No CFI wants to be the last signature in the logbook before the crash.

And it's my experience that assholes usually travel in pairs.

Littlecub,

A CFI can simply not renew his/her medical and continue to instruct and fly in LSA aircraft. A CFI may have had a medical problem which invalidated his/her medical, but is working to get it back, which often takes months to years.

There are lots of reasons why someone with a CFI but no medical might keep their CFI current.

Amen on the "in pairs" comment.

A flight review SHOULD be a positive experience. To be so, however, requires TWO participants.

MTV

And it's my experience that rectums usually travel in pairs.

I MUCH prefer insults subtle enough that I miss 'em......
Please try harder........

lc

Littlecub wrote:

And it's my experience that rectums usually travel in pairs.

I MUCH prefer insults subtle enough that I miss 'em......
Please try harder........

lc

Oh. Didn't know we were talking about you?

I've only had a couple or three BFRs because I've managed to time ratings to replace them.

One was very much like a pp oral and checkride. CFI was pretty strict about it too. Had to sit there and remember required equipment mnemonic, for example, as he patiently waited.

Another was a little different. Hit the basics then focused on airspace issues in Alaska (Anchorage SFRA, FAI TRSA, MOAs etc.) Went up and did some of the private maneuvers and when he saw that I was ok but could use some improvement in coordinated flight maneuvers he had me doing dutch rolls, lazy eights and banked stalls. And he was pretty picky. This in a plane I had never flown before, with a stick instead of yoke which I was more used to.

I like an instructor who is ready to rap your knuckles. For me, an ass would be someone who took my money and didn't think I was worth going beyond treating it as a paperwork exercise. After all I'm not the greatest pilot around.

1) Don't call them BFR's unless you wanna date yourself as an old dude. Nowadays they're "flight reviews".
2) They are a review , not dual instruction. So unless your medical or BFR lapsed or you're not rated for the airplane, you are PIC & the CFI doesn't need a medical.
3) I know CFI's that don't want anything to do with primary instruction, but they like doing BFR's- get to fly different cool airplanes, help others brush on their skills/knowledge & maybe learn a thing or two themselves. Zero or at least limited liability as they are a passenger, not PIC.

I honestly enjoyed my BFR, nice to knock the rust off and re-learn a few things I had forgotten. I figure if I am paying the CFI money for their time they should run me through the grinder a little bit and make sure I earn their signature.

When I travel I usually try to go down to the local airport, get checked out in something and go putter around and go see the sites. I have seen a full range of CFIs (young and old) such as the bitter furloughed ex-RJ pilot who admitted to never having landed on anything but pavement (thought soft-field landings were part of the private curriculum) to a 75yo guy in MT who wouldn't take any money for the extra time he spent brushing up my wheel landings 20 minutes after our flight was supposed to be over. I think its worth the time to find the right guy and that sometimes that gold seal CFI or master instructor isn't the one.

However instead of a BFR this last year I decided to add a seaplane rating instead. Not practical but more fun......

Finally got this thing knocked out today. We have had some low ceilings for a week now. Was flying a 172 SP with real nice avionics. It went well. My first simulated engine out I was too high so we redid that otherwise it was simple.I wanted to slip it really bad when I was high haha. I could not believe how easy it is to land one of those after flying my airplane for so long. Not easy but you guys know what I mean once the mains touch your pretty much done. In my plane your just gettin started at that point. Glad to be done!

1) Don't call them BFR's unless you wanna date yourself as an old dude. Nowadays they're "flight reviews".

I'm of the generation that BFRs are recent crap the FAA dumped on us. The *OLD GUYS* learned from Orville & Wilbur......

Ok, flight reviews-when the chemistry is right-can be/are beneficial. I agree. They were supposed to push the accident rate to essentially *ZERO* because you could educate pilots not to do stupid stuff.........(run out of fuel, VFR into IFR, not bust airspace, etc......)
YOU judge the success of that.......
I will cede the point that there were a LOT more 'hobby pilots' back then. And airplanes. And proportionally a few more accidents (?).

Also the PROMISE was made (up one side and down the other) that NO ONE COULD BE FAILED. Now I'm not saying that was/is a good thing, but the 'song' is now to an entirely different beat.....

I say this just so you know what FAA/government promises of today are worth tomorrow-NOT to precipitate debate on these specific points......

lc

When I consider how much knowledge I currently retain from my primary flight training, it's a little frightening. My personal flying mission doesn't routinely exercise many of the things I learned, and I feel some things fading away every time I climb into the cockpit. It's not something that mere hours behind the stick can fix either, it has to be a program or objective of learning/preparing.

For what I do on my routine missions, I am good at that. But flying is a vast and comprehensive discipline that requires a dynamic cognitive approach. Skillsets are only enhanced by challenges imposed by an instructor, and accidents and tragedies unfortunately often reveal the exact area of knowledge or skill in which a pilot is weak. It's naive to think that these reviews will address the very thing that ends up testing you, but no preparation can promise that.

You could write this off as me being a newer pilot and dismiss your own weaknesses, but consider the recurrent training programs that the airlines employee for their pilots, and consider their accident rate.

Divergence of skill and competence is inevitable in an endeavor that can span 50+ years of time, or an entire lifetime. I forget how to do things in my shop that I did a year ago. It makes me feel a little better that we are required to get recurrent training and review as pilots, and is one of the few things I am glad is regulated. Shit, sometimes I wish driving required a periodic review.

"Today we're going to have you negotiate this ice-covered winding road."