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Is an instrument rating required to be a CFI?

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Flight Instructor

Is it mandatory or required, or just a good idea, to have an IFR Rating in order to become a CFI SEL? part 61.183? A Commercial license is required, but I get different answers to my question and the FAR's State the student must have 3 hours of training in straight and level flight, turns etc. is that a secret code for IFR training?

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2 Answers



  1. Matthew Waugh on Jul 27, 2010

    Refer to 61.183(2) – an instrument rating is required under a set of circumstances, and CFI-SEL is one of those requiring the rating.

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  2. Earl Kessler on Jan 18, 2011

    The old FARs allowed CFIs to be rated without an instrument ticket, but those have been changed a long time ago.  I recently trained one of those CFIs spouses for the required instrument portion of her private pilot ticket since he never got an instrument ticket to become a CFI many years before.

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