The Great CFI Lesson Plan Debate

Is it OK for flight instructors to buy lesson plans? Or should they come up with their own?

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 01:26 PM ET

Verified

An instructor and a student preflight a Cessna 152 before a lesson. [Credit: Richard Steiger]

Key Takeaways:

Lesson plans are a mandatory component for CFI candidates (FAR 61.185), serving as a critical tool for organizing instruction, demonstrating preparedness to examiners, and facilitating effective teaching.
An effective lesson plan should logically structure content, including objectives, required resources, instructor and learner actions, common errors, and completion standards, always aligning with current airman certification standards.
CFI candidates face a choice between creating lesson plans from scratch, which aids in personal learning and teaching skill development, or using and adapting premade plans, with the caveat that premade plans must be verified for accuracy and completeness.
It is crucial for lesson plans to be current and adaptable (digital formats are easier to update), and instructors should always back up their materials and avoid relying on outdated "inherited" resources.

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One of the most polarizing discussions among CFI candidates is the topic of lesson plans. Specifically, should you make your own? Or is it OK to purchase premade lesson plans from a third-party provider?

Aeronautical Knowledge for CFIs

FAR 61.185 lists the aeronautical knowledge required for flight instructors. There you will find it written that the person applying for a flight instructor certificate is to receive and log ground training from an authorized instructor, and that ground training will include the learning process, elements of effective teaching, student evaluation and testing course development, lesson planning, and classroom training techniques. It’s all there in black and white—lesson planning.