Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Was a CFI, lost medical, now want AGI…

Asked by: 4243 views Flight Instructor

I have a Flight Instructor Certificate with CFIA, CFII, and MEI ratings, however it expired quite a few years ago along with my medical certificate due to having a benign brain tumor removed. Consequently, I lost my medical certificate and my Instructor ratings eventually expired. I have worked continuously for a major 121 airline as a pilot ground school instructor before, during and after my brain surgery. Now here's my dilema and question; I recently had a co-worker and friend offer me part time work teaching advanced ground school courses with him at a local community college. He believes I will need to obtain my AGI/IGI to be legally qualified (and I'm unsure). Now, I know that a Flight Instructor Certificate, (especially CFII & MEI) qualifies in-leu of the appropriate Ground Instructor certificates (AGI/IGI) so long as currency requirements are met (delivered ground training within the past 12 calendar months, etc.) But I'm unsure if my 121 job qualifies toward that requirement. And therefore unsure if my original Flight Instructor certificate is still good for teaching GA ground school courses?

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. Wes Beard on Feb 23, 2014

    The 121 instructor info is irrelevant to what you need to teach ground school classes. If it is a Part 141 school you will need to have an AGI for private, commercial and ATP ground schools and an IGI for instrument ground schools.

    If the school is a Part 61 school then you really don’t need anything except you cannot sign students off for the practical test. You may not be able to sign off the aeronautical knowledge areas either but that is typically covered again with their CFI.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Ray Salmon on Feb 25, 2014

    Your CFI is expired. That means you may not exercise any privileges of that certificate (including providing ground instruction) until it is renewed. A CFI can only be renewed (once expired) by passing a practical test.

    The currency requirements you mentioned are for the holders of Ground Instructor certificates and are not applicable in any way to the holder of a flight instructor certificate (who does not also hold a Ground Instructor Certificate). The only correlation is that both CFIs and GIs may give ground instruction within the privileges and limitations of their respective certificates. Additionally, for someone who holds BOTH CGI and CFI, the regulations allow for exercising the privileges of a CFI to keep the CGI current, but it cannot happen the other way around.

    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.