No More CFI Expiration Dates, But Wait...

The notion of reissuing CFI certificates every couple of years was seen as a means of assuring contemporaneous activity and/or completion of recurrency training at a weekend seminar. To renew, one could either show a list of successful graduates they had trained, back then 10 or more, or a completion certificate of refresher training.

Or, as I did upon several occasions, you could add another rating to your CFI certificate by completing a check ride, which resets the two-year cycle. The FAA even had a traveling team of CFI specialists that conducted refresher seminars at airport-friendly motels nationwide, soon replaced by Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association-sponsored sessions that did the same thing, only better.

Recently, the FAA, in a continual quest to save money (not to be confused with budget reduction), determined that issuing new plastic cards every couple of years was a waste of resources, simply to change the date printed under the CFI's number. A figure of $5.6 million was used to justify eliminating reissuance. So, starting in December, CFI certificates will be issued in perpetuity. Sort of.

What's really happening is a shift in responsibility for upgrading CFI currency, from the FAA to the individual CFI. Under FAR 61.197, to be current to teach, instructors must still recommend five successful ratings every two years, or complete a Flight Instructor Refresher Course, within the allotted time interval based on their certificate's biennial anniversary. And proof of those actions have to be submitted to the FAA with an 8710-1 certificate application form, just as at present. Thus, there's still an administrative burden on CFI certificate holders who want to maintain their ability to instruct.

It’s estimated that some 80 percent of the 86,000 rated CFI's seldom or never exercise their privileges, content to merely sit on their certificate while a small minority is actively working at teaching flight. Most of the former group are older experienced pilots whose hours and years would be most valuable, but who fear taking on the liability of instructing at their station in life, given this suit-happy age.

There is a new renewal option included in the FAR change. Instructors can now satisfy the recent-experience requirement by completing 15 or more “flight activities” with at least five pilots participating in an FAA pilot proficiency program (aka the WINGS Program) within the past two years. Also, the window of completion of an FIRC will now extend to three months after one's “recent experience” due date, without requiring a reinstatement check ride.

It's difficult to see much else positive about the FAA's decision to no longer mail out new CFI licenses, since there's still a need to maintain currency and submit updated information for the government's files. Perhaps they could have just sent out a self-adhesive date sticker to put on the plastic card, or go back to a cheap cardboard certificate that you could cut out to put in your wallet. We'll miss getting a shiny new credit-card in the mail every two years. One solution: report your credentials as being stolen or lost, which for a $2 fee gets you a reissued certificate with a fresh date on it.

CFI flight instruction

LeRoy CookAuthor

LeRoy Cook has logged 17,000-plus hours, has written more than 1850 magazine articles and has flown about 500 different makes and models of aircraft. A midwestern-based CFI, he enjoys introducing new people to flying and is always looking for a different airplane to fly. He currently has four aviation books in print. He holds two ATP ratings, two commercial ratings and four flight instructor certifications. He started flying in 1960, gave his first dual instruction in 1965, and began writing about aviation in 1969.