Five-hour conundrum

A: Actually, you could have given the pilot his flight review in the Cougar. That is one of the most misunderstood privileges of a flight instructor. FAR 61.195(f) states, “A flight instructor may not give training required for the issuance of a certificate or rating in a multiengine airplane…unless that flight instructor has at least five flight hours of pilot-in-command time in the specific make and model of multiengine airplane.” The key here is giving training for the issuance of a certificate or rating. In other words, your student must be working toward a flight test for a multiengine rating or a private single-engine student in training for a commercial multiengine flight test. In these cases, the instructor needs five hours PIC in make and model to provide the training. It should go without saying, but just in case—the instructor must hold an airplane multiengine rating on his or her instructor certificate. Giving a flight review, an instrument proficiency check, or an aircraft checkout does not constitute training toward a certificate or rating. In other words, that type of training requires no minimum PIC time for the flight instructor. And that is the difference. The regulations also do not require any minimum number of PIC hours in make and model, nor any specific time, for that matter, to give training in a single-engine airplane, whether for a certificate or rating or otherwise. While this question was directed toward multiengine airplanes, the five hours PIC is also required for training in helicopters and powered lift.

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