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Ravioli

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My turn for a flight review is coming up on Wednesday.

I'll be doing the flight portion in a C177RG and I've asked to focus on short field take offs and landings. If the runway is open we'll spend a good amount of time on the grass runway at Spinks.
(No - this is not intended as a warning to local pilots)

Question for the CFI's - The hour of ground talk... what areas should I read up on? My expectation is that reviewing stuff in advance will give me questions to ask and make the exercise more valuable. I think I'm good on airspace, weather, planning type stuff. But that's really just what I think I know, right?

Are there areas you like to check up on with 350 hour "know it all" pilots like me?

Thanks!
 
I cover applicable 91 rules, local airspace, emergency procedures, systems, etc. For the flying I like to cover a lot of emergencies and I'll usually take people to unfamiliar fields or fields that they haven't been to.
 
All of us are different, my hot topics are

Airspace, what you need to do and have to get into here.
The "rocket" you're here at XX feet, what airspace? XXX feet what airspace.

What you need to be legal to fly, medical, currency.

W&B

Annual and 100hr

Performance calc, take off here with XX temp, Xx in meat in the plane, XX fuel, what's the outlook, where your go no go

Weather mins

special VFR

Quiz on memory items off your plane, max fuel, v speeds, etc

Flight stuff, short field, simulated engine failure, full stalls, other PTS stuff, off the cuff re route.
 
I'd check everything on you radical!

Nah, Part 91 review, airspace, your airplane's systems, TFRs, talk about what is typical flying for you, anything you're unsure about or would like to discuss. It's not a check ride, so I try to tailor it to the pilot's normal flying. I usually have the pilot navigate (VOR) out to the practice area, do slow flight/MCA, a stall, steep turns, and then head back in, with a simulated forced landing on the way. Then normal and short field TO & landings, 2 or 3 ought to be good enough. Then you're done. Drink a cold one, or three.
 
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In my experience, the ground portion has been the same as it was with the DPE, although abbreviated to some extent. FAR's and weather were two of the biggest subjects I was questioned on during my last ride.
 
Thinking back to my previous flight reviews.... aeromedical factors. We talked a bit about night vision vs day vision.

I do very little night flying... just enough to legally carry a passenger in case I get back late. I don't PLAN to fly at night other than for currency.

Maybe I've given myself an emphasis area?

Thanks for the suggestions so far... I welcome more... (and I'll never fly with @mscard88 ;) )
 
Ravioli said:
Thinking back to my previous flight reviews.... aeromedical factors. We talked a bit about night vision vs day vision.

I do very little night flying... just enough to legally carry a passenger in case I get back late. I don't PLAN to fly at night other than for currency.

Maybe I've given myself an emphasis area?

Thanks for the suggestions so far... I welcome more... (and I'll never fly with @mscard88 ;) )
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How about doing the BFR at night? From my experience, a lot of pilots just do their night requirements and seldom fly at night.
 
I have done a lot of flight reviews over the years. If it's an airplane owner that I'm flying with I spend a lot of time focusing on their airplane. Systems & performance. I usually have them do a weight & balance problem.

I usually start by asking them what types of missions they use their plane for & modify the flight review accordingly.

It sounds like James 331 & I give about the same flight review.

In my 42 years as CFI, I've only had one pilot I refused to sign off. It was a glider pilot. That is one long story.
 
ASK YOUR INSTRUCTOR.

He'll tell you what you should study, what his hot button topics are, and so on.

The one actual flight review I did had a checklist. The WINGS stuff was pretty straightforward as well.
 
Meh....I wouldn't worry too much about the ground. It's an open book discussion and can go anywhere. If you don't know the answer you know where to look...so that's where mine went.
 
MAKG1 said:
The WINGS stuff was pretty straightforward as well.
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Good point... I can run through the WINGS stuff and get a bit a of 2-fer since my insurance will likely appreciate the effort.

Thanks!
 
I tried to find out what the pilot did a lot, and touch on some related areas to make sure he wasn't developing bad habits and forgetting applicable knowledge.

Then I'd find out what they did once in a while, or might do in the next year, which usually required more in-depth review because they hadn't been exercising those knowledge and skill areas.

Kinda vague, I know, but I'm not an "every pilot should be able to..." instructor.
 
Ravioli said:
Good point... I can run through the WINGS stuff and get a bit a of 2-fer since my insurance will likely appreciate the effort.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
The other thing I really like about WINGS (despite some of the complexity) is the incentive to do periodic recurrent training over the course of a year, rather than only once every two.

Wake up one morning on a windy day and call a CFI to get more comfortable with crosswinds? You've probably got a flight credit. OTOH, your flight review might be on that calm, beautiful day when everything is easy.
 
I will write up the review when I get home. Presently, I'm stuck in a crummy motel in Eastern Idaho with nothing but an iPad & ****ty wifi.

Since the pilot in question has flown west I don't think it would offend him.

No, not a glider accident. His calendar ran out.
 
At similar hours. I always ask for some for some hood work...unusual attitudes, 180's, turn to specific headings, climbs and descents.
 
Kritchlow said:
Nate... I'm a bit disappointed. I love your posts and your insight.
I'm just dissapointrd you linked the info instead of typed the 23 pages...:D
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FAA can out-write me on a pound for pound basis, using money provided by me to pay just the interest on the loans they use to do it.

I believe that's called: A losing game, if you try to compete.

I'll let 'em write their own rulebook for their own game.

There's some "insight" for the day. Haha. :)
 
Flight review completed. Sorry DFW, I'm legal for a couple more years!

My thoughts:
When I'm just flying around with no real time constraints I should slow down, do some slow flight, some steep turns, maybe pull the throttle back and hold best glide for a while.

The unusual attitude recovery went really well, without any recent practice. I guess that was drilled in to my thick head really well.

I fly often enough that I usually have my 3 landings to carry passengers... but I get so many of them on straight-ins to towered airports or in the quick pattern at the home drome that I don't change up and say "This one will be Short Field, This one will be Soft Field' It's all just "Normal" I need to practice the others more often.

I need to fly at night more. (didn't do it today, but just thinking about my flying it is something to do more of)

My RV has a GNS and the Cardinal has a GNS... but the autopilots are quite different and I need to keep in mind which one it's talking to, since something as simple as the GPS/CDI button will put me in the wrong direction quickly in the Cardinal while the Dynon HSI module gets the full ARINC feed and doesn't care about the mode on the GNS.

Anyway... thanks again for all the review advice.
 
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