Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

CFI Checkride – Manual Flight Plan / Log vs Computer-Generated

Asked by: 2075 views Flight Instructor

CFI checkride soon- should I prepare a "hand-spun" flight log for a notional XC as part of my lesson plan? Alternatively, could I present a commercially-produced, wx-optimized computer-generated flight log? For context (and for the peanut gallery) I'm a career USAF C-130 Navigator so I have no trouble explaining the concepts of air navigation, just simply wondering if there's "value added" in arts/crafts show-and-tell for the DPE while we all know 99.69% of pilots today use skyvector/AOPA/FF to generate their flight log/fuel plan. Thanks in advance dudes/dudettes.   

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Aug 15, 2019

    To answer your question, we have to take a look at the Private ACS and Flight Instructor PTS.

    The Private ACS contains a task titled Cross Country Flight Planning. It uses terms such as prepare and create. This suggests to me that the applicant needs to plan the flight, rather than entering the departure & destination into a computer and pressing Enter.

    The Flight Instructor PTS also contains a task dealing with Flight Planning. The objective is “To determine that the applicant exhibits instructional knowledge of the elements of navigation and flight planning by describing:” a list of items.

    The intent during a Flight Instructor test is not for you to be able to produce a charted course, navlog and flight plan, but to teach an aspiring pilot how to do it (or if you will, the steps followed by the computer to generate the end product).

    Many people (not you in particular) approach the Flight Instructor practical test as a Commercial practical test flown from the right seat. It is not.

    The oral should proceed along the lines of (for example) the DPE giving a scenario, such as “I am a Junior in high school who aspires to be an airline pilot.” and then asking the applicant to teach the subject of Flight Planning & Navigation (or whatever other task the DPE selects).

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Gary S. on Aug 15, 2019

    Sounds pretty good, Kris. Personally, if it were me, I wouldn’t mind asking the examiner beforehand what he likes to see. Above all what he’ll be looking for is an applicant’s ability to teach a beginner. It’s the teaching ability that’s important here.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.