Besides working on a new pilot rating, checkout, endorsements or mandatory flight reviews, there are many reasons to fly with a CFI:
- Regain proficiency after a pause in flying
- Preparing for a flight that is outside your comfort zone
- Practicing a skill that has been neglected (when is the last time you flew under the hood or did unusual attitude recovery)?
- Learning something new, just because improving is the surest defense against worsening
So when you fly with a CFI next, ask him or her to make it a 61.56 Flight Review. Here’s why:
- Though it is colloquially known as a Biannual Flight Review, the FAA has dropped the Biannual part a long time ago. The 24 month of the regulations is a minimum, and you are encouraged to make Flight Reviews at a higher frequency as part of your personal proficiency plan.
- A CFI has a lot of regulatory flexibility to define what constitutes a flight review. Regulations only require a minimum of one hour of ground instruction and one hour of flight instruction. There are some guidelines and recommendations, but if you have demonstrated steep turns and stalls 6 months ago to the CFI, you could do a flight with mostly instrument training, or learning lazy eights as part of your proficiency plan and the CFI may be willing to endorse it as a flight review.
So, when your personal proficiency plan calls for a flight with a CFI, consider making it a Flight Review.