Can a group ground school be used for the oral portion of a BFR under 61.56 with a different instructor doing the flight portion?

5 Answers

1. 
   

   
   

   Wes Beard on May 02, 2011

   The regulations require 1hr min of ground and 1hr min of flight time.  It says nothing about one instructor having to perform both ground and flight.  The ground instructor would sign off the ground portion in the logbook and the flight instructor would sign off the flight and the flight review endorsement.
    
   There is also nothing about group work in the ground portion per the regulations.  I would caution as this doesn’t really fit the intent of the regulation.

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2. 
   

   
   

   Lance on May 02, 2011

   Just an opinion, but I would probably not allow it for me to sign off a flight review.  For a couple reasons, the first being that the intent is to check your knowledge, and I have no way of knowing exactly what was covered in your group ground school, if you understood everything that was being taught, and whether or not you paid attention.  The second reason is that the actual endorsement comes from me, not jointly from myself and your ground instructor, so by me giving that endorsement, I am signing a statement stating that I have personally checked this.

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   MaggotCFII on May 03, 2011

   Negative on the “different instructor”.
   61-56(c)(2) states:
   “(2) A logbook endorsed from an authorized instructor who gave the review certifying that the person has satisfactorily completed the review.”
   (a) states:
   “(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (f) of this section, a flight review consists of a minimum of 1 hour of flight training and 1 hour of ground training.”
   From (2) “an authorized instructor who gave the review” appears that sole authorized instructor performs both tasks required by the review.
    
    

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   John D. Collins on May 03, 2011

   I am certainly not an expert on this matter, but I too would not be willing to sign off a flight review unless I had given the ground instruction for the reasons Lance offered.  My reading of FAR 61.56 which says in part “A logbook endorsed from an authorized instructor who gave the review certifying that the person has satisfactorily completed the review” suggests that a single instructor needs to certify that the person has satisfactorily completed the entire review.  The recommended endorsement reads “I certify that (first Name, MI, Last name), (pilot certificate), (certificate number) has satisfactorily completed a flight review of 61.56 (a) on (date). Reading AC 61-98A that provides FAA guidance to instructors on how to conduct a flight review, there is no mention of breaking the review up into a ground portion and a flight portion by different instructors.  If the FAA intended the flight review to be able to be provided by the combination of multiple instructors, in my opinion, they would have said so, and would have detailed things such as the ground portion of the review had to be completed within some time period of the flight review.  There is one exception to the ground training requirement that applies to flight instructors, but it eliminates the ground training requirement rather than split it up, and it has a time period specified.

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   Matthew Waugh on May 03, 2011

   You can get a review from different instructors. The old Part 61 FAQ supports that and provides the endorsements you’d use. The ground instructor endorses the ground instruction, the flight instructor endorses the flight portion. That’s it – you’ve met the requirements of a Flight Review – you don’t ACTUALLY need an endorsement for the whole flight review.
    
   I don’t see the problem with group instruction, there is no requirement that it be individual instruction. So if it’s not disallowed it’s allowed.
    
   I understand how some people are reading the regulation to require an instructor endorsement for the entire review, but thats in section (c) and you could argue that the endorsement (2) relates only to the flight review mentioned in section (1).
    
   A flight instructor is NEVER required to provide an endorsement, it’s pretty much always their right to withold an endorsement if they choose to, so any instructor is within their rights to insist that they provide both the ground and flight portion – but that doesn’t make it required by regulation.
    
   I agree (as would My. Lynch from the the FAQ) that the regulation is not clear, but he pretty much bases his interpretation on “it’s not disallowed”. In the end, you want a clear answer, ask the Chief Counsel for a ruling (I couldn’t find one if there is one already).

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