FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR RATING (Grade III)

The experience gained from obtaining a Flight Instructor Rating is invaluable to any pilot who wishes to be the best pilot they can be. It is also an excellent way to increase your marketability as a pilot and build the hours necessary to get into a Commercial aviation operation that may have higher hour requirements all the while constantly cementing the skills you have learned during your CPL training.

Candidates who wish to complete a Flight Instructor Rating are required to have a valid Commercial Pilot Licence or Airline Transport Pilot Licence before commencing training.

The course comprises of theoretical knowledge training as well as practical flight instructor training (patter) and must be completed with an approved Aviation Training Organisation. The candidate will be required to complete two theoretical online examinations. Facilities are available to complete these examinations at our premises at Lanseria Airport.

The minimum hour requirements for the Flight Instructor Rating are as follows:

• 60 hours of theoretical knowledge training. During these instructor briefings you will learn to teach in a classroom environment. You will be required to brief a flight instructor on every flight exercise in the PPL syllabus.
• 20 hours of practical training (Patter). You will fly in the right hand seat with a qualified flight instructor who will be your “student” and will be trained to teach the practical aspect of each and every flight exercise in the PPL syllabus.

While these are the minimum requirements as laid out by the Civil Aviation Authority all students are required to complete the above mentioned exercises repeatedly until they are completely confident and proficient in delivering theoretical and practical instruction for all flight exercises.

Once the candidate has passed both online examinations and completed the theoretical and practical training to a satisfactory standard they will need to pass a theoretical ground evaluation as well as a flight test. This may only be completed with a SACAA approved designated examiner and the evaluation will include the following:

1. A thorough ground evaluation where the candidate will be expected to present a briefing to a designated examiner. The candidate will be told ahead of time which air exercise the briefing is to cover in order to give sufficient time to prepare for this phase of the assessment.
2. A practical flight instructor skills test to be carried out in the aircraft. The candidate will sit in the right hand seat and “Patter” the designated flight examiner through various air exercises as well as a navigation exercise.

Once the candidate has completed and passed the above two assessments and submitted the necessary paperwork to the civil aviation authority he will be the holder of a Grade III Flight Instructor rating and may start applying for a position with one of the Aviation Training Organisations in South Africa. All Aviation training operations should have a pilot development programme which will not only monitor the new and relatively inexperienced flight instructor but will also provide developmental training towards the various flight instructor endorsements that are available and ultimately the flight instructor grade II upgrade.