Flight Review

Today (18 JUNE 11) I took my first ever Flight Review (previously referred to by the FAA as a biennial flight review, or BFR). This is a flight review required by the FAA (14 CFR 61.56) for pilots to be considered "current to fly" and must be completed every 24-calendar months for active holders of a U.S. Pilot certificate. The flight review consists of at least 1-hour of ground instruction and 1-hour in-flight instruction with a qualified flight instructor. The FAA and instructors seem to be quick to point out that it is not a test. There is no pass or fail criteria, although the instructor giving it can decline to endorse your log-book that a flight review has been completed.

Being this was my first one (my previous requirement was met by completing my instrument rating) I was a bit nervous since I didn't know what exactly to expect. My instructor Joel was the same instructor that I did my Cirrus transition training with, and a fantastic flight instructor, so there wasn't any worries from that aspect. I just wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

Since I had to meet Joel at Gardner (K34), I departed KMKC at 0645 for the quick 10-minute flight to Gardner. This turned out to be kind of fun since the paved runway there, RW 8, is only 2960' x 39' which being narrow makes it seem like you are flying way too fast on final. The flight over was uneventful and I linked up with Joel to execute the flight review.

N779WC at Gardner Municipal (K34)

Ground Training - For this part of the exam I had prepared a XC flight from KMKC to KOMA and we used this as a basis to "chat" about IFR procedures, Airspace requirements, and flight rules. Instead of getting a machine gun list of questions, Joel turned the discussion into an exam without really making it feel like one! It was quite awesome really. We talked for about 1.5 hrs and then stepped out to the plane.

Flight Training - We loaded up in 9WC and departed on RW26 and headed out to the west to do some basic maneuvers. We did stalls, steep turns, slow flight and then shot an ILS into New Century RW 36. After this we did some touch and goes into RW 8 at Gardner which were a blast because of the narrow runway and then because of the quick turn to the north in order to stay clear of the Class-D airspace. When looking at the airspace you would think that it would be right traffic, but it's not! When looking at the Garmins or MFD it actually shows you inside of the Class-D airspace, however Joel assured me that we were safe and not actually inside the controlled airspace. After a couple of these, we stopped and the flight review was complete. It really turned out to be a pretty fun training experience!