Giving Flight Instructors A Break?

Doesn’t really change that much for most flight instructors. They will still have to meet the same requirements every 2 years but just won’t receive a new card each time now.
 
The way it is now is equivalent to being issued a new pilot certificate every two years after a flight review. The proposal is to just remove the expiration date from the hard copy, but the CFI still has to maintain currency through activity or refresher training.
 
The title of the NPRM is misleading. The ony thing that changes is that the plastic certificate will not have a printed expiration date, but the certificate will actually expire. Why they think this is an improvement is beyond me.
The certificate wouldn’t expire, but currency would.

it saves the FAA time and expense.
 
Not a CFI, but I've never understood why a CFI expires in the first place. They already need currency, and if they're recommending people for checkrides, and they screw up enough of those someone is going to take a look at them. I get that the written knowledge and regulations change all the time, but students are tested on that with the knowledge tests. The skills and practical parts just don't change that much. I'm sure there's some reason for it, but it seems like an unneeded layer of checking to me.
 
Not a CFI, but I've never understood why a CFI expires in the first place. They already need currency, and if they're recommending people for checkrides, and they screw up enough of those someone is going to take a look at them. I get that the written knowledge and regulations change all the time, but students are tested on that with the knowledge tests. The skills and practical parts just don't change that much. I'm sure there's some reason for it, but it seems like an unneeded layer of checking to me.
Got my CFI in 1988. Renewed until 1996.
At this point I would have no clue about what sign offs are required or how to write them. Not just that, but I’m shamed by much of the CFI’s here (or pilots in general) that know all the ins & outs of the regs.
I’m a 121 guy for many years now, and follow company policy. That puts me in compliance and that’s all I need to know.
I do feel as though I could still teach, but the regulatory stuff has long passed me by.
 
Not a CFI, but I've never understood why a CFI expires in the first place. They already need currency, and if they're recommending people for checkrides, and they screw up enough of those someone is going to take a look at them. I get that the written knowledge and regulations change all the time, but students are tested on that with the knowledge tests. The skills and practical parts just don't change that much. I'm sure there's some reason for it, but it seems like an unneeded layer of checking to me.

Teaching skills are perishable. The recurrent training requirement is minimal.
 
Many years ago Texas tried something like this with the drivers license. Instead of a new license every time it is renewed, they sent a little decal to be placed on the license.

Which faded out and came off after a few months in the wallet...
 
The certificate wouldn’t expire, but currency would.

it saves the FAA time and expense.

If I am reading it correctly, if you let the CFI currency lapse by more than 3 months, you have to reapply and take a new checkride. Why is that not the same as an expired certificate?
 
If I am reading it correctly, if you let the CFI currency lapse by more than 3 months, you have to reapply and take a new checkride. Why is that not the same as an expired certificate?
Because the certificate wouldnt have an expiration date on it, and that checkride wouldn’t result in the issuance of a new certificate.
 
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