRAINER
Real holding clearances at real VORs on the IFR enroute charts. A step-by-step tutorial, a practice mode that scores each step, and a quiz. Pick the entry, then watch the airplane fly it with the leg timed.
INSTRUMENT APPROACHES
Coded approaches for more than a thousand US airports, drawn in 3D over the enroute chart with the published plate and the profile beside them. Fly the procedure, missed approach and hold entry included, at your own pace.
AIRCRAFT LIGHTS
Every exterior light on a Cessna 172 at dusk, each shown only through its real arc. Then a night quiz: an airplane passes in the dark and all you see are its lights. Which way is it going?
Guided tours show you around every module, and every model works with or without AR.
FOR TRAINING ONLY
AR Lab is a training tool, not a navigation aid. Its charts, airspace, navaids and traffic are simplified and can be out of date. Never use it in the airplane to navigate or to make flight decisions; always fly with approved, current charts and your aircraft's certified equipment.
Built by Pilot Institute, the online aviation school.
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Information
- Seller
- Pilot Institute LLC
- Size
- 334.8 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iPadOS 18.0 or later.
- iPad
Requires iPadOS 18.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 15.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 2.0 or later.
- iPad
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 Pilot Institute LLC