Flight Instructors

Certification or Licensing

To become a flight instructor, you will need to get FAA flight-instructor certification. To do this, you must have a commercial pilot's certification for the kind of aircraft (single engine, multiengine, instrument, and so on) that matches the flight instructor rating (designation) you want to have. You must have accumulated a certain amount of flying time and have your logbook properly endorsed. You must have completed training that covered topics such as evaluation of student flight performance, lesson planning, and how to properly instruct on stall awareness, spin entry, spins, and spin-recovery methods. In addition, you will need to pass a test with written and oral sections as well as a flight test. Certification renewal is on a two-year basis.