The AOPA’s Air Safety Institute (ASI) has launched its long-awaited Focused Flight Review designed to offer pilots a more individualized opportunity to sharpen their skills, proficiency and knowledge through the use of carefully designed flight scenarios.
The association acknowledges that flying with an instructor every two years is sometimes the only opportunity some pilots take for any recurrent training although FAR Part 61.56 does not limit the amount of additional training a pilot might request from their local CFI. The trick for any instructor however, is organizing a session that’s both comprehensive and interesting, work that many CFIs simply don’t have the time to plan.
The ASI worked with industry partners to create the Focused Flight Review as a series of ready-to-use scenarios complete with preflight study material and flight profiles that focus on a variety of familiar operational areas such as stick-and-rudder skills, decision making, understanding of aircraft operating envelopes, technologies, aircraft performance capabilities and loss-of-control avoidance.
The flight profiles and preflight study resources are downloadable as pdf files and include Positive Aircraft Control; Weather and CFIT (controlled flight into terrain); Fuel, Engine, and Other Systems; Instrument Proficiency; Takeoffs, Landings, and Go-Arounds; and Mountain and Backcountry Flying.
The ASI wants pilots and instructors who use the new flight review system to tell the folks in Frederick if they’re working, so each scenario offers a feedback link. Use of ASI scenarios will also qualify pilots for credit under the FAA Proficiency Wings program.
