Author: David St. George

Our last blog post was a contribution from Rod Machado profiling “Bad Flight Instructors.” Though the majority of CFIs are hard-working, mostly underpaid, and diligent, there are some amazing abuses in our industry. The article before that examined our 80% drop out rate in aviation education. Both of these posts inspired a firestorm of comment and speculation. And all this comment and concern is wonderful news!  We obviously have many dedicated pilots and educators with a real passion to fix problems in aviation education. Some very successful aviation educators and schools are succeeding so well they reported “no completion problems” and are models for the rest of us to learn from. IN this post I hope to extract some of the goodness from all these posts and comments (especially the successful educators) and generalize some “best practices” that can help all of us be more successful in aviation education. Our next several posts will be on aviation educator professionalism.

From what I have seen and heard, what we need first in aviation is better honesty throughout the flight training industry. Flying is clearly expensive and it takes a commitment of time and effort to succeed. Accomplishment in aviation is not a sprint but requires sustained effort and a lifetime commitment to learning. This fact argues directly with our current social climate of immediate gratification. Industry improvement and each instructional session requires a serious initial discussion to both sell the value of safe flying practices and make clear the rewards of this total accomplishment. Honest aviation has little use for a fast superficial flight courses; selling “faster, cheaper” is just not part of the serious aviation formula for long-term success. An honest assessment of value will interest the proper people and cull out many “tire kickers” for whom flying is “cool” but too much work or expense. Offering discounted (or free) initial lessons without revealing the true cost and effort involved in learning to fly is not a sustainable solution.

One FaceBook posting advocated a new definition of STEM  for aviation education; Study-Time-Energy-Money. Indeed, aviation requires all these things and some personal grit and resilience. Additionally, the personality trait of PIC, being in charge, is difficult for many people raised in our modern culture, to develop and sustain. There is a lot of discipline and responsibility required to be successful in aviation. And the payback is not immediate gratification but hard won achievement. For those who persist (currently the 20%) it provides amazing rewards and satisfaction. We need to discuss these traits and the full process with potential students before we get fully involved.

It was also clear from all the postings and comments (and again from the highly-valuable AOPA polling) that a caring compassionate CFI is an essential component for motivating and retaining flight students. Those students lucky enough to discover this knowledgeable and compassionate CFI will stick out the tough times and progress faster. If this lucky chemistry is not available, a caring aviation mentor or some club camaraderie is a wonderful buffer for getting through the difficult setbacks and plateaus we all know occur in aviation. Learning to fly is not always an easy journey. Greg Brown, who wrote the original (and newly updated) Savvy Flight Instructor, curates a very active FaceBook site assisting aviation students with their struggles and problems. From the amazing activity on this site I would guess Greg is donating his full time to assist aviation students. Compassionate people like this will surely go to aviation heaven.

Rod Machado has analyzed current IACRA data and revealed the average number of hours for completion of a private pilot certificate in the US is now at 105 hours (2.5 times the FAA minimum). But in one online forum an experienced (and busy) CFI is regularly educating fully competent, safe pilots that pass their flight tests in 40-45 hours. This veteran CFI had definitely “cracked the code” and I spent some time analyzing his success so we all could benefit.

This successful educator insisted on an honest, up front interview about the costs, effort and duration of the process of learning to fly. Again, this saves everyone time and disappointment. (If you do not have enough pilot candidates to be honest, I will reveal a way to double your intake in a future blog post!)  Another element of his method was including future assessments along the way and an honest, no guilt termination if the project looked like it was not going to work for either party. We all know some people just do not have the required skills, aptitude or judgment to become safe pilots. A serious professional must terminate training when it is obvious it is not going to work. Too many CFIs and schools avoid this discussion because of the emotional pain (or financial incentive to continue) and end up perpetuating a losing battle. This dishonest practice always ends up ugly and painful for everyone.

Another important element gleaned of this CFI’s amazing success was the benefit of years of experience so he could efficiently convey the important and necessary skills and knowledge elements. And though aviation education is not rocket science it does take time on task to become an efficient flight educator. (not *quite* the 10,ooo hour rule of Anders Ericcson but close) To speed up this process and become a pro CFI faster, a good relationship with your local DPE is highly recommended. Most DPEs are desperate to help eager, honest CFIs learn the necessary elements to successful flying and teaching. They will always share “what went right (or wrong)” with curious recommending CFIs. The key to receiving this valuable feedback is being emotionally mature enough to receive the good (and bad) news. As a CFI you will still be learning every day you teach. Some of this is technical knowledge but most is psychological techniques and pedagogical skills. I guarantee your passing percentages as a CFI will improve if you learn to listen and grow your basic teaching skills. I highly recommend this book (not in the FAA CFI list) for all serious educators.

A final element of CFI success is always using a shared flight syllabus so both student and CFI have a clear road map of skills and elements clearly laid out and leading to the final flight test. The famous question “Who are you and what are we doing today?” would be the ultimate sign of disaster for any flight student. (Review again the Ralph Hood video of the “evil flight instructor video”) Every instructional episode must have a clearly defined plan with the lesson and instructional elements clearly stated. Aviation is too expensive to squander useless hours in the air wandering around without a plan. If you are a student and your CFI is not using a syllabus RUN AWAY…you are wasting your money! If you are a CFI and do not have a syllabus, here are some resources for you.

Being a flight educator at any level is a huge responsibility. To just keep each flight operation safe is a large and time-consuming mandate. To additionally teach in this distracting environment and allow your student to make small self-correcting errors is challenging. This task requires experience and supreme organization. To this end, an efficient ground school and complete pre and post briefings are essential to reducing the total hours in training. It should be mandatory before going airborne, that every element is discussed and understood. The real goodness of a lesson comes after the flying with a thorough debrief. In this calm time after each lesson the student and educator can mutually determine the essence and meaning of each success and develop a plan for improvement and “next steps”. This review is essential so each student can personally code their experiences into meaningful insights for future success. A thorough debrief also keeps both student and instructor motivation charged up and moving toward improvement and future goals.

From what I hear/see online and in all the flight schools and CFIs I visit, some parts of this ideal process are usually violated when we witness unsuccessful pilot candidates or excessive hours to completion. Revisit the Rod Machado blog on the “bad CFI” soliciting reader input. Let’s fix all these unsuccessful practices and commit to keeping every honestly dedicated aviation student in the process and make sure they reach their goals in aviation. Your feedback and techniques are eagerly solicited here. We need every (safe) pilot!

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I’m curious about your experience with bad flight instructors and hope you’ll add to this blog with  your comments. Of course, most flight instructors do a fantastic job. I just can’t say that LOUD enough: Most flight instructors do a fantastic job! But unfortunately, not all do. And when they don’t, they cause a lot of damage to the flight training industry. So I’m curious if you’ve ever experienced a really bad flight instructor. Did this person scream a lot? Hit you with a sectional chart? Or a “whack” chart? Did he or she make calls and text friends while giving you dual? Call you a nasty name? Talk about you behind your back while standing in front of you? Overcharge you? Did this person drink or smoke while flying with you? Humiliate you? Berate you? Belittle you? Tell me about what he or she did or didn’t do. Spare no details.
The main reason I’m posting these initial responses to my query is to make sure that anyone interested in flight training recognize bad instructor behavior and then do something about it. Specifically, find another instructor. And, if at all possible, give the bad instructor some good feedback on how his or her behavior can rub an entire city the wrong way.
Then again, there’s an old Chinese saying that goes as follows: It’s better to spend three years looking for a good instructor than spend just three minutes with a bad one. This always sounds better when spoken by an old Chinese person, but you get the point, right?

Here are some responses to my query (unedited): 

Adam: First 5 or so flights he failed to notice I never touched the trim wheel once I set for take off for the entire flight. I had larger than normal control pressures because of never using trim. He also was so desperate for flight time he found any excuse to keep the Hobbs meter running like being overly courteous in letting other airplanes taxi, take off and land in front of us.

John: Okay, let’s start with going under the hood on my first lesson. I had no clue what vertigo was, and the CFI never told me. All he did was scream at me and tell my what a loser I was for not being able to hold my heading.

Chris:  I know a couple in Caldwell NJ that specialize in keeping as quiet as they can during dual training so you have to keep flying and flying in order to get the knowledge you need. They will only “release” you until they have milked you enough to be evident. Stuff like getting a BFR for them represent milking a sucker -like me apparently- for no less than 10 hrs until we are fed up and go to another place and get the damn BFR done in one day.

Jim: I had a younger CFI wen I was going through Multi Commercial. We were flying over congested area and that’s when he said, “My plane” and began doing barrel rolls in our Seminole. I took the aircraft back and told him I would throw his happy ass out of the airplane if he ever even attempted something so stupid. I was serious!

Jeffrey: I had one CFI try to teach me how to roll a Cessna 172 as a Primary Student. It was poorly executed and scared me into finding another instructor. The first instructor later had a gear-up landing in a twin and it freaked him out and he quit flying for many years until he recently reached out to me to see if I knew of any flying jobs. I couldn’t think of any I would recommend him for.

David: The only bad CFI I’ve had was the one who gave my first BFR back around 1978. He was a recent grad of an instructor mill. We got into the C-150 and I while running the checklist I noticed he had not put on his shoulder harness (this was before wearing them was mandatory). Thinking he was razzing me, I asked if he was going to put on the shoulder harness and he said “No”. Thinking he was still razzing me I asked him “Wait a minute, who’s the pilot in command here?” His response? “I am”. At this point I’d had enough and I told him “No you’re not. There’s nothing were going to do in this airplane that I am not qualified and current to do. Either you put on that shoulder harness, or I find myself a new instructor”. He put on the harness, we flew the review, he signed me off and I *never* flew with him again!

This is an open-ended blog that continues here!

Rod Machado is a professional aviation speaker who delights his listeners with upbeat and lively presentations. His unusual talent for simplifying the difficult and adding humor to make the lessons stick has made him a popular lecturer both in and out of aviation. Rod speaks on both aviation and non-aviation topics, including risk assessment, IFR charts, aviation weather, in-flight emergencies, and safety awareness. He has over 10,000 hours of flight experience earned the hard way—one CFI hour at a time.  He also holds degrees in aviation science and psychology. His blog has a special section with free tools created specifically for CFIs.

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It is amazing our aviation industry has survived this long while sustaining an amazing 80% drop out rate. Only one person in five actually makes it from first walking in the door of a flight school to becoming a certified pilot. The other four people end up discouraged and spread bad news about our process of learning to fly. And it gets even worse because we also know that after certification another 80% of new pilots fly very seldom or stop flying all together within two years. It seems as an industry we are failing as educators? I would be curious to see retention data for other challenging recreational activities.

I know the common and easy explanation is blaming “the rising cost of modern aviation” but we also see many people spending scads of money on all kinds of expensive recreational toys. Quads, boats and RVs seem to be flying off the shelves (and admittedly require no training courses). Also, two other observations argue against the simple cost theory. First, in real dollars learning to fly is actually *cheaper* than when I learned in 1970 (though admittedly the cost of planes is *way* up). Second, AOPA’s extensive polling on this subject among students at all levels puts financial considerations something like 7th in picking a flight training operation. Cost is a dominant negative factor but only when people perceive they are not getting a good value for their money and there seems to be no real concern for their personal progress and success.

For more detail, read this report  that AOPA generated from extensive data gathered from students at all levels. They discovered students highly value excellent instructors with a professional concern and involvement. An active social environment, camaraderie and a sense of caring are also very important positive factors to students. And notice, these are the “soft skills”, not the expensive hardware and gizmos that drive up a flight school’s expenses. With minimal investment we should be able to provide a better learning environment, more fun and keep people engaged. Sit back and think for a moment about *your* flying experience and your pilot group. Are they welcoming and professional? Does your tribe actively seek out and gather interested new people? Can we grow aviation?

This (admittedly ancient) Ralph Hood tape is an obvious exaggeration, but as people in the industry we also have to confess, it contains a lot of truth. We do not do “customer service” well in aviation. Take a look at this video and I bet you will recognize some characters from your local airport.

The 2016 AOPA Excellence Poll was published recently and we are very proud that our SAFE member Brenda Tibbs is the National #1 CFI based the AOPA criteria and the enormous feedback they gather. You will notice she is not a multi-hour veteran but instead a fairly new CFI, starting a new flight school business. The ratings from AOPA, based on extensive research, highly value customer feedback in many areas. Technical subject matter mastery is surely important, but it also investigates the value of “soft skills’ like communication and motivation…again the glue that binds students to aviation when the learning can be a struggle.

So moving forward, how can we build a better flight training environment and reduce our aviation attrition rate? Lots of things have not changed since this video was made in the 90s. I personally think it would help to train compassion and caring into our ardent “hour builder” CFIs. Flight academies do pretty well teaching academic and technical skills but fall short imparting the soft skills of customer service and  concern. A personal bond between CFI and student goes a long way toward motivating and inspiring a student. We are very clearly at the cusp of a huge pilot shortage and unless we successfully rebuild and regenerate the pilot training infrastructure, our GA world will continue to diminish and large academies will do all future flight training. Expect to see more articles here focusing on flight educator professionalism; your ideas, comments and suggestions are eagerly solicited.

Please “follow” our SAFE blog to receive notification of new articles. Write us a comment if you see a problem or want to contribute an article. We are always seeking more input on aviation improvements and flight safety. There are many highly qualified aviation educators out there! If you are not yet a SAFE member, please Join SAFE and support our mission of generating aviation excellence in teaching and flying. Our amazing member benefits alone make this commitment worthwhile and fun. Lastly, use our FREE SAFE Toolkit App to put pilot endorsements and experience requirements right on your smart phone and facilitate CFI+DPE teamwork. Working together we make safer pilots!

Once you get a new pilot certificate, the next step is to spread your wings and explore the grand new world you’re now a part of. While being out of the initial training environment allows you to have some great new freedoms, it also means some new responsibilities. One of those new responsibilities is managing your logbook. In this article, we will focus on answering common questions about logging Pilot in Command (PIC) time, an area that can be confusing for some new pilots to master. Let’s start by defining PIC.

The FAA defines PIC in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) section (§) 1.1 as the person who:
(1) Has final authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight,
(2) Has been designated as pilot in command before or during the flight, and
(3) Holds the appropriate category, class, and type rating, if appropriate, for the conduct of the flight.

Acting as PIC vs. Logging as PIC

In both a practical and legal sense, only one pilot may act as PIC for any given flight. However, there are situations where a pilot can log PIC time while not acting as pilot in command. “One of the biggest issues when considering PIC time is that in order to understand it, you have to look across multiple regulations in 14 CFR parts 1, 61, and 91,” explains Allan Kash, an Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) with the Flight Standards General Aviation and Commercial Division. To understand when you can log PIC time, you also need to understand how and why the FAA requires pilots to log flight time. For FAA purposes, a pilot is required to log certain flight time primarily to qualify for or maintain an airman certificate or rating.

Inspector Kash elaborated, “The next big issue is that the requirements to act as PIC and to log PIC time are different. There is a legal distinction. You could very well have a situation where you have both pilots legally logging PIC time, even though the regulations only allow for one pilot to act as PIC. ”

The FAA lists the requirements to serve as a required pilot flight crewmember in 14 CFR § 61.3(a) and (c). These requirements include holding a pilot certificate, photo ID, and a medical certificate (or the ability to meet sport pilot medical requirements). Additionally, § 61.3(e) requires a person acting as PIC under IFR or in IMC conditions to hold an instrument rating. Furthermore, § 61.31 requires a person acting as PIC to hold the appropriate ratings and endorsements for the aircraft type to be flown and § 61.56 requires a pilot to have a current flight review to act as PIC. So far it seems pretty straightforward, right? Here’s where the questions arise. The FAA’s standards for logging PIC time are found in § 61.51(e):

(e) Logging pilot-in-command flight time. (1) A sport, recreational, private, commercial, or airline transport pilot may log pilot in command flight time for flights November/December 2016 FAA Safety Briefing 15 Your friend asks if you want to fly one of the legs. Are you legally allowed to fly? Are you able to act as PIC? Are you able to log as PIC? (i) When the pilot is the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft for which the pilot is rated, or has sport pilot privileges for that category and class of aircraft, if the aircraft class rating is appropriate, (ii) When the pilot is the sole occupant in the aircraft, (iii) When the pilot, except for a holder of a sport or recreational pilot certificate, acts as pilot in command of an aircraft for which more than one pilot is required under the type certification of the aircraft or the regulations under which the flight is conducted. …

Note: There are other conditions under which a pilot can log PIC in §61.51 (e)(1)(iv). These regulations don’t quite appear to match up: the rule for logging PIC time has fewer restrictions than the rule to act as PIC. So there are circumstances where you can log PIC while not acting as PIC, but you can also be acting as PIC and not be able to log PIC. Stay with me — the details and examples below will help.

Solo vs. Sole Manipulator

Let’s look at § 61.51(e)(1)(ii) first, since that’s probably the simplest to define and contains what you may be most familiar with from your initial training as a solo student pilot. Under § 61.51(e) (1)(ii), you may log PIC flight time when you’re the only person on board the aircraft. In the most basic sense, all solo time is PIC, but not all PIC time is solo. For such a flight, you would also have to meet the requirements of § 61.3 (including holding a medical certificate), § 61.56 (flight review requirements), and § 61.31 (appropriate ratings and any endorsements required by the aircraft, such as high performance or complex).

Once you’ve been certificated as a pilot, if you take a non-pilot friend along on your solo cross country trip, you’re no longer the sole occupant. Accordingly, you may not log PIC under § 61.51(e) (1)(ii), but you may log PIC under § 61.51(e)(1)(i) as the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft for which you are rated. You would still have to meet the requirements in § 61.3, 61.31, and 61.56 just as you did for a solo flight. To further complicate matters, if you take a fellow pilot along on your cross-country trip, so long as you are the sole manipulator of the controls, you may log PIC under § 61.51(e) 1)(i) regardless of who is acting as PIC. However, the fellow pilot may not simultaneously log PIC time for the portion of the flight that you are logging PIC time as the sole manipulator of the controls, even if the fellow pilot is acting as PIC, unless the requirements of § 61.51(e)(1)(iii) are met, namely more than one pilot is required under the type certification of the aircraft or the regulations under which the flight is conducted.

PF vs. PIC

The next quirk is that the Pilot Flying (PF) may not always be the PIC. The PF and PIC are definitely not synonymous. The clearest example is in an airline cockpit where crews will generally swap legs. The captain and first officer will switch between the PF and Pilot Monitoring (PM) roles. Regardless of who is actually flying the airplane, the captain is always the PIC. This situation could also occur in GA. Therefore, the question here is: When may a GA pilot log PIC under § 61.51(e), when not acting as PIC? One example is when a certificated flight instructor (CFI) is providing flight instruction to a student who holds at least a private pilot certificate and who is qualified to act as PIC. A CFI providing instruction to a person who is qualified to act as PIC need not be the acting PIC, yet still may legally log PIC under § 61.51(e)(3), regardless of who is manipulating the controls.

Let’s examine another common example in the GA world. Let’s say and a pilot friend are going for a $100 hamburger. Your friend suggests taking her Piper Saratoga (a complex high performance airplane). You both have private pilot certificates with an airplane single engine land (ASEL) rating. Your friend has both high performance and complex endorsements, but you do not. You do, however, have a lot of experience with similar airplanes and even some time in a Saratoga. For the purposes of this example, you both have current medicals and flight reviews. Your friend asks if you want to fly one of the legs. Are you legally allowed to fly? Are you able to act as PIC? Are you able to log as PIC?

The answers are yes, no, and yes. You may be the PF, but you may not act as PIC because you do not hold the complex and high performance endorsements required by § 61.31(e) and (f ). In this circumstance, your friend is acting as PIC while you fly. You may, however, log PIC time under § 61.51(e) (1)(i) as the sole manipulator of the controls because § 61.51(e)(1)(i) requires only that you are rated for the aircraft. In this situation, you would be flying and logging as PIC while your friend is acting as PIC but not able to log PIC per § 61.51(e)(1)(iii). This is 16 FAA Safety Briefing November/December 2016 further explained by a legal interpretation in 2009 (Speranza) http://go.usa.gov/xk4TM.

PIC vs. Safety Pilot

As we discussed earlier, the devil really is in the details when it comes to logging of PIC time. Nowhere is this truer than in § 61.51(e)(1)(iii). “The most common mistake I see with logging PIC is with safety pilots when required by § 91.109(c),” Kash said. He explained, “people don’t really understand the implications in § 61.51(e)(1)(iii).” Section 61.51(e)(1)(iii) reads:

“When the pilot, except for a holder of a sport or recreational pilot certificate, acts as pilot in command of an aircraft for which more than one pilot is required under the type certification of the aircraft or the regulations under which the flight is conducted”.

GA pilots often overlook this point because for the most part, our aircraft don’t require more than one pilot. However, in the case of simulated instrument flight, the regulations do require more than one pilot. Per 14 CFR § 91.109(c)(1), a safety pilot is required to operate in simulated conditions. This makes the safety pilot a required pilot flight crewmember under the regulations for the simulated instrument portion of the flight. The safety pilot is required to hold at least a private pilot certificate, be rated for the category and class of airplane to be flown, and hold a current medical as required by § 61.3(c). If the safety pilot is acting as PIC for the simulated instrument portion of the flight, the safety pilot may log that time as PIC time under § 61.51(e)(1)(iii) because he is acting as PIC of an aircraft for which more than one pilot is required under the regulations. The PF may also log the time as PIC time under § 61.51(e)(1)(i) as the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft for which the pilot is rated. Additionally, the pilot flying under simulated instruments log simulated instrument time.

However, if the PF is acting as PIC and is the sole manipulator of the controls during the simulated instrument portion of the flight, then the safety pilot may log that time as second in command (SIC) time because he or she holds the appropriate category and class ratings for the aircraft being flown and more than one pilot is required under the regulations under which the flight is being conducted in accordance with § 61.51(f)(2). This is further explained by a legal interpretation in 2012 (Trussell) http://go.usa.gov/xk4bB.

Let’s look at an example. You want to do some practice approaches to get ready for a big trip coming up next month, but your medical has lapsed and your appointment at the aviation medical examiner (AME) isn’t until next week. Your friend volunteers to be your safety pilot. Both of you are instrument-rated private pilots with all appropriate endorsements for the airplane. Your friend has a current medical. Can you fly? Can you act as PIC? Can you log PIC? Can you log simulated instrument time?

The answers are: Yes, no, yes, and yes. For the purposes of this flight, your friend meets the requirements for a safety pilot and the operation requires more than one pilot by regulation. You may not act as PIC because you do not have a current medical. Therefore, your friend would be acting as PIC and may log PIC under § 61.51(e)(1)(iii), but you could also log PIC time as sole manipulator of the controls when operating by sole reference to instruments and using a view-limiting device under § 61.51(e)(1)(i).

Now let’s say you have a medical and your friend does not. Does this change the answers? It does, because your friend no longer meets the requirements for a safety pilot as a required pilot flight crewmember directed by § 61.3(c). In that case, you couldn’t fly simulated instruments
per § 91.109(c).

Let’s look at another example. You own a Cessna 182RG and need to do some practice approaches. Your friend volunteers to be your safety pilot. You both have private pilot certificates with ASEL ratings, with current medicals and flight reviews. You have a complex endorsement, but your friend does not. Can you fly under simulated instruments? Can you log PIC? What does your friend log?

The answers are: Yes, yes, and your friend may log SIC. You may operate the aircraft in simulated instrument flight because your friend meets the requirements to serve as a safety pilot. Your friend has a current medical, which is required by § 61.3(c), and § 91.109(c) requires only category and class ratings appropriate to the aircraft being flown. In this case, you would be the only one eligible to act as PIC since your friend doesn’t hold a complex endorsement, which is required by § 61.31(e) to act as PIC. You may therefore log PIC under § 61.51(e)(1) (i) as the sole manipulator of the controls or under § 61.51(e)(1)(iii) because you are acting as PIC of an aircraft for which more than one pilot is required under the regulations under which the flight is conducted. Your friend may log SIC under § 61.51(f)(2) because he or she holds the appropriate category and class ratings for the aircraft being flown and more than one pilot is required under the regulations under which the flight is being conducted.

PIC vs. Dual Received

As we hinted at earlier, another common question is whether it is acceptable to log PIC and dual received at the same time. The answer is, under the right circumstances, yes. You may simultaneously log PIC and dual received if you are rated in the aircraft (category and class), are the sole manipulator of the controls, and are receiving flight instruction.
That means that once you earn your private pilot certificate (ASEL), you can log PIC during training in a single-engine land aircraft. You can log any commercial or instrument training, even in a complex airplane, as PIC for that time that you are the sole manipulator of the controls under § 61.51(e)(1)(i). This would also apply to training toward an endorsement like tailwheel, complex, or high performance. However, it would not apply to training toward a rotorcraft, glider, balloon, or airship since those are different categories. It would also not apply toward any training in a multiengine or seaplane, because those are different classes.

“I’ve seen lots of really smart people miss the mark when it comes to PIC,” Kash explained. “The bottom line is the need to look at § 61.51(e) in light of multiple pertinent regulations and use that as the guide to whether you can still log PIC.” He continued, “But just meeting the requirements to act as PIC might not mean you can log PIC because only one pilot can log PIC when the operation doesn’t require, or the aircraft type certification does not require, two pilots.”

Have a question about a specific circumstance? Let us know.

Please “follow” our SAFE blog to receive notification of new articles. Write us a comment if you see a problem or want to contribute an article. We are always seeking more input on aviation improvements and flight safety. There are many highly qualified aviation educators out there! If you are not yet a SAFE member, please Join SAFE and support our mission of generating aviation excellence in teaching and flying. Our amazing member benefits alone make this commitment worthwhile and fun. Lastly, use our FREE SAFE Toolkit App to put pilot endorsements and experience requirements right on your smart phone and facilitate CFI+DPE teamwork. Working together we make safer pilots!

Technology and digital tools have completely transformed aviation, especially at the level of busy IFR flying.  The current “digital magic” available in the panel or on a tablet is both continually amazing and increasingly challenging for the pilot (and CFI) to master. On a recent charter flight I was cleared “GPS direct” all the way from South Carolina to Texas on the magenta line! We could “see” the weather ahead on Nexrad and access all the ground station weather (and airborne traffic) on ADS-B; what an amazing privilege. As pilots flying in a busy IFR world, we have a mandate to master these technological tools so we can fly (and teach) with increased efficiency and safety. (See the recent NTSB alert on utilizing traffic avoidance technology)

My personal opinion is that mastering technology is especially critical for flight instructors and examiners. Unless a CFI is fully comfortable in the operation of the newest technology, they cannot efficiently teach and evaluate the use of these new aviation tools. Watching the younger pilots teach their CFIs how to survive with an iPad is unacceptable and unprofessional in modern aviation education. (I go back a ways but I remember an older CFI that had not yet mastered the “new fangled VOR receiver”) It is easy to get “out of date” in modern aviation. I would encourage all pilots and especially CFIs to become fully literate in the use of modern aviation technology. But of course the question is how can you achieve this level of comfort and mastery without an expensive flight school intervention?

The courses through Pilot Workshops provide an excellent training on modern technology and provide exposure to the busy piloting environment. The recent IFR Focus series is fantastic and has excellent video on flying with modern technology. SAFE members can join Pilot Workshops FREE (waive the $199 member fee), just log into the member portal. There are courses from “stick and rudder” right up through complex GPS/IFR approaches.

Though there are  many excellent iPad platforms, ForeFlight is the most popular app for integrated flight planning and navigation on the iPad. ForeFlight was early into the aviation game and continues to improve with each new release; now System 8. (SAFE members receive a 33% discount on the member portal). But though ForeFlight is a very intuitive platform, it is comprehensive and I still see far too many pilots, and especially older CFIs, fumbling through the operation of this app. For safety and efficiency, I would highly recommend a new course from The Modern Pilot we are now happy to provide at an incredible discount to SAFE members.

The Modern Pilot has developed an all-new online video training course “ForeFlight Power User” available at a discount to SAFE members. After years at ForeFlight answering questions and providing support, this veteran employee (and SAFE member) has established an independent business and created a very thorough ForeFlight video training course. It helps that he is an experienced CFII and CSIP and experienced educator. This course grew out of years of experience answering questions and writing support e-mails and is driven by real user needs. For only $67 SAFE members get the full 27 videos and a full year membership to the forums. This offer also includes a 33% reduction on all future courses. Compared to anything in aviation, this is a bargain.  SAFE members just log into the member side of our website and access this valuable new benefit. To be a professional pilot (and CFI) it is essential to not merely *survive* with technology. It is essential to be fully “pilot in command” of these technological tools. Use this opportunity to become a confident “ForeFlight Power User”.

Please “follow” our SAFE blog to receive notification of new articles. Write us a comment if you see a problem or want to contribute an article. We are always seeking more input on aviation improvements and flight safety. There are many highly qualified aviation educators out there! If you are not yet a SAFE member, please Join SAFE and support our mission of generating aviation excellence in teaching and flying. Our amazing member benefits alone make this commitment worthwhile and fun. Lastly, use our FREE SAFE Toolkit App to put pilot endorsements and experience requirements right on your smart phone and facilitate CFI+DPE teamwork. Working together we make safer pilots!

A pilot applicant at the private pilot level is almost entirely dependent upon their professional CFI for their correct preparation and success on a checkride. These applicants are still very new to our aviation game and do not know the rules of engagement or what they do *not* know. The professional CFI is their primary guide. Unfortunately, as a pilot examiner, I more than occasionally see applicants who had potential but not enough guidance. As aviation professionals in the flight training business, CFIs and DPEs work as a team; we all want more good pilots. When an applicant fails, we *all* as a team have failed this person. When a failure occurs on a flight test, our process is not working in their education and test preparation. That is why I wrote the SAFE CFI Toolkit. (and yes I was a NAFI Master CFI before joining SAFE as a charter member…)

I personally want every applicant for a checkride to pass and attain their aviation dreams. For years I offered seminars at Oshkosh and Sun ‘N Fun on “How to Prepare and Pass Your Checkride” directed at the applicants (now I recommend for every pilot applicant a video by Russ Sill at Gold Seal with the same excellent advice) It is our duty as DPE “gatekeepers” to make sure each person meets the FAA standard established for a rating or certificate so they fly safely as aviators. Every examiner will tell you the hardest part of our job is delivering the disappointing news to an applicant who is unsuccessful. Let’s work together to prepare pilot applicants more thoroughly and achieve greater initial success on checkrides; these people will also be safer pilots throughout their lives.

When you download this free application onto your phone (available on Apple OS and Android) you have *all* the experience requirements for every certificate and rating *and* all the AC 61.65F endorsements. (I cannot count how many flight tests we could not even begin because the correct endorsements were not present) I also added links to FAA mobile site and great mobile weather sites. There are links to great article from AOPA and this blog too. (Let me know what you want to see here)

Again all this is FREE. With this app installed on your phone you have a complete arsenal of digital tools to do your job more effectively and efficiently. The last tab is a text direct to *my* phone if you see something inaccurate or lacking…I will fix it in a day or two. Please download this app and let’s work as a team to make sure we do the best, most professional job for our aspiring aviators! (and watch for a new SAFE initiative on CFI professional development soon)

Please “follow” our SAFE blog to receive notification of new articles and also write us a comment if you see a problem (or want to contribute an article). We always need more input on aviation excellence or flight safety. There are many highly qualified SAFE members out there! If you are not yet a member, please Join SAFE and support our mission of generating aviation excellence in teaching and flying. Our amazing member benefits alone make this commitment worthwhile and fun.

National Election Day may still be a week away, but in Frederick, Maryland, the voters have spoken—and the winner is Brenda Tibbs, named Best Flight Instructor in the 2016 Flight Training Poll.

The good news doesn’t stop there for the 2,000-hour CFI who just two months ago stepped out on her own to found Bravo Flight Training after six years as an instructor for an established FBO. On the day she learned about her electoral success, Tibbs also received final municipal approval to run her flight school at the airport, ratifying a process in the works since summer.

Like her counterpart in Orlando, Tibbs will soon add an aircraft to her fleet that now consists of a Cessna 150 and a Cessna 172. The new arrival, a Piper Arrow, will give her students access to an aircraft with retractable landing gear and a constant-speed prop for advanced training.

Tibbs said instructing for her last employer, and during previous tenure working at AOPA—where she served members in the Pilot Information Center and later as a flying club specialist—has been an “awesome” experience.

But she felt something was missing from pilot training—something she could zero in on in her new venture: a sense of community.

“Everyone was coming, taking lessons and leaving, and not connecting,” she said.

Tibbs knew from working on member service programs at AOPA that retaining pilots as active members of the general aviation community is a high priority, because a sense of community is one reason people love to fly.

So in addition to her flight schedule and working out details of getting the new flight school up and running, Tibbs organizes regular activities that benefit her airport’s community such as monthly gatherings that spotlight educational topics in a social atmosphere.

A recent get-together featured two designated pilot examiners who discussed their roles and gave attendees a chance to ask questions. An upcoming session will bring pilots and air traffic controllers together.

Carving out a niche is a way to give any business an edge, and Tibbs has found an important role as an instructor of the pilots of the future. It’s a great fit for the mother of a teen and a fitting follow-on to her work with Frederick Aviation Explorers, a local youth development program.

It also has this advantage: “That’s what I love to do,” she said.

Please “follow” our SAFE blog to receive notification of new articles and also write us a comment if you see a problem (or want to contribute an article). We always need more input on aviation excellence or flight safety. There are many highly qualified SAFE members out there! If you are not yet a member, please Join SAFE and support our mission of generating aviation excellence in teaching and flying. Our amazing member benefits alone make this commitment worthwhile and fun.

As pilots and caring humans we should all aspire to be more like Bob Hoover. What an incredible person and pilot he was and what an example of a life well lived. (Safe journeys West Bob.) From the young WWII P-51 fighter ace/patriot to early jet test pilot and then amazing airshow genius, he did it all and in an elegant and gracious manner.

“Bob Hoover was so much more than a great pilot. He was a great man and a model for what our community can and should be.”  AOPA’s Mark Baker

WWII Ace/POW/Test Pilot

Check Yaeger’s wingman X-1 Project

Phenomenal air show performer

Amazing, generous mentor

To live constantly on the edge of disaster for so many years and die peacefully at 94 bears clear testimony to Bob’s piloting skills and also his risk management acumen. He performed every show with a joy, passion and precision that was unmatched in the industry. He was quoted as saying “Someday I might die in one of these shows. But you know what? It’ll take the mortician a week to get the smile off my face!” Because he pursued excellence in everything he did (but especially flying) Bob survived some incredibly challenging situations; his skill, courage and ingenuity brought him through every crisis.

And though aviation can unfortunately be a business of big egos and “me first” personalities, Bob Hoover was always a gracious and sharing mentor throughout his career. His kindred spirit Sean D. Tucker clearly credits Bob Hoover with saving his life as a result of his early fatherly advice! As a younger air show pilot, aggressively pushing the edge, Sean relates how Bob Hoover approached him at an airshow and clearly explained how Sean’s days were limited if he did not build a little more margin into his flying routine. Though not apparent to us mere mortals, Tucker admits this sage (and initially unwelcome) advice saved his life more than once when mechanical issues cropped up unexpectedly. “I would not have made it without him.”

Aerobatic performer Patty Wagstaff also cites Bob Hoover as an important mentor and coach throughout her career: “If I wasn’t sure how to handle a situation, I would always think, ‘How would Bob handle that?’ ” Fortunately, aviation at our level involves a lot less risk. But Bob’s example can work for everyone in our flying and our interaction with other pilots.

I would encourage all pilots to aspire to be “more like Bob” both in pursuing excellence and professionalism in every flight AND in promoting safety and keeping watch over our fellow aviators. Please take a page from Bob’s playbook and both build a safety margin into your flying (pursue excellence) and also put a friendly hand on the shoulder of any pilot you see on the road to disaster; “friends don’t let friends fly unsafe!” (How many times have we mumbled the words “accident waiting to happen” but done nothing?) Your better piloting self and mentorship will truly be the best tribute to our amazing friend Bob Hoover!

Please “follow” our SAFE blog to receive notification of new articles and also write us a comment if you see a problem (or want to contribute an article). We always need more input on aviation excellence or flight safety. There are many highly qualified SAFE members out there! If you are not yet a member, please Join SAFE and support our mission of generating aviation excellence in teaching and flying. Our amazing member benefits alone make this commitment worthwhile and fun.

The Practical Test Standards was a great tool for its time but clearly represented the dominant view of psychology back in the 1970s; behaviorism. The sum total of human evaluation was what you could see from the outside. As we prepared for our CFI tests many years ago we all recited “learning is a change in behavior as a result of experience” to prepare for our CFI evaluations and humorously referred to the government CFI training manual as “good dog, bad dog.” If a testing standard is a presentation of what a good pilot should look like, the PTS was clearly a one-dimensional, black and white sketch of a three-dimensional, color world. Of course we all knew there was more and the manuals were evolving to reflect more modern practices. For me personally, Greg Brown’s original Savvy Flight Instructor book changed my whole world view of the instructor’s role and brought motivation and inner psychology into a more central role. The government manuals at the time still presented  what you could see from the outside, how to “wiggled the stick”not think your way out of a problem. Good instructors, of course, always covered extensive cognitive topics…but these were not tested. As a consequence many unlucky pilots were trained without this “added value” and never developed higher order thinking skills like risk management.

And as a pilot examiner “back in the day” I remember writing out more than one temporary certificate (yes with a pen on carbon paper) for an applicant who had “performed” very well, but gave me a sense of unease. Though this new pilot clearly met the practical test standard, there were also most definitely missing elements that a safe pilot should know and consider; primarily judgement and thinking skills. And though as examiners we may counsel, advise (and pray) in the debrief, we are held to the legal government testing document. We give the “government’s test” and not some personal version. The PTS toolkit of the time did not include a lot of cognitive, risk management elements. As time passed, emphasis items in the PTS preface multiplied to reflect cognitive “best practices” but the PTS tool was outdated, limited and increasingly disjointed. The FAA manuals had evolved considerably over time but the testing standard had not.

The new Airman Certification Standard presents a more comprehensive vision of what a safe pilot should be. It includes the historic PTS skill elements but integrates the thinking skills of what a pilot should know and consider as well. There have been criticisms of its length (of course) but this document is designed to be more comprehensive. We now have a full color picture of a pilot rather than the PTS pencil sketch. And now that examiners have this tool to evaluate the whole pilot (skill, knowledge and judgement) the applicants as a group seem (to me) to be improving and better prepared to be safer, comprehensive pilots. In the past three months my pilot applicants, prepared to the new ACS, seem more thoughtful and well versed in the thinking/planning skills…because we can test this. Of course there will be some wrinkles to iron out in this new standard but it is a superior testing/training tool. My appreciation goes out to those who worked so hard to create this document (and endured the slings and arrows…) This is an ambitious move on the part of the FAA and a hopeful new step toward safer flying.

Please “follow” our SAFE blog to receive notification of new articles and also write us a comment if you see a problem (or want to contribute an article). We always need more input on aviation excellence or flight safety. There are many highly qualified SAFE members out there! If you are not yet a member, please Join SAFE and support our mission of generating aviation excellence in teaching and flying. Our amazing member benefits alone make this commitment worthwhile and fun.