How to Become a Flight Instructor

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To become a flight instructor, you need a commercial or ATP certificate with the matching category and class rating, an instrument rating, 15 hours of PIC time in that category and class, and passing scores on two knowledge tests and a practical test.

Pursuing a flight instructor certificate is not a choice a pilot takes lightly. 

Nor should they.

Becoming a Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) is challenging. 

Some pilots want to instruct to build time for the airlines. Others instruct because they love sharing the magic of flight with their students.

Regardless of a pilot’s goals, being a good CFI requires not only a mastery of flight skills. It also demands an understanding of how to teach and motivate students in the way that works best for them. 

But if you’re ready for the challenge, read on. We’ll cover everything you need to know to earn your flight instructor certificate.

Key Takeaways

• You need a commercial or ATP certificate with the matching category and class rating, an instrument rating, and a medical or BasicMed.
• Two knowledge tests come first. On the checkride, you teach your DPE like a student.
• Not every CFI can train you. Your instructor has to meet the experience minimums in 14 CFR 61.195(h).
• Certificates issued on or after December 1, 2024 don’t expire. Recent experience every 24 calendar months keeps you current.

Requirements

The art of flight instruction goes back well over 100 years. In 1909, Wilbur Wright began teaching U.S. Army officers to fly the Wright Flyer. Some students soloed after an astoundingly brief three hours of training!

Of course, there were no requirements for flight instructors or flight students at the time. Wilbur was, quite literally, flying by the seat of his pants. 

As you’ve probably surmised, things are a bit different nowadays. The FAA has outlined precise standards for who can give flight instruction.

For this article, we’ll assume that you have a commercial pilot certificate with an Airplane Single-Engine Land (ASEL) category and class rating.

General Eligibility

There are a few requirements that you need to meet before starting your CFI training.

The requirements found in 14 CFR § 61.183 state that a pilot must:

• Be at least 18 years of age.
  
  
• Be able to read, speak, write, and understand the English language. 
  
  
• Hold either a commercial pilot certificate or an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate.
  • The certificate must be of the same category and class rating as the instructor category and class that is sought.
• Hold an instrument rating (or appropriate instrument privileges). This applies to airplane single-engine, airplane multiengine, powered-lift, and instrument instructor ratings, per 61.183(c)(2).
  
  
• Have at least 250 hours of total time.*

*This hour requirement is not directly from 61.183. While the flight instructor certificate has no time minimum, the commercial certificate does. Hence the 250-hour requirement. Commercial pilots trained at Part 141 schools need only 190 hours to qualify.

You will need at least a third-class medical certificate or BasicMed to take the CFI practical test in an aircraft (14 CFR 61.23(a)(3)(iii)). Once you hold the certificate, you can instruct without a medical as long as you are not acting as pilot in command or as a required crewmember (14 CFR 61.23(b)(7)). 

Training

Not Every CFI Can Train You

Here’s something that catches a lot of commercial pilots off guard. Not every flight instructor is allowed to train you for your CFI.

The FAA tightened this in the same rulemaking that removed the expiration date from instructor certificates. Under FAR 61.195(h), your ground instructor needs the appropriate certificate and rating, plus either 24 calendar months holding it and 40 hours of ground training given, or 100 hours of ground training in an FAA-approved course.

Your flight instructor has to clear a higher bar. Along with the right certificate and rating, they need one of these:

• 24 calendar months as a CFI and 200 hours of flight training given.
• At least five applicants endorsed for practical tests in the preceding 24 calendar months, with 80% or better passing on the first attempt.
• Graduation from an FAA-approved flight instructor enhanced qualification training program, once they have given 200 hours of flight training.

Ask before you sign anything.

Ground Training

Now that you’re qualified to pursue the flight instructor certificate, your training can begin.

The Fundamentals of Instructing

It’s tempting to assume that there is a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching students. After all, good instruction is good instruction, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that. 

Every student learns differently. We all have different needs, goals, strengths, fears, and weaknesses. It’s the instructor’s job to assess how the student is progressing and adapt training as necessary. This requires skill and a bit of psychology too.

This is why the FAA created the Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI). The FOI helps new instructors understand and apply the principles of learning theory.

Some CFIs downplay the importance of the FOI. Then they wonder why their students aren’t progressing well. The difference between a mediocre instructor and an effective instructor isn’t necessarily their stick-and-rudder skills. It’s often their instructional skills.

So be that effective instructor and take learning how to teach seriously! Your future students deserve it.

Knowledge Areas

On top of the FOI, a CFI candidate needs to be well-versed in the knowledge areas up to the commercial certificate level. This means all of the knowledge areas. Plus, you’ll need to know the (new to you) regulations that apply to flight instructors, like endorsements.

Helpful Resources:

• Aviation Instructor’s Handbook
• Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
• FAR/AIM
• Airplane Flying Handbook

The Flight Instructor for Airplane Category ACS (FAA-S-ACS-25) contains an excellent list of additional helpful documents.

Lesson Plans

The amount of knowledge you need to learn as an instructor is intimidating. Even if you jump into CFI training right after your commercial checkride, there will be knowledge areas you won’t have an instructor-level grasp on. Take this time to review each knowledge area by creating lesson plans.

The Flight Instructor for Airplane Category ACS is your best lesson plan guide. Each lesson plan must hit all of the key points listed in the ACS.

You don’t have to create each lesson plan from scratch. But you do need to understand how to use your lesson plans to guide you along as you teach. Think of them more like a checklist than something you’ll be reading aloud.

Don’t Be Boring

Some CFIs underestimate the impact of boredom on their students. Maybe you’ve had unfortunate first-hand experience with this phenomenon.

A bored student will not retain what you’re teaching. It takes skill and practice to make a lesson interesting, particularly lessons on aviation’s drier topics. If you try to dump knowledge into a student, it will drain out their ears.

You need to incorporate some element of excitement and intensity in each lesson. Yes, even when teaching the entire Runway Incursion Avoidance task!

Giving Endorsements

Before this point, you’ve been the pilot receiving endorsements from your instructor. Soon, you’ll be the pilot giving the endorsements.

Advisory Circular AC 61-65K is a fantastic resource for all things endorsements. You don’t need to know every endorsement word-for-word. That’s not something you should try to commit to memory. But you’ll need to know which endorsements are required for student pilots up to commercial pilots, when you need them, and where to find them. 

You will get students who are already pilots but who want to add an additional aircraft rating to their current certificate. AC 61-65K covers those endorsements as well.

Flight Training

When you’re not on the ground studying the FOI and making lesson plans, you’ll be learning how to teach in the aircraft.

FAR 61.183(j) requires that you have at least 15 hours of pilot-in-command time in an airplane of the same category and class as your desired instructor rating. This is not usually an issue for most pilots. If you’re going for a CFI with an airplane single-engine rating, time in a twin doesn’t count toward it.

A Different Perspective

Flying from the right seat is a strange and humbling experience at first. 

The sight picture out the window is all wrong, causing you to land left of the centerline. Steep turns are all over the place. Switching yoke and throttle hands has made you a ham-fisted pilot. In many training aircraft, you’ll have to look at the flight instruments on the other side of the cockpit since they are no longer in front of you.

This uneasy feeling can be disheartening. You’re training to instruct, but all of a sudden you’re flying more wobbly than a pre-solo student pilot.

The good news is that after a few hours of flying, you’ll feel perfectly comfortable flying from the right seat. Fear not.

The Aircraft is a Poor Classroom

An aircraft is a terrible environment in which to instruct complex topics. It’s noisy and full of distractions. It is not the place to discuss the intricacies of lift vectors in slow flight.

With experience, you’ll learn which discussions are best had on the ground before and after the flight. This will make your in-flight instruction short and easy for the student to digest. Both you and your student will end each flight a little less exhausted. Especially when the “student” is your bored flight instructor.

Spinning

One of the CFI eligibility requirements is that the applicant is “competent and possesses instructional proficiency in stall awareness, spin entry, spins, and spin recovery procedures” by way of flight training.

This means you’re going to get to experience the thrill of spin recovery training! 

The first time you see the ground rotating before your eyes, you won’t know what’s going on. However, after a few spin recoveries, you’ll get the hang of it. You’ll also leave with a visceral understanding of just how dangerous spins are at low altitudes.

Feeling the Confidence

Your instructional prowess, both on the ground and in the air, is now of a high quality. It’s time to start thinking about the knowledge tests and the practical test.

Knowledge Tests

You must pass two knowledge tests before you can take the flight instructor practical test.

The first is the FAA Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI) Knowledge Test. The second is the FAA Flight Instructor Airplane (FIA) Knowledge Test.

Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI) Knowledge Test

The FOI test covers the instructional topics found in the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook. You have 1.5 hours to answer 50 questions, and 70% is the minimum passing score. Since September 1, 2024, you also need an instructor endorsement (or a pilot school graduation certificate) to take the FOI test.

If you already hold a flight or ground instructor certificate, hold a teacher’s certificate for 7th grade or higher, or are a university teacher, you don’t need to take the FOI test (FAR 61.183(e)). However, you must understand how the FOI principles apply to flight students.

Flight Instructor Airplane Knowledge Test (FIA)

The FIA test covers aviation knowledge areas up to the commercial certificate level. It also includes topics specific to flight instructors. 

Use the previously mentioned FAA handbooks/documents and a commercial test prep program of your choice to prepare. You have 2.5 hours to answer 100 questions, and 70% is the minimum passing score.

You must take your practical test within 24 calendar months of passing your knowledge tests.

Endorsements

Your instructor needs to give you several endorsements before you can take the practical test. Your CFI must endorse that they’ve instructed you on the applicable knowledge areas before your tests. 

As a CFI candidate, it’s up to you to know when you’re ready.

FAR 61.183 provides the entire list of endorsements, but we’ll distill it down for you here.

1. FAR 61.183(d) – Receive and log ground training on the FOI (FAR  61.185(a)(1)).
2. FAR 61.185(a)(2) – Receive and log ground training on the aeronautical knowledge areas for a recreational, private, and commercial pilot certificate. The matching knowledge test requirement is FAR 61.183(f).
3. FAR 61.183(g) – Receive a logbook endorsement on the areas of operation listed in FAR 61.187(b). The underlying ground and flight training requirement is FAR 61.187(a).
4. FAR 61.39(a)(6)(i)-(iii) – Practical test endorsements (applies to any practical test).
   1. Received and logged training time in the preceding 2 calendar months of the practical test (no minimum training time for CFI).
   2. Applicant is prepared for the practical test.
   3. Applicant has “demonstrated satisfactory knowledge” on deficient knowledge test areas.
5. FAR 61.183(i)(1) – Competence in stall awareness, spin entry, spins, and spin recovery.

Practical Test

You’ve passed your knowledge tests. You’re feeling good about teaching effectively on the ground and in the air (yes, even eights-on-pylons). Your lesson plans are in hand, and your instructor has given you all of the required endorsements.

For the past few weeks or months, you’ve been practicing teaching with your instructor, your fellow pilots, and anyone else who will listen. Thank you, (patient) friends and family.

It’s now time to take the practical test.

Test Day

Like all practical tests, there is a ground “oral” portion and a flight portion.

The practical test will start by going over your qualifications and endorsements. Your Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) will make sure all is in order before proceeding to the oral exam. 

Anticipate the CFI oral exam to be much longer than your previous exams. Expect anywhere from four to eight hours, depending on your DPE.

The test will follow the requirements listed in the ACS, so there shouldn’t be any surprises.

Example Practical Test – Ground

Every practical test is different, but let’s go over a typical example.

FOI

You’ll start by going over the Fundamentals of Instruction. Some of it will be recalling rote definitions, sure. However, your DPE will likely use hypothetical students in unique training situations. This will require you to apply your FOI knowledge in complex ways.

Expect to explain how to deal with students who exhibit defense mechanisms and hazardous attitudes. You might get a rusty certificated pilot with a medical issue coming back to aviation after years of not flying. These hypothetical students are never easy cases!

Endorsements

Your hypothetical students will have aviation goals they want to meet. Your job is to know what training and endorsements they need. You don’t have to have the endorsements memorized word for word. However, you will need to find the proper endorsements in AC 61-65K and know how to apply them.

Lesson Plans

You’ll teach lessons to your DPE like they’re a student. They may challenge you by not understanding things. Since you’ve practiced teaching your lessons, getting them back on track won’t be difficult for you.

Your DPE can ask you to teach any of the tasks in the ACS, but there are some tasks they are required to ask you about. In the ACS, look at the notes for each Area of Operation. The note indicates which tasks are mandatory and which are at the DPE’s discretion.

Once you’ve satisfied your DPE with your ground training abilities, it’s time to get in the aircraft.

Example Practical Test – Flight

For the flight, your DPE will be part examiner and part greenhorn student. You, of course, will be the consummate professional pilot.

The DPE can ask you to perform and instruct taxiing, takeoffs, landings, straight-and-level flight, turns, climbs, descents, maneuvers, stalls, emergency procedures, and anything else you’re qualified to teach. 

The DPE will perform some of the maneuvers, takeoffs, and landings themselves. You will instruct them as you would a student. It is your job to give them appropriate constructive criticism and intervene if necessary.

The DPE will expect you to use checklists, perform briefings, apply good aeronautical decision-making, establish a sterile cockpit, and utilize a positive exchange of controls.

Passing Criteria

It’s helpful to know exactly what the DPE expects of you. The answer lives in two places, 14 CFR 61.43 and Appendix 1 of the ACS.

The regulation sets the bar. You have to perform the Tasks in the areas of operation listed in the ACS, demonstrate mastery of the airplane by performing each one successfully, and demonstrate proficiency and competency within the approved standards. 

Fail any single area of operation and you fail the practical test. You aren’t eligible for the certificate until you pass all of them.

The ACS handles it from the other direction. Instead of a checklist to satisfy, it names the grounds for disqualification:

• Any action or lack of action that requires the evaluator to intervene to maintain safe flight.
• Failure to use proper and effective visual scanning to clear the area before and during maneuvers.
• Consistently exceeding the tolerances stated in a Task’s skill elements.
• Failure to take prompt corrective action when you exceed those tolerances.
• Failure to exercise risk management.
• Failure to provide effective instruction while demonstrating a procedure or maneuver.

That last one is the CFI-specific trap. Flying the maneuver beautifully isn’t enough. Go quiet while you fly it and you’ve missed the entire point of the test.

One more thing worth knowing. If your DPE decides a Task was incomplete or the outcome was unclear, they have to make you repeat it. That is not an opening for instruction or practice, and it does not let you retry a Task you already failed.

Your test ends one of three ways. A temporary airman certificate, a Notice of Disapproval of Application, or a Letter of Discontinuance. If you fail a Task, you or the DPE can stop there, and the DPE can only keep going with your consent.

Get through all of it and you’ll officially be the world’s newest flight instructor.

Congratulations!

Your CFI Certificate No Longer Expires

Here’s some good news. As of December 1, 2024, flight instructor certificates no longer expire.

The FAA replaced the old renewal cycle with recent experience requirements (FAR 61.197). You must meet one of these requirements every 24 calendar months to keep instructing. Common methods include:

• Passing a practical test for a flight instructor rating.
• Endorsing at least five applicants for practical tests, with an 80% first-time pass rate.
• Completing a Flight Instructor Refresher Course (FIRC), within the preceding 3 calendar months.
• Completed at least one phase of an FAA-sponsored pilot proficiency program in the preceding 12 calendar months, and conducted at least 15 recognized flight activities evaluating at least 5 different pilots with the necessary endorsements.
  • Serving as an instructor in the FAA WINGS proficiency program.  

If your recent experience lapses, you have 3 calendar months to complete a FIRC and restore your privileges. Miss that window, and you’ll need to pass a practical test instead (FAR 61.199).

Frequently Asked Questions

Do You Need a Medical Certificate To Become a Flight Instructor?

Yes. You need at least a third-class medical certificate or BasicMed to take the CFI practical test in an aircraft. 14 CFR 61.23(a)(3)(iii) lists the flight instructor practical test among the tests that require one, and you’ll normally be acting as pilot in command during the flight portion.

Once you hold the certificate, the rules loosen. Under 14 CFR 61.23(b)(7), you don’t need a medical to exercise flight instructor privileges as long as you aren’t acting as pilot in command or serving as a required crewmember. Plenty of CFIs teach this way, with the student acting as PIC.

This one trips people up because it changed. Before the FAA’s 2024 rulemaking, the practical test wasn’t on that list. If you find older guidance saying no medical is required for the CFI checkride, it’s out of date.

Do Flight Instructor Certificates Still Expire?

No. Flight instructor certificates issued on or after December 1, 2024 carry no expiration date. The FAA removed it in a final rule published October 1, 2024 (Amdt. 61-155, 89 FR 80051).

A recent experience requirement replaced it. Under 14 CFR 61.197, you can exercise instructor privileges only if you’ve satisfied one of six recent experience options within the preceding 24 calendar months. Passing a practical test, endorsing at least five applicants with an 80% first-time pass rate, and completing a Flight Instructor Refresher Course are the ones most instructors use.

If you hold an older certificate with a printed expiration date, that date still applies until you renew. After that, the FAA issues one without an expiration.

Let your recent experience lapse and you have 3 calendar months to complete a FIRC before you’ll need a practical test instead (14 CFR 61.199).

How Many Flight Hours Do You Need To Become a CFI?

The flight instructor certificate has no total time minimum. In practice you’ll have at least 250 hours, because that’s what the commercial pilot certificate requires under 14 CFR 61.129, and you need a commercial or ATP certificate to be eligible. Train under Part 141 and the commercial minimum drops to 190 hours.

One hour requirement is specific to the instructor certificate. 14 CFR 61.183(j) requires at least 15 hours as pilot in command in the category and class of aircraft appropriate to the rating you want. If you’re going for a CFI with an airplane single-engine rating, multiengine time won’t count toward it.

Most candidates clear both numbers before they start CFI training. Fifteen hours of single-engine PIC time is a low bar for anyone who just finished a commercial certificate.

Do You Need a College Degree To Become a Flight Instructor?

No. 14 CFR 61.183 lays out every eligibility requirement for a flight instructor certificate, and a college degree isn’t one of them. You need to be at least 18, read and speak English, hold a commercial or ATP certificate with the right category and class rating, hold an instrument rating for airplane and powered-lift instructor ratings, and pass the required tests.

Teaching credentials can help in one narrow way. Under 14 CFR 61.183(e), you can skip the Fundamentals of Instructing knowledge test if you hold a flight or ground instructor certificate issued under Part 61, hold a teacher’s certificate from a state, county, city, or municipality authorizing you to teach at the 7th grade level or higher, or are employed as a teacher at an accredited college or university.

Note what that exemption actually rewards. A teaching job, not a diploma.

Conclusion

Flight instructing can be an incredibly rewarding job. But becoming a CFI isn’t easy. 

Once you decide to pursue your flight instructor certificate, take your training one step at a time. Embody a safety mindset. Maintain your enthusiasm for flying, and be professional in all things. 

Interested in what type of salary you’ll get as a flight instructor? Check out this article on how much pilots make.