Flight Review (the activity formerly know as BFR)

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Ravioli

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How do you guys view Flight Reviews?

It seems easy enough to treat them as a huge pain in the ass that you have to show compliance with every two years and therefore find them a bad regulatory thing.

I've done some that way. Believe that.

I have also done some where I was getting a sign-off and/or endorsement for a different plane and asked to do an hour of ground review and tag in the flight review at the same time.

I'm thinking about doing one 5 months early because I want to tighten up my max performance take offs and landings with my CFI in my RV. He'll certainly be reviewing my flying so why not reset the clock?

Overall - do you agree with me that Flight Reviews are a good and needed thing, or do you feel it's a regulatory pain?
 
My experience is that the people who don't view the flight review as being worthwhile are usually the ones that need a flight review the worst, and need to tighten up their flying the most.

I wish more pilots would be receptive to the idea of going out with an instructor occasionally and trying things they may not have tried before. Too many guys seem to accept mediocrity, and it shows when you fly with them. You don't necessarily have to spend a ton on a flight review to get something of value, but it likely will cost a bit more than what the absolute bare minimum would cost.

Is it a pain? It can be, if you wait until the last minute and the instructor you want to use is unavailable. Otherwise, it shouldn't be a big deal.
 
I have learned a lot in every flight review I have had.

I find the more I learn the more fun I have flying.

I have given flight reviews to clients who are much better pilots than I. I feel I am still able to provide value.

I find there is usually some part of the clients flying or knowledge that is not what it could be.

I have yet to give a flight review in two hours.
 
I'm all for recurrent training. A good pilot will treat the BFR as a learning experience not some nuisance. There are guys who I didn't sign off and wouldn't have passed a private ride if they took it again. You can never have enough training IMO.
 
Anymore, I'm very selective about who I give flight reviews to because I just don't have the patience for folks who think the flight review is a PITA. In fact, most of the guys I do flight reviews for fly with me regularly throughout the year(s), so the review itself is a bit of a non-event because I already know their flying well (and they know what I expect). In my experience, the guys who have a hard time with flight reviews are those who aren't flying much and/or don't have a good relationship with a good CFI.
 
rolivi said:
How do you guys view Flight Reviews?

It seems easy enough to treat them as a huge pain in the ass that you have to show compliance with every two years and therefore find them a bad regulatory thing.

I've done some that way. Believe that.

I have also done some where I was getting a sign-off and/or endorsement for a different plane and asked to do an hour of ground review and tag in the flight review at the same time.

I'm thinking about doing one 5 months early because I want to tighten up my max performance take offs and landings with my CFI in my RV. He'll certainly be reviewing my flying so why not reset the clock?

Overall - do you agree with me that Flight Reviews are a good and needed thing, or do you feel it's a regulatory pain?
Click to expand...

I like them, I actually looked forward to them, meet up with a CFI talk airplanes, get a fresh view and maybe learn something new, seems like a great thing and it has been working for ages.

Nowadays Im not working pt91, so I don't do BFRs anymore, but I still like to do a little pt91 with a CFI once in a while
 
I did mine back in the summer, it was quick and painless and if I'm being honest probably not all that educational either. All I really had to do is prove I had a general idea of what I was doing and still knew how to do a stall recovery and land the airplane.
 
It's probably not a secret I fly often... My last flight review I did the ground discussion and then for the air work I did it all from the right seat. What? Why? Huh?

I frequently fly as a safety pilot but I had no experience landing "over there" in the right seat. It's a bit different in site picture and your hands do things a bit differently. Good experience.
 
I also did mine this past July, not a big deal at all. In my viewpoint they are most certainly needed. Basically ends up being a much relaxed check ride, if you can fly it with a good CFI.
 
bradg33 said:
Anymore, I'm very selective about who I give flight reviews to because I just don't have the patience for folks who think the flight review is a PITA. In fact, most of the guys I do flight reviews for fly with me regularly throughout the year(s), so the review itself is a bit of a non-event because I already know their flying well (and they know what I expect). In my experience, the guys who have a hard time with flight reviews are those who aren't flying much and/or don't have a good relationship with a good CFI.
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Finally someone I agree with 100% I felt the same way...be fair to yourself and them be legal and fly safe
 
mondtster said:
My experience is that the people who don't view the flight review as being worthwhile are usually the ones that need a flight review the worst, and need to tighten up their flying the most.
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:yeahthat:

I'm also a (one of the very few) fans of the WINGS program. For all of its unfortunate over-complexity, a program that allows one to build up credit toward a flight review by focusing on a series of tasks on multiple days over the course of a year, rather than as a one-shot deal, strikes me as one providing an incentive for true recurrent training.

Waking up one morning when the wind is blowing and calling a CFI to get in some long-needed crosswind practice and have it apply to a later flight review just strikes me as better than going up on that one day when the winds might not be so "favorable."
 
Ryanb said:
I also did mine this past July, not a big deal at all. In my viewpoint they are most certainly needed. Basically ends up being a much relaxed check ride, if you can fly it with a good CFI.
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Ryanb....Fly safe and enjoy...
 
rolivi said:
How do you guys view Flight Reviews?

It seems easy enough to treat them as a huge pain in the ass that you have to show compliance with every two years and therefore find them a bad regulatory thing.

I've done some that way. Believe that.

I have also done some where I was getting a sign-off and/or endorsement for a different plane and asked to do an hour of ground review and tag in the flight review at the same time.

I'm thinking about doing one 5 months early because I want to tighten up my max performance take offs and landings with my CFI in my RV. He'll certainly be reviewing my flying so why not reset the clock?

Overall - do you agree with me that Flight Reviews are a good and needed thing, or do you feel it's a regulatory pain?
Click to expand...
as a relatively new sport pilot I approached my first BFR last year as a good thing, an opportunity to confirm my belief that I was doing well...and it did, with a few exceptions. none of us are God's gift to aviation or too old to learn something...in my case...re-learn something or to be better. Flight Reviews are absolutely a good and needed thing.
 
Other than I think, two of mine, maybe three, they've all been met during some form of harder training or by a new certificate or rating.

I've never found the FR a pain. I've found scheduling it a pain a couple of times. Which as someone pointed out, is self fulfilling. If you're not flying much and scheduling it is a pain, you probably need one anyway.

One side note here: When you own your own aircraft and aren't adding certificates or ratings, you can get pretty "disconnected" from the local training world and you need to have a CFI in mind long before you need the FR who'll fly in other people's airplanes.

Having co-owners helps in this in that each person probably has at least one CFI on speed dial that they've used before for various things.

Another way to do it is to go fly something you normally don't. Especially if your airplane isn't exactly "exciting". CFIs will climb all over each other to fly with owners who have "interesting" stuff, but they're not as interested (well, some of them) in the guy who calls up and says he has a boring old 182 with a steam panel and he's been flying it for half a decade. (Ours gets a tiny bit more attention due to the STOL kit if you say you'll let them play with the slow speed capabilities besides doing the FR...)

That said, most CFIs like to teach even if it's in something boring, so an offer of a $100 hamburger and a coke on top of the usual FR fee and they'll tell ya when they'll be by to go flying. Some will want to see all the books on privately owned, others will take a verbal maintenance history and a peek that all required documents are on board, others will just hop in and say "lets go..." so being prepared to show them the books is always in good form.
 
I like to incorporate things that pertain to the pilot's type of flying, as well as the basic stuff. Also like to introduce something unusual or new to the pilot to enhance his knowledge. Could be something he wasn't aware of in the plane he flys.

If done correctly I think FR have value.
 
I don't fear them and find them informative, but it also depends a lot on who is conducting them.
 
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