Matthew Waugh
Your flight review, required every 2 years under 14 CFR 61-56 unless you meet the
exceptions, is not a check ride or a test. It’s supposed to be a training flight with a CFI in
which you review your flying knowledge and skills At the end of that period of training
your CFI will endorse your logbook with the completion of the Flight Review and you’ll
be good to go for the next couple of years.
For more information obtain a copy of the Advisory Circular 61-98A (AC61-98A).
If you approach your Flight Review with the attitude that you have nothing to learn, you
probably won’t learn anything, and believe me, you do have something to learn, I can
guarantee that. If you approach the Flight Review as a test you risk making it an
adversarial process with your CFI and make the learning process difficult, at best. If you
approach the Flight Review with the idea that you only need to do one every 2 years, well
you’re missing the opportunity to spend some more regular time with a CFI and brush up
your skills and maybe learn some more.
Content of the Flight Review
The FAA’s guidelines for Flight Reviews only require that you spend 1 hour in Ground
Instruction and 1 hour in Flight Instruction and, for most pilots this should be sufficient.
However, if you haven’t flown in a while or if you haven’t down any proficiency work in
a while it may take a little longer.
Preparation
Take some time to read through 14 CFR Parts 61 and 91 that are relevant to you. If you
have a Commercial or ATP certificate you might also want to dig into the other parts of
the regulations that are relevant to you. Spend some time reading through the Airman’s
Information Manual covering the sections pertinent to your type of flying. Get a copy of
FAR/AIM 2003 if you don’t have one. Spend some time with a chart looking over the
various types of airspace and refreshing your knowledge of the chart legend.
If you like the short version of the kind of information you should know for your Flight
Review consider obtaining a copy of Guide to the Biennial Flight Review: Complete
Preparation for Issuing or Taking a flight Review.
You should also think about what you’d like to get from your Flight Review. If you
haven’t done much proficiency flying lately then you’re going to need to cover the basics,
but if you’ve been flying regularly and keeping current and in practice then you may want
to use the opportunity of the Flight Review to work on something new or different. If
you’re a Private Pilot ask your instructor about Chandelles, Lazy Eights of Eights on
Pylons as different maneuvers you could spend some time learning.
More importantly understand what your CFI will expect during the Flight Review. Will
your instructor be the all knowing inquisitor barking out questions and watching you
struggle or will they use the time to work with you to ensure your knowledge is complete
but accept that we’re all human. In the flight portion does your instructor want to act like
an examiner and snap out a maneuver and expect you to perform it to check ride
standards or are they more interested making sure that you’re a safe pilot with emphasis
on safety and not check ride techniques.
While you’re getting a clear understanding of your flight instructor’s expectations, make
sure your instructor is clear on your expectations as well.
Ground Training
The ground portion of the Flight Review will be a minimum of an hour. It’ll cover the
regulations, aircraft performance and limitations, communications, navigation aids and
flight planning. If you have questions about anything then this is the time to bring them
up.
Flight Training
Unless you’ve been regularly flying with this instructor then expect to cover the following
topics on on your flight training.
• Normal, Short and Soft field Takeoff and Landing.
• Slow Flight
• Stalls
• Steep Turns
• Flight by Reference to Instruments
• Emergency Procedures and Approaches
More Information
For more information on preparing for a flight review try these links:
• http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/sa03.html
• http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/1997/mos9701.html
Flight Review with Me
If I’m working with you on your flight review I’m interested in making sure you leave our
time together having learnt something new, with some things to think about and satisfied
with the process. During the flight portion I’m not interested in your knowledge of the
procedures for slow flight or for inducing a stall, these are procedures for check rides. I
am interested in your ability to fly the plane in slow flight and in your ability to recover
from stalls etc. I’ll talk you through the process to enter a stall, but you should know and
execute the recovery procedures without prompting.
If you have trouble with any of the maneuvers we’ll work on them until we’re satisfied
with the results. If I say I’m satisfied but you’re not, say so, we’ll keep working. If you’re
satisfied and I’m not, expect to keep working on them!
For an example of the Flight Review checklist I use.