Military Flight Checks

[Fly Navy]

Brett

Priceless. Brett makes the board go round.

 

[Brett327]

Priceless. Brett makes the board go round.

I'm here to help, as you know.

Brett

 

[mules83]

think before you type....think before you type....

 

[pdx]

I think the short answer here is that no one really knows and a call to your FSDO office will answer your questions.

In my (small) experience, the FSDO is the easiest way to deal with any of these questions. The FAA delegates a fair amount of the responsibility for interpreting and enforcing regulations to the local districts. If you go to a district that commonly deals with military pilots (like San Diego, P'cola, Norfolk, etc), I'm sure they already have a policy in place and can tell you exactly what they will and won't accept.

 

[RobLyman]

Just a summary of reinstating a CFI under 61.199.

I let my CFI expire due to a deployment and losing track of my expiration year. Under 61.199, if you have completed a military instructor checkride within the past 6 months, you can get your CFI reinstated. I contacted several DPEs and the Orlando FSDO and originally got zero replies. Finally, a DPE I knew well gave me a specific contact in Orlando. As a DPE, he could not reinstate a CFI. It turns out you need an Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) to do this. I emailed my checkride paperwork to an ASI in Jacksonville. Several trips through IACRA and some help over the phone and we managed to get an application submitted for this. Long story short, I have a new temporary CFI certificate as of yesterday morning. Anyone in the same boat, let me know and I can help point you in the right direction. It took about 2 months of phone calls, so it was a bit of a pain in the ass. Not nearly as bad as another checkride.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Or you can do an online internet course in a couple of hours anywhere in the world and keep it current that way. You don't even have to do it in one sitting. American Flyers has one where you pay once and can use it for life.

 

[HuggyU2]

American Flyers has one where you pay once and can use it for life.

That's the one I use. I also pay them a few bucks each time I renew to do all of the paperwork with the FAA. Literally cheaper than driving to the FSDO and back.

 

[HAL Pilot]

That's the one I use. I also pay them a few bucks each time I renew to do all of the paperwork with the FAA. Literally cheaper than driving to the FSDO and back.

Aren’t you a Captain? You should just be able to hand an 8710 to your POI.

 

[RobLyman]

Or you can do an online internet course in a couple of hours anywhere in the world and keep it current that way. You don't even have to do it in one sitting. American Flyers has one where you pay once and can use it for life.

I have used American Flyers to RENEW my CFI several times. Unfortunately, after returning from deployment my certificates were lost (an unpleasant story) which made it difficult for me to send in my old certificate during the renewal process. A bunch of other things occurred and I lost track, thinking I still had another year to renew. Getting my CFI back went on the back burner until my son wanted to get his private license before going to Embry Riddle. By that time it had expired. So this was not a renewal. It was a reinstatement.

This confusion is one of the reasons why, after starting the process, it took as long as it did. Each person I called, if they responded at all, insisted I would have to do another checkride to get it reinstated, or that I could just do an online course. These were CFIs and DPEs telling me this. Even after emphasizing the paragraph pertaining to this option, I could almost hear their eyes rolling over the phone. Not until I spoke with Randy Miner, a CFI, now DPE that I had worked with at the Navy Jax Flying Club, did I get someone to listen. He agreed it was possible, but that he did not have the authority as a DPE. He is the one who gave me the specific contact in Orlando.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Is Randy Miner a retired AW LDO or CWO? Once upon a time I knew a Randy Miner st a TSC somewhere (forget which one).

 

[RobLyman]

Is Randy Miner a retired AW LDO or CWO? Once upon a time I knew a Randy Miner st a TSC somewhere (forget which one).

Yes, he is.

 

[HuggyU2]

Aren’t you a Captain?

No, I’ve never been in the left seat... yet.

Looks like it isn’t happening for a while now, either.