There is something about the thought of doing a flight review that makes pilots cringe as though they are talking about a trip to the dentist.
Per cFAR 61.56, a flight review usually consists of at least an hour of ground and one of flight, which isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things. Yet there are pilots who treat them with dread or look for a way to make it as painless as possible, such as the old “fly to lunch with my buddy who is a CFI, talk about flying for an hour, and get an endorsement” route.
While this satisfies the letter of the rule, it doesn’t do much for verifying a pilot’s skills.
Per 61.56, the flight review is done with a CFI every 24 calendar months (with a few exceptions) to allow a pilot to renew their certificate and keep their pilot privileges. The expiration date has a way of sneaking up on you. Suddenly that 24 calendar months have shrunk to a week, and there is a mad scramble to find a flight instructor and airplane to use to satisfy the requirements.
This sense of hurry up can continue at the flight school or FBO if the person who scheduled your flight review booked the CFI and the airplane for a two-hour slot. The two hours to accomplish the flight review is the absolute minimum, and there usually tends to be a feeling of being rushed.
If able, book the CFI for a three-hour window. Many flight schools are very good about juggling airplanes, having the CFI do the ground portion of the flight review while the aircraft is being used for a local flight.
Are You Due?
Double-check the date of the last endorsement you received. I stress this in the event your flight review involved several dual instruction sessions before you received the final endorsement.
- READ MORE: Experience by the Numbers Makes a Difference
Flying with a CFI won’t satisfy the flight review requirements unless the signed endorsement from the CFI, signifying the successful completion of the flight review, is in your logbook. The endorsement has specific language, so note that many logbooks have a special section for endorsements in the back or front. Double-check the preprinted endorsement with the current language as set forth in Advisory Circular 61.65. The current AC takes precedence.
If you rely on a rental aircraft, start shopping for a place to do your flight review at least two months in advance. Flight schools are that busy. It can be disheartening to learn the flight school you trained at under Part 61 X-number of years ago is now an academy-style Part 141 outfit, and all the resources are limited to enrolled clients only—no outside rentals. You may even have to travel a bit to find the airplane and CFI.
Alternatives to the Flight Review
If you are in the experience-building, certificate-acquiring phase of your pilot career, every time you complete a practical test for a new certificate or rating, it meets the requirements of a flight review. So if you get your private and commercial pilot certificate, instrument rating, multiengine rating, etc., it meets the requirements of a flight review, so the 24-month clock resets at the successful completion of the check ride.
If you are active in the FAA WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program, you can reset the clock by completing its phases in lieu of a flight review. There are online workshops that satisfy the ground requirement and flight activities that take care of the airwork.
If you are a professional pilot, your employer likely has a currency and proficiency program that makes a flight review redundant.
Keep in mind that CFIs are also required to comply with 61.56. You get busy logging hours with learners and don’t realize your expiration date is approaching. I stress this because I have been the CFI to show up extra early or stay late because a coworker didn’t realize he was about to turn into a pumpkin at midnight.
What to Expect
There is an advisory circular (AC 61-98E) that provides guidance for administering a flight review but does not have strict language dictating what a pilot or an instructor must do. For this reason, you will want to talk to the CFI and come up with a plan about what maneuvers and tasks you would like to perform.
Maybe it’s planning a short cross-country flight on your electronic flight bag (EFB) to a towered or nontowered airport (whichever kind you don’t usually fly to), or perhaps you’d like to work on short field approaches, or unusual attitudes, or even hood work if those instrument skills are a bit rusty or you are toying with the idea of getting your instrument rating.
There are some CFIs who do the ground portion first, just like a check ride. The professional CFI advises the client that they must present a level of knowledge appropriate to their certificate in order to fly. If the pilot doesn’t have or cannot recall the knowledge they should know, they should at least have an idea of where to look it up.
If the ground instruction eats up all the time, the flying will happen on another day. The CFI endorses the logbook for ground instruction given. To the CFIs: There are some clients who get cross when they do not present the knowledge level required, and you may never see them again.
Some CFIs split the ground portion into a briefing and discussion of the plan of action for the flight, then do the flight and make up the rest of the ground time required as part of the postflight debriefing used to discuss the client’s performance and any issues that need to be addressed before the endorsement can be given.
Unlike a check ride, you cannot fail a flight review. However, the instructor can decline to endorse the pilot for completion of a flight review if the pilot does not meet the metrics of the Airman Certification Standards. A little more instruction usually fixes this since there are no maximum hours of instruction for a flight review.
Sometimes pilots argue a maneuver or procedure or rule doesn’t apply to them because they never “stall their airplane,” “don’t fly on bad weather days,” or “don’t go into that airspace.” That doesn’t matter. If the knowledge and skill were required for pilot certification, you still need to know it.
Study First
Muscle memory comes back quickly—the knowledge is what escapes us.
Fortunately, there are commercially prepared materials that can be very helpful, (thank you, Aviation Supplies & Academics) or a review of the oral exam guide for the certificate you hold is also helpful. A few minutes of study every night a week before your flight review appointment should be useful.
If it has been more than a year since you exercised your PIC privileges, anticipate an average of 45 minutes to one hour of dual for each year of absence. It goes quickly, and usually it’s a lot of fun.
It will take time and money to get your wings back—but it will be worth it.
