Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Is a practical test considered to be flight training?

Asked by: 2676 views , ,
FAA Regulations

Suppose your airplane's ELT is inoperative, and you have been flying the airplane in flight training operations within 50 miles of the base airport per 91.207(f)(3): "(3) Aircraft while engaged in training operations conducted entirely within a 50-nautical mile radius of the airport from which such local flight operations began;"

Can you use this airplane on a practical test? That is, is the practical test considered to be "flight training operations" and thus covered by 91.207(f)(3)? Or would the ELT need to be working, or removed as permitted in subparagraph (10)?

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.

1 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Nov 13, 2016

    I think you are misreading the regulation. 91.207(f)(3) allows one to operate an aircraft without an ELT being installed. You have stated that there is an ELT installed, but it is inoperative. 91.207(f)(10) deals with an inoperative ELT. It allows an aircraft to be operated for a period up to 90 days with the ELT removed for repair or replacement.

    As to the practical test, Order 8900.2 explicitly forbids the examiner from providing any instruction during the practical test. As you cannot provide yourself with instruction, how could a practical test be considered flight training? If you have any doubt as to the meaning of “flight training”, there is a definition in 61.1(b).

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 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.