Separation Anxiety: When Your Instructor Moves on, Your Logbook Tells the Story

Both the CFI and learner must take responsibility for this integral part of the process.

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 09:30 AM ET

Verified

Edited By: tccjeremy

If you are a CFI who intends to move on, it's important to let your learners know your plan. [iStock]

Key Takeaways:

Unsigned or inaccurately logged flight hours are a prevalent and challenging issue that can void a learner's experience and require them to pay for training twice. Both CFIs and learners share responsibility for ensuring precise, timely, and properly signed logbook entries.
Logbooks are legal documents requiring detailed entries that adhere to FAR 61.51(b), specifying maneuvers, ground instruction, and areas found deficient. Learners should actively participate in logging and consistently track their progress against certification requirements.
Instructor departures can significantly impact training continuity. CFIs should plan their exit and facilitate smooth transitions, while learners should manage expectations, insist on proper skill evaluations with new instructors, and know how to address logging gaps with former CFIs or the FSDO.

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Of all the challenges that arise from a flight instructor moving on to their next job, gaps left in a learner’s logbook are the most prevalent—and the most challenging.

Often the instructor leaves a space or empty line to record a dual instructional flight—or forgets to sign it off because the end of the lesson was hurried. Either the CFI, learner, or both had someplace else to be. There was the intention to sign off on the flight time later, but before this could happen the CFI moved on.