Is there a time limit on a primary student's experience?

Sierra_Hotel

Line Up and Wait
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Sierra_Hotel
This is my first kinda-start-to-finish student as a new CFI so I'm trying to avoid screwing this up :biggrin:

My student has almost 200 hours of experience in the Philippines from 2011-2013 but received his US citizenship and moved here before finishing the rating there. Now he wants to finish up to submit an ANG pilot application package.

So far, in my scouring of the regs, the only time limit I see is the 3 hours of prep for the checkride within the 60 days preceding the checkride. He's got a bunch of cross country and solo time already that fulfill the requirements for 61.109.

However, as I type this out I realize it's a moot point anyway because it occurs to me that none of the log entries from his past experience have an instructor endorsement. That's gonna be some ****ty news for him. I originally wanted to make sure there weren't any other gotchas that would preclude us from counting his previous flight hours.
 
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That conversation with your student isn't going to be fun at all.

But silver lining will be he should be past the rough edge phase of learning the skills and just need ACS level polishing. Hopefully progress will be rapid.
 
Yeah....that's a whole different issue :frown3:
 
You were still going to have to check him out on everything anyway before endorsing him for the check ride, so I’m not seeing much of a difference.
 
It's not as if one couldn't email the instructor and get affirmation of the flight experience. The Philippines isn't backward (at least, much of it isn't.)
 
If the instructor didn't sign the logbook, instruction didn't happen.
You're right about time limits. Only thing that expires is the test prep 60 day thing you mention.
 
You were still going to have to check him out on everything anyway before endorsing him for the check ride, so I’m not seeing much of a difference.

Right, but every bit helps when he has (on paper) a lot of experience that could have applied.
 
If the student actually has that much time, he should get his solo endorsement pretty fast and imagine he'll consume much of his minimal hours requirement learning USA airspace, demonstrating proficiency with English, familiarization with radio work and solo x-country practice. Just a guess.
 
The key phrase is "authorized instructor." Having done a number of foreign pilot conversions for the FAA, I can tell you that "time as a pilot," "flight time," etc. count. Certain other types of experience, mostly solo, may also count. But the training required by 14 CFR 61.109 must be accomplished with an authorized instructor which means that the instructor holds an FAA flight instructor certificate. As a result, he may be looking at fulfilling most if not all of the dual training requirements stipulated by 61.109, and possibly some of the solo requirements, depending on what exactly he accomplished "solo," if anything.

A careful review of your student's logbook is in order.

Also, I'm assuming his aviation english is adequate... AELS is a hot topic right now so make sure he's prepared to demonstrate sufficient English speaking and comprehension skills on the practical test.
 
The key phrase is "authorized instructor." Having done a number of foreign pilot conversions for the FAA, I can tell you that "time as a pilot," "flight time," etc. count. Certain other types of experience, mostly solo, may also count. But the training required by 14 CFR 61.109 must be accomplished with an authorized instructor which means that the instructor holds an FAA flight instructor certificate. As a result, he may be looking at fulfilling most if not all of the dual training requirements stipulated by 61.109, and possibly some of the solo requirements, depending on what exactly he accomplished "solo," if anything.

A careful review of your student's logbook is in order.

Also, I'm assuming his aviation english is adequate... AELS is a hot topic right now so make sure he's prepared to demonstrate sufficient English speaking and comprehension skills on the practical test.

Great info, thanks. No issues with English, radio calls just reflect inexperience, not any language barrier. He does have quite a bit of solo experience, so that shouldn't be an issue, just mainly going to be the dual time. In my opinion his proficiency in the plane in no way reflects 200 hours of logged time, but that's a different discussion.
 
Great info, thanks. No issues with English, radio calls just reflect inexperience, not any language barrier. He does have quite a bit of solo experience, so that shouldn't be an issue, just mainly going to be the dual time. In my opinion his proficiency in the plane in no way reflects 200 hours of logged time, but that's a different discussion.

Training in the Philippines is lacking in all aspects. The Filipinos serious about flight training go elsewhere, as a CAAP certificate is basically meaningless to the rest of the world.

Another thing about Filipino flight training. Forging of logbooks is not uncommon. There maybe a reason there is no instructor signoffs in his logs.

Proceed with extreme caution.
 
Yeah....that's already apparent.

Unfortunately, in the Philippines it's easy to fake logs and even get a fake CAAP certificate. Some Filipinos then think all they have to do is cook up a log book, come to the US and get a US FAA certificate.

Once he leaves you he will try to shop around for someone else.
 
You are going to find out he has little experience.

Had to revisit this one. Dude almost drove us into the runway on landing the other day after a cross-country, like not even an attempt at flaring. Two previous landings were acceptable, the last one was just straight, undeniable garbage.
 
How much have you flown with this student? You will able to judge how much work he needs.
 
About 10 hours now. He paid for a 20 hour block up front and I think expected to be able to complete the checkride within that.
 
About 10 hours now. He paid for a 20 hour block up front and I think expected to be able to complete the checkride within that.

Might be time to have a frank discussion about his expectations. Some folks cannot handle frankness and I have lost a student or two over the years, but when a guy (with zero hours) tells you his grand plan is to buy a C210, fly it out of the field in his back yard, and (because his plan included getting an instrument ticket) be able to fly all year round, no matter the weather, you just gotta have a commin' to Jesus conversation with them.
 
Oof, yeah that's rough. Lol. I've been careful to manage expectations, and I specifically mentioned our next flight for sure would just be pattern work before we moved onto anything else. The rest of his flying isn't bad at all, still not what his logbook claims but somewhere in between there and the amount we've flown.
 
Oof, yeah that's rough. Lol. I've been careful to manage expectations, and I specifically mentioned our next flight for sure would just be pattern work before we moved onto anything else. The rest of his flying isn't bad at all, still not what his logbook claims but somewhere in between there and the amount we've flown.

But how is his attitude? Does he agree with, and understand that he will have to demonstrate maneuvers, and such? Does he take instruction from you ok?
 
Attitude is good, but it being 2 weeks since our last flight was not good last night.
 
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