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6 Answers

CFI MEI to CFII

Asked by: 6418 views FAA Regulations, Flight Instructor

I have a CFI helicopter. I'm offered a new job  instructing in multi engine airplanes. I have a SE/ME Comm/Instrument so I go and get a CFI multi engine airplane so I can instruct. Now Job wants me to have a  CFII so I can do instrument instruction in the same multi engine airplanes. So I need a CFII. Can I do this in a Cessna 172 even though I do not have a CFI single engine?

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6 Answers



  1. Sam Dawson on Nov 01, 2013

    Not 100% sure if you can, but if you do you will only be able to teach instruments in a MEL since you will not hold a CFI-A.

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  2. John D Collins on Nov 01, 2013

    To meet your employer’s requirement, the short answer is no. From 61.195, you must have both the category and class on your instructor and pilot certificate, so if you used a single engine aircraft to obtain your CFII, it would be limited to single engine.

    See the quoted sections of 61.195 below.

    (b) Aircraft Ratings. A flight instructor may not conduct flight training in any aircraft for which the flight instructor does not hold:
    (1) A pilot certificate and flight instructor certificate with the applicable category and class rating; and
    (2) If appropriate, a type rating.
    (c) Instrument Rating. A flight instructor who provides instrument training for the issuance of an instrument rating, a type rating not limited to VFR, or the instrument training required for commercial pilot and airline transport pilot certificates must hold an instrument rating on his or her pilot certificate and flight instructor certificate that is appropriate to the category and class of aircraft used for the training provided.]

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  3. Kris Kortokrax on Nov 01, 2013

    Have to disagree, John.

    Every week, there are people taking their initial Flight Instructor check for the CFII who hold no CFI-ASE or CFI-AME.

    I took my CFII practical in a Comanche (after the CFI-ASE) and never did anything else to qualify to teach instruments in a multiengine airplane, other than to take the practical for CFI-AME. There is no separate practical to teach instruments in a multiengine.

    The poster already has a CFI-AME. He can certainly take the CFII practical in a CE-172 if he wishes, (a wise idea, use the least complex aircraft that you need). He will then possess a CFI-AME and CFII and may teach instruments in a multiengine airplane.

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  4. John D Collins on Nov 01, 2013

    Kris,

    Thanks for the correction. As I read the OP, he doesn’t currently hold an instructor rating CFI for airplane – single engine land and plans to add a MEI to his instructor certificate. I would guess that without the single engine land CFI rating, his instructor certificate would probably read something like Airplane Multiengine: Instrument Airplane. If I understand 61.195, he would not be able to provide instruction or instrument instruction in a single engine land airplane but would be able to provide instruction and instrument instruction in a multiengine aircraft.

    Of course I never took a practical test for the MEI rating, as it was grandfathered. I also never got a complex, high performance, or tail wheel endorsement for the same reason. It is one of the few benefits of being old.

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  5. Sam Dawson on Nov 01, 2013

    The OP mixed tenses so his post was a little confusing, but I agree with what Kris wrote.

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  6. Mark Kolber on Nov 03, 2013

    Just as an FYI, according tot a thread on another aviation forum I frequent, at least one FSDO (East Michigan) has announced that, in light of the limitations on CFIIs without an CFI-A rating teaching in an airplane, it will no longer authorize a practical test for the CFI-I as the initial CFI rating.

    This is a statement of what is taking place, not a comment on the merits or regulatory propriety of the policy.

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