FAA Flight Review (BFR) FAQs

To act as pilot in command of an aircraft, 14 CFR § 61.56 requires that you have completed a satisfactory flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months. The review must include a minimum of 1 hour of ground training on the current general operating and flight rules of Part 91 and 1 hour of flight training on the maneuvers and procedures necessary to safely exercise your certificate privileges. Those are floors, not targets. The actual time is at the instructor's discretion.

The FAA counts calendar months, so your currency runs through the last day of the 24th month, not the anniversary of the flight. A flight review completed on June 5, 2026 is good through June 30, 2028. That extra partial month is free, but do not plan a trip around it. Schedule the next review before the final weeks, when weather and instructor availability get tight.

No. A flight review is a training event, not a practical test, and there is no regulatory entry for an unsatisfactory flight review. If your flying or your regulatory knowledge needs work, the instructor logs the session as dual instruction given and you keep training until you meet the standard. Nothing negative goes in your logbook and nothing is reported to the FAA.

Two paths cover most pilots. First, passing an FAA practical test for a new pilot certificate, rating, or operating privilege within the preceding 24 calendar months satisfies the review, so a new instrument rating or multi-engine rating resets your clock. Second, completing one or more phases of the FAA WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program satisfies it. Passing a practical test for the issuance, renewal, or reinstatement of a flight instructor certificate also counts. Our FAA flight review page breaks each path down.

It is a logbook entry, not a certificate or a card. Your instructor certifies that you satisfactorily completed a flight review under 14 CFR 61.56(a), then dates and signs it with their CFI certificate number and expiration date. Bring your physical logbook to the session so the endorsement has somewhere to live, and read it before you leave to confirm the date and regulation are right. Our biennial flight review checklist walks through everything else worth bringing.

Plan on roughly two to three hours at the airport for a prepared pilot who flies regularly: one hour of ground, one hour of flight, plus brief and debrief. Pilots returning after a long layoff frequently need more, and that is normal; the instructor signs the endorsement when the flying meets the standard, not when the clock hits two hours. Studying current Part 91 rules beforehand and flying one warm-up hour is the single most effective way to keep it to one session.

You are paying for aircraft time plus instructor time. Our upgraded Cessna 172N/P fleet rents at $170 per hour wet, fuel included, and instruction is billed separately at our published hourly rate, so call us at (661) 518-2700 for a current quote on a typical two-hour review block. If you own your aircraft you can fly the review in it and pay only for instruction, and owners often schedule the review alongside their annual inspection at our on-site Part 145 Repair Station.

Bring your pilot certificate, government-issued photo ID, your medical certificate or BasicMed documentation, and your pilot logbook. If you are flying your own airplane, bring its airworthiness certificate, registration, operating limitations, weight and balance, and current annual and transponder inspection dates. Many instructors also open with a cross-country planning scenario, so arrive with a realistic route, weather, and a diversion plan already worked out.

Legally, a satisfactory flight review is what restores your PIC privileges, and your private pilot certificate itself never expires. Practically, most pilots returning after a multi-year break want a few hours of refresher flying before the review, and we build that as a short getting-current block rather than stretching the review itself. If you plan to carry passengers, remember you also need three takeoffs and landings in the preceding 90 days under FAR 61.57.

Nothing happens to your certificate. It does not expire or lapse. You simply cannot act as pilot in command until you complete a satisfactory flight review. There is no penalty, no reinstatement paperwork, and no FAA involvement. You can fly with a CFI as dual instruction any time, so an expired review is a scheduling problem, not a regulatory one. Call us and we will get you on the schedule.

Only in narrow circumstances. Under 14 CFR 61.56(i), flight simulators and flight training devices may be used to meet flight review requirements when used as part of an approved course at an FAA-certificated Part 142 training center. Because we focus on practical general aviation training, every flight review at MH Aviation is flown in an actual aircraft.

The FAA deliberately leaves the content to the instructor, which is why a good review is built around your flying rather than a fixed script. Most sessions include slow flight, power-on and power-off stalls, steep turns, a simulated engine failure, and a mix of normal, short-field, and soft-field landings. If you fly long cross-countries, expect more diversion planning and airspace work. If you fly locally on weekends, expect more emergency procedures and pattern work.