What Are the Minimum Requirements for a Flight Review Under 14 CFR 61.56?

Why Your DPE Will Ask About Flight Reviews

The flight review question seems simple on the surface, but it trips up more checkride candidates than you might expect. Designated Pilot Examiners love it precisely because the details matter — and getting those details wrong signals that you are not yet ready to exercise the privileges of a private pilot certificate. Understanding 14 CFR 61.56 is not just about passing the oral exam; it is about knowing the rules that will govern your flying career from day one.

At its core, a flight review is the FAA's way of ensuring that certificated pilots stay proficient and current throughout their flying lives. Unlike the knowledge test or the practical test, which you take once to earn your certificate, the flight review is a recurring requirement that follows you for as long as you hold a pilot certificate and want to act as pilot in command.

The 24-Calendar-Month Rule — Not 12

Here is the single most common mistake candidates make: confusing the flight review interval with an annual requirement. Under 14 CFR 61.56, a flight review must be completed within the preceding 24 calendar months — not 12. If your checkride examiner asks how often you need a flight review and you say every year, you have already introduced doubt about your regulatory knowledge.

The phrase 'calendar months' is also important. Calendar months run to the end of the month in which the review was completed. If you completed your flight review on March 15, 2024, your currency extends through March 31, 2026 — not exactly 24 months from the date, but through the end of that 24th calendar month. This is the same convention used throughout Part 61 for currency calculations, so understanding it here reinforces your grasp of the broader regulatory framework.

If that 24-month window lapses without a completed review, you are no longer legal to act as PIC, period. You can still fly as a passenger, and an instructor can fly with you, but you cannot log PIC time or carry passengers until the review is complete.

The Minimum Time Requirements: One Hour of Each

A flight review under 61.56 has two distinct and equally mandatory components. The regulation requires at least one hour of flight training and at least one hour of ground training. Both are required — there is no substituting extra flight time for the ground portion or vice versa. Forgetting that ground training is a hard minimum is one of the most frequent errors candidates make when discussing this regulation.

The ground training must cover the areas of operation appropriate to the pilot certificate you hold. For a private pilot, that means the instructor needs to review the general operating and flight rules of 14 CFR Part 91, as well as any areas relevant to your certificate and the type of flying you do. The flight training portion must demonstrate that you can safely exercise the privileges of your certificate — but the specific maneuvers are left to the discretion of the authorized instructor conducting the review.

One more critical point: the flight review must be given by an authorized instructor. That means a current CFI, CFII, or other instructor holding the appropriate ratings. You cannot complete a flight review with a safety pilot, a non-instructor pilot, or anyone else who does not hold a valid flight instructor certificate.

Documentation: Your Logbook Is the Record

Many pilots assume that passing a flight review generates some kind of FAA certificate, card, or official form. It does not. The only record of a completed flight review is a logbook entry signed by the authorized instructor who conducted it. That signature is your proof of currency. If an examiner, employer, or flight school ever asks to verify your flight review, you show them your logbook.

This also clarifies what happens when a review does not go well. If an instructor determines that you have not met the standard — or if the session ends before covering all required areas — the review simply does not get logged as a completed flight review. No failing grade is issued, no FAA notification is triggered, and no record is created. You just schedule another session and try again. The absence of a logbook entry is itself the indication that the review was not completed.

It is worth noting that certain recent flight activities can substitute for the flight review requirement entirely. Passing a practical test for any certificate or rating, for example, resets your flight review clock. So does completing a phase of the FAA Wings program. But for most general aviation pilots, the standard 61.56 flight review with one hour of ground and one hour of flight remains the path forward.

Knowing these details cold — the 24-calendar-month window, the dual one-hour minimums, and the logbook-only documentation — shows your examiner that you take the regulatory side of aviation seriously. If you want to practice questions like this in a realistic oral exam format, try SimulatedCheckride.com.