How you teach the ground portion of the flight review

Wing_96

Wing_96

Well-Known Member
When you are teaching the ground portion of the flight review, how do you do it? Do you have an hour long Q & A session with the pilot? Do you just sit and discuss the material, or what?

I'm giving my first flight review soon, and I want to make sure that the pilot gets something out of it and I also want to be sure that he knows his stuff. I am trying to figure out how to accomplish both of those things.

Thanks in advance!
 
Back in the day, I would just sit down and have a chat with a sectional, AFD, and a FAR/AIM at my side. Really, I'd look at what type of flying this person has been doing, but I'd hit the basics of wx, airspace, taxiway signs, and ADIZ ops (since I was right there). Whether the pilot did a bunch of XC flying or local sight seeing, I figured those were the important points. Since the pilot could go to a busy, towered airport, I made sure to review the taxiway signage and maybe LAHSO, too.

The chat for an xc pilot would be about a notional flight from ABC to XYZ. We'd go into altitude, obstacle clearances, wx enroute, services, airspace, etc. If they didn't know, I'd ask them where to look. One thing that got many people was Surface-based E at an uncontrolled field.

It's not a stump-the-chump kind of thing. I just wanted to ensure they would be ok until somebody else signed them off.:nana2: The devil is in the details.
 
I reference AC 61-98. It gives you a brief checklist for flight reviews and IPCs. Definatley do some question asking. How long have you been flying, when was the last time you flew, what are you wanting to do after your check, etc... AOPA also has a good link on their webiste under flight trianing that shows what has changed over the last severa years since the pilot has flown last. It is a good tool to know what to review over.
 
I ask the pilot to do an online quiz before we meet. Pilot's decision whether open book or not. It covers enough different things that reviewing the asnwers with the pilot and using that review as a takeoff point for related discussion takes care of (at least) the required hour, even if you don't count the time the pilot spent answering. Add to that current "hot topics" and I think we've covered more than the essentials.

To take a look, my quiz is here:

http://www.midlifeflight.com/quiz/flight_review.htm
 
Midlife - love the quiz idea! Just a comment on two of the questions on there...

" Unless authorized by ATC, no aircraft may exceed this speed (in knots) below 10,000 MSL"

ATC can not waive the 250kts below 10,000 msl speed limit. Only the "administrator"/faa can - i.e. authorizing 250kts below 10k on MTRs and in MOAs, etc. [ref 91.117(a)]

"The speed limit (in knots) for an aircraft that is 2,500 AGL within 4 nautical miles of a class C or D airport is"

ATC can waive this one. [ref 91.117(b)]

Sec. 91.117 - Aircraft speed.
(a) Unless otherwise authorized by the Administrator, no person may operate an aircraft below 10,000 feet MSL at an indicated airspeed of more than 250 knots (288 m.p.h.).
(b) Unless otherwise authorized or required by ATC, no person may operate an aircraft at or below 2,500 feet above the surface within 4 nautical miles of the primary airport of a Class C or Class D airspace area at an indicated airspeed of more than 200 knots (230 mph.). This paragraph (b) does not apply to any operations within a Class B airspace area. Such operations shall comply with paragraph (a) of this section.
(c) No person may operate an aircraft in the airspace underlying a Class B airspace area designated for an airport or in a VFR corridor designated through such a Class B airspace area, at an indicated airspeed of more than 200 knots (230 mph).
(d) If the minimum safe airspeed for any particular operation is greater than the maximum speed prescribed in this section, the aircraft may be operated at that minimum speed.
 
Midlife - love the quiz idea! Just a comment on two of the questions on there...

" Unless authorized by ATC, no aircraft may exceed this speed (in knots) below 10,000 MSL"

ATC can not waive the 250kts below 10,000 msl speed limit. Only the "administrator"/faa can - i.e. authorizing 250kts below 10k on MTRs and in MOAs, etc. [ref 91.117(a)]

"The speed limit (in knots) for an aircraft that is 2,500 AGL within 4 nautical miles of a class C or D airport is"

ATC can waive this one. [ref 91.117(b)]

Sec. 91.117 - Aircraft speed.
(a) Unless otherwise authorized by the Administrator, no person may operate an aircraft below 10,000 feet MSL at an indicated airspeed of more than 250 knots (288 m.p.h.).
(b) Unless otherwise authorized or required by ATC, no person may operate an aircraft at or below 2,500 feet above the surface within 4 nautical miles of the primary airport of a Class C or Class D airspace area at an indicated airspeed of more than 200 knots (230 mph.). This paragraph (b) does not apply to any operations within a Class B airspace area. Such operations shall comply with paragraph (a) of this section.
(c) No person may operate an aircraft in the airspace underlying a Class B airspace area designated for an airport or in a VFR corridor designated through such a Class B airspace area, at an indicated airspeed of more than 200 knots (230 mph).
(d) If the minimum safe airspeed for any particular operation is greater than the maximum speed prescribed in this section, the aircraft may be operated at that minimum speed.
 
Thanks for the post Midlife. I was thinking about giving some sort of quiz, but I didn't know if that was a good approach or not, but it seemed like a good place to start. I was just curious how everybody else teaches the ground portion of the flight review.

TGrayson, where are you? You usually provide me with some good insight too. :)
 
Wing_96 said:
TGrayson, where are you? You usually provide me with some good insight too.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't feel that I had anything to add to this subject. I find the ground for flight reviews mind-numbingly boring. I figure what bores me, bores the student. Because it makes me boring. :rolleyes:

I try to incorporate things that I find interesting, but aren't exactly what's supposed to be covered on flight reviews. For instance, I went over thrust and drag curves for one student, who had a particular interest in clipped wing cubs. I showed him how the curves showed a higher speed for best glide and a higher stall speed, and asked if if that was really true of clipped wing cubs. He agreed that it was, and copied down the name of the aerodynamics book that I had previously recommended to him. (And he read it.)

For another student, I went over power curves, and he giggled the entire time, because he found what I was teaching him very bizarre.

Another time, I brought in a stack of FAA letters of interpretation and used them to show how the regs were often more complicated than they appeared.

If I were going to do a lot of flight reviews, I would probably use it as an excuse to go over a lot of stuff that PPL's tend to struggle with. Sectionals ain't it. Aircraft performance charts? Density altitude calculations? Maneuvering speed? How about looking at NTSB reports and discussing what pilots did wrong?

Whatever YOU find interesting can probably be made interesting for the student.
 
I also use the PTS for their rating level. That way they cannot argue about what they may see as my unfair questions/standards. By using a PTS, I am only holding them accountable for their level. No more, no less. Plus, all I have to do is ask them things from the book. If it is not in there, I do not ask. As I ask questions, I can generally figure out what areas we need to cover more in depth.
 
ClearedToThe said:
Midlife - love the quiz idea! Just a comment on two of the questions on there...
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm always glad to have comments, whether it be correcting errors or suggestions for new questions (I have pilots who have taken the quiz already coming up for reviews, so a second version is a bit overdue).
 
Wing_96 said:
Thanks for the post Midlife. I was thinking about giving some sort of quiz, but I didn't know if that was a good approach or not, but it seemed like a good place to start. I was just curious how everybody else teaches the ground portion of the flight review.
Click to expand...
Another quiz option is to have a pilot take one of the AOPA ASF online quizzes (AOPA membership not required).

Obviously, I think quizzes are an excellent approach. Apparently so does the FAA. Student pilots must take one pre-solo. All pilots must take one as a pre-requisite to a certificate or rating. CFIs take them for renewals.
 
ASA makes a handbook called "The Guide to the Biennial Flight Review." It is very similar to the oral prep guides for private, instrument, etc. It is a pretty good base to use to quiz the individual. The sections are laid out nicely & you can tailor it from there to whatever type of flying the individual does. It serves as a pretty good checklist for covering a wide array of info in a condensed time frame. And, it's relatively cheap! About $12 I think.
 
I like the quiz, I think I'll add that to my list of things to go over with folks looking for a flight review.

I usually have them plan a cross-country flight to a location that requires some decision making (over water, direct routes through MOAs, Class B airspace, w&b, remote areas, etc...) and use that as a jumping off point to cover airspace, performance, wx, regs, fuel requirements, personal minimums, etc....

In the past I've suggested the AOPA courses or AvWeb's quizzes as homework. I still do, although experience has shown that most folks put in a minimum amount of preparation.

Another useful and interesting approach has been to go really deep on aircraft systems and performance. This works surprisingly well, even with something as simple as a 172.

I like to cover things like electrical system failures and high draw/low draw items (i.e., what would you turn off if the charging system failed and why) and have them come up with a load shedding schedule, takeoff performance at high DAs, etc... Folks have really found this interesting and it's a good review on my part as well.

My generic guide to my flight review process is at http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/flight_review.html in case anybody cares.
 
It depends on what we are doing. I've done tail wheel endorsements, high performance endorsements, and spin training that were also flight reviews.
Generally I will start by getting their aviation background. I will have them take the FAA Flight Review Prep Guide (http://www.faasafety.gov/gslac/ALC/courses_tableofcontents.aspx)
I will also give them an aircraft specific POH test, or a general POH test if I don't have one for their aircraft.
As with Mark, I will also have them take one of the ASF courses; usually around here the first one will be the Mountain Course if they have not taken it. Depending on what we are doing, maybe one or two of the ASF 10 question quizzes as well, or another one I have (such as a quiz on stalls and spins; tail wheel operations; operation of a constant speed prop). Unfortunately I'm not as web savvy as Mark, so I email my quizzes.
Finally, as with Will, I will give them a cross country that requires some thought... such as KSAF-KELP in the middle of the summer at maximum gross weight.
Usually the above items will create enough questions for ground. Again, as with Will I may cover some aircraft specific systems, such as an analysis of different failures with the G1000 if that is in their aircraft.
Finally, I recommend to pilots that they do something at least once a year that counts as a Flight Review, and try to do it with different instructors.
 
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