FIRC recommendations
 

Whelp it’s that time for me…..I mean in the next 3 months at least. I am employed with a major airline so needless to say I don’t actually excercise my CFII privileges much. That being said I feel like I owe it to myself to not let it lapse since I had an 6.5 hour oral, not to mention it may come in handy later in life if my daughter ever shows interest in flying.

I used to use ACE CFI for a FIRC renewal, of course they are sadly now out of business.

Anyone else use ACE CFI in the past, and have found a comparable replacement with respect to course structure?

Of Course I welcome all additional insight and analysis.

Well, I'm glad I didn't buy the lifetime package from ACE then. I tried a whole bunch. In the early years some were really great and had both informative content and a lack of timers purposely slowing down the process. Since then they seem to have mostly homogenized and are all equally boring and slow.

That fact makes American Flyers lifetime package the clear winner. It's the cheapest, similar to all the others and hopefully since they have been around since the Wright Brothers, they aren't going to go out of business.

Ah right…I certainly also don’t foresee American Flyers going out of business. Have you done it already?

I only ask as the description says that there is a final cumulative exam based on all the lessons. I much prefer the quiz and the end of each lesson.

I know I’m a horrible person but I wasn’t really planning on taking a lot of notes if I don’t have to.

I've done it at least twice. I never had any issues with the final exam. I agree with you that just section quizzes would be nicer.

Sporty's is free (just give them your license number) and takes maybe two hours, you can print the certificate at the end.

Yes, American Flyers.

IIRC the final exam answers are from the chapter quizzes, so if you knock it all out fairly quickly you'll probably recognize the right answers when you see them.

Thought you were full of blue juice so checked myself and it sure does show as free on their website. Has Sporty’s always offered their course free of charge? or maybe just a temporary deal with the recent changes.

Another vote for American Flyers. Have used them for the last 12 years, and it's free because I paid for lifetime free renewals back then ($150?). Chapter quizzes at the end of each section. Fairly easy way to keep your cfi current.

Something only someone who attended American Flyers would say.

I've tried several. Will need to find another now that my lifetime renewal went bankrupt. They're all awful, tedious, repetitive and such a disappointing waste of potentially useful time. Choose your poison.