On the contrary. AFM, Airplane Flight Manual, is defined as a document developed by the airplane manufacturer and approved by the FAA. It is specific to a particular make and model airplane by serial number and it contains operating procedures and limitations.

The AFM was required sometime in 1978. The flight school I worked at had two identical 172s. One was built before the date and had a generic 1/2 POH in it, the other after and contained the AFM we are all familiar with.

You need an airframe-specific Arm number. It is in the airplane, is in the AFM, or is kept with the airplane's maintenance records.

Whenever equipment is added or removed from an airplane, the FARs state that an updated W&B must be provided with the airplane and furnished with it so the pilot can use it to do W&B calculations.

The reason for this is fairly obvious. If an averaged arm and weight figure is used instead of an airframe-specific number there may be enough inaccuracy to cause problems leading to dangerous situations in CG placement.

I had a student produce a generic POH from the internet or some other source which was not specific to the serial number airplane he was going to fly. First of all, I noticed he was doing preflight items that had nothing to do with our airplane. I asked him why he did not use the airframe-specific AFM sitting in leather pocket in the airplane, and he blew up saying it's all the same. He was completely missing the reality of the situation which is that each airframe has particular operational procedures and numbers that are prescribed with it according to the equipment installed. Airplanes are not all the same, they are serial number-specific machines that have serial number-specific physical attributes the pilot must have access to.

*sighs*

Let's summarize

You need the Factory Issued manual(POH, AFM, whaterever you want to call it) with the Specific Serial Number listed in the cover page, Equipment list, and Current W&B. Obviously they are superceeded with various installations over the years unless you happen to get into a brand new airplane.

Without these documents, you are using a "standard" form that might or most likely not match the individual aircraft you are flying.

WOW, this is sad

Remember AROW? The POH/AFM has to be aircraft specific, with the registration number and serial number stamped on it. The updated W & B can be inserted into the AFM/POH, or can be stored seperatey, the key is though, it has to be in the aircraft. On the W & B sheet will be such things as Empty Weight, Moment & CG. Other useful information that will also be on the W & B sheet is the useful load of that specific aircraft. The best thing to do if yo are flying a training fleet is go talk to the maint guys. They will usually have all the info on an excel spread sheet and you can keep it on your computer for reference when you are doing different flights in different airplanes. If you have your own aircraft and you don't have a W & B sheet in your aircraft, you need to get one. Again, make a copy so you you can have the info before you get to the airport.

As an extra pointer, it's not a good idea to get in the habit of neglecting W&B. You won't be able to do that when you move to your first job, and as you notice, you'll be unaware of what to do if you took an abnormal load for the kind of flying you do. For instance, you take four in the Archer. How much fuel you can carry is going to be a problem unless you run the numbers.

His royal highness beat me to it. You want to be a pro some day? Act like one now. We might get our numbers fed to us, but we still have to make sure they are legit.

Take 10 minutes to get a weather briefing, and do performance calculations. Yes, it's a PITA. But guess what? You won't be asking elementary questions like you did here. I'm sorry, but what you're doing is just lazy.

Furthermore, there's this little thing in the Regs about preflight planning. What's your defense when you get ramp checked and have NOTHING to support that you did that preflight planning?

This might have been my greatest pet-peeve with my post-solo students. It downright infuriated me when a commercial student was unprepared.

For some reasons it's the commercial guys that do it most too! I'll ask if they have received a weather briefing? 9 times out of 10 the answer is "NO, were just flying around here!" Drives me crazy!

Correct. AFM and POH are two names for the same thing. Both are the required legal document, which must be maintained with current updates from the manufacturer (they mail them to you). This manual is one-of-a-kind for each individual serial number. If you lose it you CANNOT fly the airplane until you get a new one from the factory. They will include all updates, and it takes two weeks and about $350.

The thing you buy in the pilot store is a POH/AFM reprint, current only to the date of publication and may not have info unique to your serial number. It is a reference book, and does NOT replace the real AFM/POH for legality purposes. If you get ramp checked with a pilot-shop AFM, you are going to get violated.