Sporty's Pilot Shop

Sporty's Pilot Shop is a pilot supply retailer and flight training publisher based at Clermont County Airport (I69) in Batavia, Ohio, east of Cincinnati. Founded in 1961 by flight instructor and engineer Hal Shevers, who sold an aviation radio to his students from the trunk of his car, the company grew from a store at Cincinnati's Lunken Airport to its current 100,000 square foot building on the ramp at I69, which houses its offices, warehouse, call centre and flight school. It describes itself first as an educational institution, and its staff are pilots.

Products

• Headsets, handheld radios and portable electronics, including Sporty's own radio line from the Air-Scan of the 1980s to the current PJ2+ with built-in headset jacks
• Avionics and installed equipment such as ADS-B receivers, aviation GPS and radios
• iPad, iPhone and Android accessories, mounts, kneeboards and flight bags, including the Flight Gear line
• Charts, chart supplements, approach plates and books
• Aircraft supplies: covers, chocks, tugs and towbars, cleaning products, oil, tiedowns, hangar equipment and power supplies
• Safety and survival gear, flight simulator equipment, apparel and gifts
• Over 500 products designed or made exclusively by Sporty's

Training courses

Sporty's has published training material since the 1960s, when Hal Shevers helped create the three-day ground school with AOPA. Its video courses began with Sporty's Academy in the late 1980s, moved to DVD and then to online courses and mobile apps. The library now covers more than 25 titles, from the Private Pilot Learn to Fly Course and instrument training to avionics training and aerobatics, available on the web, phones, tablets and smart TVs.

Airport operations

The company's Sporty's Academy division runs an FAA approved Part 141 flight school at I69, with a professional pilot degree programme created with the University of Cincinnati in 1992. Sporty's also manages the airport as the fixed base operator, rents aircraft, pumps avgas and maintains hangars, and its Cincinnati Avionics shop installs and repairs avionics in piston aircraft. The Sporty's Foundation, formed in 2008, supports youth aviation programmes including EAA Young Eagles. Pilots can fly in to visit the store, and the company hosts a Saturday cookout on its ramp.

Contact

Description from the company's website (October 2026). Not a Cirrus Aircraft authorized service center. Is this your company? Claim this page to add photos and keep your details up to date.