Hey guys,

I am looking to renew my CFI and wondering what is the best method of doing so? I have been told American Flyers has a pretty good program for doing so but want to ask the council for advice.

I havent been instructing the last 7 months because Im flying 91/135 ops now but dont want to lose the rating.

I remember reading somewhere if you have X amount of passes or a certain pass rate ( I have 24 passes 2 failures) in the previous two years that you can wave some of the coursework. Maybe I am wrong.

Let me know how you renew your CFI

If you're a CFI you should know how to look that up.

Is your CFI expired and you need it reinstated? Or is it still valid, meaning you are with the 2 year mark?

If it's the latter, American flyers offers an online FIRC that you can take at your own pace. Once completed, you will be issued a certificate that you can take to your local FSDO, who will then issue you a renewal CFI.

If you need to reinstate you're CFI (meaning it has expired), then you will need to take a checkride.

61.197

You can get a renewal based on signing off five students with the previous 24 months with at least an 80% pass rate... sounds like you qualify for that. I'd call the FSDO and ask them what paperwork they need and make an appointment well BEFORE the expiration date, just in case there are any snags. If you miss the expiration date for any reason, there will be no waivers or any way to renew without a checkride.

You can also do a FIRC, which is 16 hours. Various schools (including AF) do these over two days, typically on weekends. There are also online FIRCs, most airline people knock these out in hotel rooms. The AF program is nice because you only pay for the first one and then you can do them for free forever.

If doing a FIRC, make sure you understand how the paperwork will be filed... you can usually pay the school extra to do that but make sure you know what paperwork you have to submit and when you have to do it. AOPA/Jeppesen requires you to get the documents notarized, but naturally they don't tell you that when you sign up for the course... you only find out at the end when you try to submit the docs. The one and only time I did the Jepp FIRC online, I was scrambling to find a notary at 1800 on the last day of the month

It is still valid through the end of August. Thanks for the info

Thanks for that info! I knew there was probably more than one company But pay once and free for life seems like the way to go

Absolutely! Go with AF and pay the $25 renewal fee. In addition, you can finish the program and submit online paperwork three months prior to expiration date..don't procrastinate or you will forget! I've flown with way too many pilots that regret not renewing their CFI.

In regards to going to FAA, I have no doubt they are not there to help you. All those good eggs retired years ago. Now you have a group of undermanned, pi$$ed off Skycops.

-"don't kick a sleeping dog"