Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Flight Review and CFI renewal

Asked by: 10452 views , , ,
FAA Regulations, Flight Instructor

FIRC courses can take the place of the flight review oral...question: timeframe--is the BFR considered complete when the last thing is done? for example, could the FIRC be completed a month after the flight portion of the BFR? ...and vice versa...

there seems to be little in the way of wording regarding simultaneousness...

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.

3 Answers



  1. Wes Beard on Sep 14, 2012

    The CFI doing the flight review has to make sure you are up to speed on the flying part and non-flying part of aviation. If you attended a FIRC before the flight review (it’s no longer called a BFR), I, as the instructor, would ask questions throughout the flight portion to ensure you are able to recall and apply what you need to know to be a safe pilot.

    If you attended the FIRC after the flight review and insisted that the ground portion will be covered once the FIRC is complete, I would not sign you off for your flight review. The regulations are pretty clear… at least one hour ground or FIRC (for a CFI) and at least one hour flight. I couldn’t legally or morally give you my signature until I know that you will be a safe pilot. If you came back to me after attending the FIRC looking for my signature I would have to sit down with you and make sure you can recall the regulations and other safety of flight issues and apply them to a situation you may encounter. Most likely take around one hour.

    This is what I would do… other instructors may be more lenient than I am.

    -1 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 1 Votes



  2. Matthew Waugh on Sep 14, 2012

    There is, as far as I could find, nothing that really specifies. But as you can read in Wes’s response – eventually a CFI has to put their name to an endorsement – and that’s where the rubber meets the road.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Bob Watson on Sep 14, 2012

    I’ve gone up for my flight review after passing a FIRC for my last couple of flight reviews. Typically, they have gone something like this: “I see you have a FIRC certificate, let’s go flying.” Then throughout the flight the CFI will be asking questions about regs as different situations present themselves just as Wes describes. I suspect that if I’d given the CFI any cause to be concerned, we would have spent some time on the ground after the flight to review those concerns.

    Even with a FIRC cert. there’s nothing to say the CFI couldn’t spend 20,30, or 40 minutes reviewing your knowledge. The reg just says you don’t need an hour.

    -1 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 1 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.