Recent content by D.B. Cole

You also have access to the commercial course if you ever go that route. Since I doubt you took the FOI, AGI, and IGI with the intent of just getting free access to the CFI portal, it really is all upside.

Sporty's also gives ground instructors access to their free CFI portal, which provides access to the free FIRC mentioned earlier. They also provide free access to their private, instrument, and commercial pilot courses.

In most places you can do it hourly, but some schools offer 5 and 10 hour structured courses. Try an hour and see if you like it.

After my PPL I spent about 50 hours just flying to as many new airports as I could in preparation for the IR. After the instrument I found I spent a lot of time maintaining that proficiency and occasionally working on the commercial. I eventually obtained my tailwheel endorsement and racked up...

Ground Instructors who are not also Flight Instructors can sign up for a free account on Sporty's Flight Instructor portal using your GI certificate number. For the expiration date just set it for 24 months from the registration date. In addition to free access to their PPL, instrument, and...

I should have said hood time versus "required" hood time. As you point out, the 10 hours of commercial instrument time counts as training and wouldn't be covered under PDPIC. My scenario is one where the student is flying their 10 hours of PDPIC with an instructor and decide they would like to...

In your third point, why do you think there is an issue explaining why the instructor is present? Isn't that the whole point of allowing one or the other? If you're PDPIC in lieu of "solo", the DPE or FAA knows you're not alone in the plane. So why would seeing the instructor's name raise any...

So I came across this paragraph near the end of the Kuhn interpretation letter from the FAA. Seems to allow the CFI to act as PIC while the pilot performing the duties of PIC is under the hood. Your final question is whether the CFI must act as PIC for this type of flight. If either the...

As always, your insights are appreciated, midlife. Someone on our Facebook group was of the opinion that the CFI is still obligated to look for traffic even in their role as an observing instructor, so it doesn't matter whether they've been formally delegated acting PIC authority by the pilot...

An exception to solo is having an instructor on board as a passive observer. It was initially implemented to cover commercial-multi students that couldn't fly solo due to insurance restrictions. It was later applied to commercial-single.

Yes

Below is a question I posted to a local pilot's group via our Facebook chat. Would certainly be interested in opinions here as well. ‐‐‐-----------------------------‐-------------------------------------------- Question for any CFIs or DPEs in the group. Can a commercial student conducting their...

Welcome back, Gary. I recently returned after a 13 year layoff. You'll find the plethora of resources that can be found online absolutely incredible. I flew out of KCDW from 2002-2006, and I obtained my IR rating there after starting it at KTEB. Unfortunately, my old flight school, MacDan, no...

Hey MajorT. We slowed down well below cruise before performing them such that the loading was similar to a loop entry or exit. In the 15 or so aerobatic flights I've taken, I would estimate without looking at my logbook that I've practiced them on about four flights.

A lot of great advice on this thread. I've recounted my return to the cockpit after 13 years several times on the board. My last instrument approach was probably during that last flight in 2009, and it was definitely on steam gauges. Yesterday we had planned to fly the dual day XC for the...