Flight Review Guidance

Flight reviews are an opportunity for re-currency training that only comes once every couple of years.  We need to ensure that the pilot has a good experience during the flight review.  The best way to provide this experience is to do our best so that the pilot can say, “Thanks.  I really learned something today!”  We have two parts to a flight review, 1 hour of oral ground school and at least 3 flights.  So let’s develop a program to give us the greatest chance of ensuring the pilot walks away with a good experience.  So, how to do it?

 

Things To Do to Make it Interesting

Blindfold test for controls

Airspeed covered for second flight

Spot Landing ”over a fence” at unfamiliar location (Use WARD airfield or south end of GHSA)

Preflight checklist:  Must be written and used (per FAR)

Distractions in the cockpit:

  • Change radio freq.

  • While in Traffic pattern at 600’, suggest we turn L/R and thermal “over there” and see what the response is.

  • Pick up a pencil on floor

  • Unfold and refold a sectional

Flight Review – Potential Maneuvers:

  • Box Wake

  • PT3

  • Slack rope

  • Spot landing

  • Low energy landing over a fence (discussion only or use cones as a simulated fence at least ~1000’ from end of the runway)

  • Covered altimeter and/or airspeed

  • MCA

  • No spoiler landings (slips)

  • Stuck spoilers at full open

  • Stalls/spins

Flight Review Oral

Judgment (use Scenario Based Training pages at SSF)

Sectional

Airspace

FARs

List of FAA hot issues

Radio procedures

NOTAMS

Weather

Intercept procedures

Tow signals

Emergency landing fields –the 7S’s (Surface wind, size, shape, slope, surface, surroundings, stock (live)

Errors when landing out: Indecision, Irreg. Patterns, bad pilot tech, Failure to understand wind, failure to plan ahead, pattern too close (very common error for 1st time landing-out)

Videos from SSF (3)

Landing Pattern (Objective:  Get down to spot safely)

Req’d documents in aircraft (ARROW)

Spatial disorientation

Collision avoidance

Difference between uncompensated, TE, and Netto varios:  How to know? (Check on Take off)

Wake turbulence avoidance

Low Level wind shear

Use of checklists

Preflight:  Check NOTAMS and WX

Speed to fly