Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Renting an Aircraft Type You’ve Never Flown Before

Asked by: 5069 views , ,
General Aviation

Hello! I've recently gotten my Commerical pilot's license, and now that I'm finally at a point in my life where I have discretionary income, I wanted to see if I could take my friends flying. However, the two planes I have trained in recently, the Diamond DA-40 and the Piper Arrow, aren't available anyone near me. Would it be outrageous to try and rent a plane I haven't flown or haven't seen in awhile? I have 40 hours in the Cessna 172 but I haven't flown it in four years (I have since gotten 150 hours in the DA-40), but would it still be safe for me to rent it, or any other single-engine plane? i'm also only 20 years old. If you think think that'll be an issue because of liability or insurance stuff, please let me know!

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    Mark Kolber on Apr 23, 2015

    The first question is, will the FBO let you rent it without a relatively current checkout flight with an instructor. These things tend to be insurance driven and different FBOs will have different policies but if we are not talking about the same FBO for all three airplanes, the chances are a checkout will be required.

    Insurance is a separate issue. It depends on the FBO. Some have policies that cover their rental pilots. Most don’t and, to make it worse, most of the most don’ts will tell you you are covered.

    But assume the FBO doesn’t require some kind of checkout and there are no insurance issues. The fact you are asking indicates some well-reasoned hesitance on your part. Hoping back into a 172 may end up like the proverbial “riding a bicycle.” But a short flight with a CFI (even if not required) will be an added layer of reasonable caution.

    +4 Votes Thumb up 4 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Morgan Hunlen on Apr 27, 2015

    thank you!

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.