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What’s a flight review?


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A flight review is FAA-speak; a biennial flight review is former FAA-speak. It was "biennial" by the way. Bi-annual is twice a year, biennial is every two years.

It used to be you could only do a BFR every two years, now they let you do them as often as you like.

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22 minutes ago, 201er said:

How is a flight review different from a biannual flight review!?

It's the same difference as between "position and hold" and "lineup and wait", i.e., terminology only. Besides the too-frequent confusion between biannual [twice a year] and biennial [every two years].

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26 minutes ago, jlunseth said:

A flight review is FAA-speak; a biennial flight review is former FAA-speak. It was "biennial" by the way. Bi-annual is twice a year, biennial is every two years.

It used to be you could only do a BFR every two years, now they let you do them as often as you like.

Don't know how to spell either and that's what spell check gave me lol.

What stopped someone from getting a "biennial" flight review more often? As far as I know, you could have gotten one say a year early and then had another 2 years until the most recent one would expire and require a new one?

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34 minutes ago, 201er said:

Don't know how to spell either and that's what spell check gave me lol.

What stopped someone from getting a "biennial" flight review more often? As far as I know, you could have gotten one say a year early and then had another 2 years until the most recent one would expire and require a new one?

I was being facetious, which is a polite word for smart-ass. There is no difference between a "Flight Review" and a "Biennial Flight Review." Flight Review is the new term, Biennial Flight Review is the old term. You could have gotten as many BFRs as you desired. Now you can do the same thing. I am pretty sure the Reg. itself (61.56) has not changed, just that the FAA would rather we call it a "Flight Review" even though it is required every two years, and therefore "Biennial Flight Review" seems perfectly appropriate. Maybe the FAA changed the caption of the Reg. I think briefly it was annual if I recall. The Reg. still says you need it every two years, the FAA just likes the term "Flight Review" better. 

The reason given for the change by the FAA was that they wanted people to feel free to train with an instructor more often than every two years, and they thought changing the wording would help.

You don't have to do a flight review. There are some other ways to do it. Get a new rating. Renew an instructor certificate. Get a new Wings level. I would say take a Mooney PPP, but they actually give you a BFR signoff and an IPC signoff at a PPP.

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20 minutes ago, jlunseth said:

The reason given for the change by the FAA was that they wanted people to feel free to train with an instructor more often than every two years, and they thought changing the wording would help.

Next thing you know they rename "annual inspection" to "inspection" so that people feel free to inspect with an IA more often than every year. :rolleyes:

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15 minutes ago, 201er said:

Next thing you know they rename "annual inspection" to "inspection" so that people feel free to inspect with an IA more often than every year. :rolleyes:

That’s always been allowed. You can annual your plane twice in one day if you want.

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Just now, Hank said:

What's your charge for a half-day annual? And what is included???

hah hah, In that amount of time its probably limited to a log book entry! 

But only a frequency of once of month will keep resetting the next annual due date.

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4 hours ago, Hank said:

What's your charge for a half-day annual? And what is included???

It only counts after I do the week long annual.

One of the local maintenance inspectors from the FSDO suggested that I do multiple annuals on my plane to maintain IA currency. He said there is nothing in the regulations about how often you inspect a plane. He said it is perfectly legal to do 4 annuals on the same plane in one day.

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It took the FAA decades to change the mis-spelling...

They meant bi-ennial (?)

I think they made that word up... to mean every two years...

Because, a biannual... bi- meaning cut in half.... like bisect...

Very few people want to inspect their plane twice in one year...

Expect the first guys to get this wrong owned a bicycle company... and they were selling the training and the mechanical services...  :)

I know why Latin is a dead language...  

PP thoughts only, not a Latinista...

Best regards,

-a-

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1 minute ago, carusoam said:

I know why Latin is a dead language...  

Good old Anglo Saxon monosyllables are often better than Latin polysyllables, especially since Latin died out as a natural language well over a millennium ago . . . .

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3 minutes ago, carusoam said:

It took the FAA decades to change the mis-spelling...

They meant bi-ennial (?)

I think they made that word up... to mean every two years...

Because, a biannual... bi- meaning cut in half.... like bisect...

Very few people want to inspect their plane twice in one year...

Expect the first guys to get this wrong owned a bicycle company... and they were selling the training and the mechanical services...  :)

I know why Latin is a dead language...  

PP thoughts only, not a Latinista...

Best regards,

-a-

The same inspector said anybody that does 100 hour inspections is a fool. He said in most cases there is little or no difference in the effort between an annual and a 100 hour inspection. You might as well reset the annual clock. The only advantage to doing a 100 hour is it doesn’t require an IA. He said he supervises plenty of IAs who do 100 hour inspections.

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On 3/1/2021 at 10:47 AM, jlunseth said:

 

The reason given for the change by the FAA was that they wanted people to feel free to train with an instructor more often than every two years, and they thought changing the wording would help.

 

No, it was changed as part of a requirement for pilots to have an annual flight review until they reached 100 hours. That was short lived though.

-Robert

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I try to use different instructors during my flight reviews.  We have at least three CFIs based on our small field, and I’ve found it helpful to fly with different ones as well as use others at fields close by.  Each has a slightly different approach and teaching style.  

I like to fly for an hour with one of these guys every 12 months or so, then ideally sit down for another hour over a cup of bad airport coffee and listen to their thoughts and observations as to what I did, and didn’t do, as well as general observations.  It’s made me a better and safer pilot.

When I was a member of the CAP, they required me to get a comprehensive ‘Form 5’ check ride every 12 months (which could also count as a flight review if I chose), and while those were always in a Cessna, most of their check pilots had some great insights.  (CAP had a rule that I couldn’t get checked out by the same check pilot more than two years in a row, BTW.)  I was also a CAP Mission Pilot, which was a separate check ride every two years.  So I guess the CAP got me in the habit of annual reviews.

Looking back, I’ve been taught by a former F16 pilot, a former B-52 driver, retired airline pilots, a former Vietnam forward air controller, a former F-111 pilot, a retired PhD, a former home builder turned CFI, an international freight dog, corporate pilots....  Most were good teachers who had flown in a wide range of high performance, complex aircraft.  Four of them REALLY knew Mooneys.  All of their insights were invaluable. 

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Me too. I fly with more than one. As a general rule though, I find the local instructors don't have a lot to teach me in my Mooney that I don't already know, I teach them. The Mooney instructors I see from time to time, and the advanced instructors like the upset recovery people, I learn quite a bit from.

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