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Flight Instructor — Airplane & Helicopter
CFI Oral Exam Questions: Endorsements, Solo Requirements & Logging
Endorsements are where a new CFI can hurt themselves fastest, so examiners drill them hard: which endorsements does a student need before first solo, before solo cross-country, and for each repeated operation — and what are you, the instructor, legally promising with each signature? The companion topics: your own limitations under 61.195, record-keeping duties under 61.189, and the logging rules you'll be asked about weekly by students.
The working documents: 61.87 (solo requirements), 61.93 (solo cross-country), 61.189 (records), 61.195 (limitations), and AC 61-65 (the current endorsement language — bring a copy; examiners often have you write or locate specific endorsements during the oral).
The solo and cross-country endorsement architecture
First solo (61.87): before solo the student needs (1) a pre-solo knowledge test — administered and graded by you, covering 91/61 rules and the specific aircraft's characteristics, with all incorrect answers reviewed; (2) training in the maneuvers and procedures listed in 61.87 for the category, with proficiency demonstrated; and (3) two endorsements: a one-time student certificate endorsement for the make and model, and a logbook endorsement valid 90 days for solo flight in that make and model, given by an instructor who has flown with the student within those 90 days. Solo at night requires additional night training and a separate endorsement.
Solo cross-country (61.93): two layers — a one-time cross-country endorsement (after the required XC training in the category) plus a per-flight endorsement: for each solo cross-country, an instructor reviews the student's planning for that day (weather, performance, route) and endorses that the preparation is correct for that specific flight. Know the special cases: repeated flights to an airport within 25 NM (specific training and endorsement allows them without per-flight endorsements), the under-50-NM exception, and Class B endorsements (61.95). The mental model to present: one-time endorsements certify training; recurring endorsements certify today's readiness — and every signature is you certifying something specific, in writing, forever.
Your limitations and everyone's logging
61.195 limitations every new CFI must recite cold: no more than 8 hours of flight training in any 24-consecutive-hour period; you must hold the category/class (and type, if required) ratings on both your pilot and instructor certificates for the training you give; specific experience requirements before instructing in multiengine airplanes/helicopters (5 hours PIC in the make and model for ME/helicopter instruction per 61.195(f)... cite the current text); endorsing a student for solo requires you to have provided the required training; and instrument training given for a rating requires an instrument instructor rating (CFII). 61.189 records: sign each lesson's logbook entry, and keep a record of every endorsement for knowledge tests, solos, and practical tests for at least 3 years (name, date, kind of endorsement and result, where applicable).
Logging answers you'll give weekly: a CFI may log PIC time for all flight time while acting as an authorized instructor (61.51(e)) — including in aircraft they're rated in while instructing a rated pilot; instructional flights in actual IMC let the CFII log instrument time too (with positions taken from FAA interpretations — offer to verify the current ones); students log PIC only when sole occupant (or per the sport/recreational provisions); and 'sole manipulator' PIC logging for rated pilots is a different track than acting PIC. The disciplined answer pattern: identify who's rated in what, who's acting PIC, and what 61.51 line authorizes each logbook entry.
Practice questions with answers & rationales
Q1. What must happen before you can endorse a student for their first solo?
Answer: Three things, all on me: administer and grade the pre-solo knowledge test (61.87(b)) on Part 91/61 rules and the specific make and model, reviewing every incorrect answer with the student; provide and log training in each 61.87 maneuver/procedure required for the category and judge the student proficient and safe; then give two endorsements — the one-time student pilot certificate endorsement for the make and model, and the 90-day logbook solo endorsement, which requires that I've flown with the student within the preceding 90 days. AC 61-65 supplies the exact endorsement language, and I use it verbatim.
Q2. Your student soloed 91 days ago and wants to fly the pattern today. What does he need?
Answer: A fresh 90-day solo endorsement — which requires an instructor to have flown with him within the preceding 90 days and to judge him currently proficient. So practically: a flight with me today (or within the window), then a new logbook endorsement. The certificate endorsement was one-time and stands. This is the rhythm question examiners use to confirm you know which endorsements recur.
Q3. What endorsements does a student need to fly a solo cross-country to an airport 80 NM away?
Answer: The one-time solo cross-country endorsement for the category (after the 61.93 cross-country training), plus a per-flight endorsement: I review his planning for this specific flight — route, weather, performance, alternates — and endorse that the preparation and planning are correct and he's ready for that flight under the known conditions. If the route or conditions change materially, the review and endorsement need to reflect it. Also confirm the basics still stand: current 90-day solo endorsement and any applicable limitations I wrote on it.
Q4. Can you give your friend — a private pilot — a flight review? What about instrument training toward his rating?
Answer: Flight review: yes, any authorized instructor with appropriate category/class ratings can conduct 61.56 flight reviews (minimum 1 hour ground, 1 hour flight). Instrument training credited toward an instrument rating requires a CFII (61.195(c)). And if we fly in actual IMC during otherwise-VFR training, I need to be instrument-current and rated to act as PIC in IMC myself. Separating 'what my CFI lets me teach' from 'what the flight's rules require of the acting PIC' is the structure of a clean answer.
Q5. How many hours of flight training may you give in a day, and what records must you keep?
Answer: No more than 8 hours of flight training in any 24-consecutive-hour period (61.195(a)) — flight training, so ground instruction doesn't count against it, but fatigue judgment should. Records (61.189): sign the logbook of each person I train after each lesson, and maintain a record of each endorsement for solo privileges, knowledge tests, and practical test recommendations — name, date, and kind of endorsement/test result — retained for at least 3 years. My personal system (paper or app) gets described here; examiners want evidence you'll actually do it.
Q6. You're instructing a rated private pilot in his own airplane on landings. Who logs what?
Answer: I log PIC for the entire flight — 61.51(e)(3) authorizes an authorized instructor to log PIC while acting as an instructor (I must be rated in the aircraft category/class). He logs PIC for the time he is sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft he's rated in — which is most of the lesson. Both logging PIC simultaneously is normal and legal; acting PIC is a separate question we settle before engine start, and with a rated, current owner it's typically him — unless conditions exceed his qualifications, which we brief explicitly.
Q7. A student fails the private knowledge test after your endorsement. What are your obligations, and could the FAA come asking?
Answer: I must give additional training in each deficient area and then endorse him for retesting (61.49 + the AC 61-65 retest endorsement). And yes — knowledge-test endorsements are tracked to the recommending instructor, and excessive student failure rates can draw FSDO attention to the instructor's certificate and renewals. That's the practical reason behind 61.189 records and behind never endorsing 'to get them moving': every endorsement is my certification, with my certificate number on it, in a system that keeps score.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Confusing the one-time endorsements (student certificate, solo XC training) with the recurring ones (90-day solo, per-flight XC planning).
- Forgetting the pre-solo knowledge test must be graded and corrected by the instructor — administering it isn't the whole duty.
- Misquoting the 8-in-24 limit as 'per day' (it's any 24-consecutive-hour period) or counting ground instruction against it.
- Writing freehand endorsements from memory. Use AC 61-65 language verbatim — examiners ask you to produce specific endorsements on the spot.
- Blowing the logging questions: instructor PIC under 61.51(e) and student sole-occupant PIC are the two anchors; everything else is derived.
- Treating record keeping as optional admin. Three years, every endorsement, with results — and it's the first thing the FSDO requests.