avionicswest.com

What It Is

Avionics West currently mainly hosts Keith Thomassen’s aviation GPS training materials, manuals, and technical articles. It is not a mass-market online course platform, but a highly specialized training service for pilots, focused on modern aviation GPS, glass cockpits, autopilot coupling, procedure flying, ADS-B, WAAS, VNAV, and related topics.

Core Content

The courses cover equipment such as Chelton EFIS, the Garmin 400/500 series, GNS 480, GTN 650/750, and G1000. Training uses equipment dock demonstration modes, PowerPoint, and computer simulators, emphasizing the full workflow from “getting started” to maps, databases, route planning, autopilot, data links, fuel, traffic information, procedure entry, and execution. Its distinguishing feature is that it does not merely teach “knobology” or button-pushing; it also stresses the underlying logic of flight legs, leg sequencing, SUSP, procedure segments, and GPS/autopilot signaling.

Pricing

The website mainly lists manual prices: GPS For Pilots and Aviating and Aviation are each priced at US$20, with US$3 shipping within the United States. Most equipment manuals cost US$30 plus shipping, while some PDF manuals are US$25. In-person training can be booked by the full day or by the hour, but hourly rates are not published and require email inquiry.

Pros and Cons

Its main strength is the instructor’s exceptional background: Keith Thomassen holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford, is a CFII, has long been involved in research and teaching, and has been teaching GPS courses since 2002, combining both flight and educational experience. Classes are small, with a maximum of 3 students, making them suitable for in-depth Q&A; the large collection of manuals and free articles is also useful for ongoing learning. The drawbacks are that courses are only offered in person in Grass Valley, California, making participation costly for international students; the website does not clearly provide certificates, an online learning system, payment methods, or course pricing, and the overall commercial experience feels rather traditional.

Who It’s For

It is best suited to general aviation pilots, instrument pilots, aircraft owners, and flight instructors who are already using or about to use avionics equipment from Garmin, Chelton, Avidyne, and similar vendors. It is especially appropriate for those who want to understand GPS procedure logic and autopilot coordination, rather than simply learning which buttons to press.

Access from China

The main content does not provide information about access from China, online courses, or cross-border purchasing, so real-world availability cannot be determined. Since the primary courses are in-person training in the United States, the more practical option for Chinese users may be reading the website’s articles or purchasing PDF/paper manuals by email.