How To Renew Your Flight Instructor Certificate With Redbird Pro

As of December 1, 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) removed the expiration date of flight instructor certificates. However, just because certified flight instructors (CFIs) can hang on to the same certificate sans expiration date (like most non-CFI pilots) does not mean they no longer have to remain current. Instructors still must renew their certificate every 24 calendar months.  

One traditional method is by completing a Flight Instructor Refresher Course (FIRC). Or, if an instructor earns another instructor certification, such as adding a second “I” to their title to train instrument students or becoming a Certified Multi-Engine Instructor (MEI), the renewal clock resets.

However, the FAA also states that renewal may be accomplished by conducting "at least 15 flight activities recognized under [an] FAA-sponsored pilot proficiency program, during which the flight instructor evaluated at least five different pilots and has made the necessary endorsements in the logbooks of each pilot for each activity.”

Flight instructors who endorse at least five applicants for a practical test within 24 calendar months and maintain an 80% pass rate can also utilize this provision to renew their privileges.

The FAA estimates that the new rule will result in $5.6 million in cost savings for both the agency and the industry over five years. Beyond hoping the FAA will use the savings to make flight training better, how could this information help instructors?

Here’s how

Redbird Pro, a first-of-its-kind pilot proficiency app designed for use with your smartphone or tablet computer (iOS and Android are both available), offers pre-programmed, FAA-approved simulator flights that a CFI can administer to a pilot in a Redbird aviation training device (ATD) for WINGS flight credit. You read that correctly — not knowledge credit but actual flight credit.

Pilots must obtain three flight credits (in addition to three knowledge credits) to complete a phase of the WINGS program, which satisfies their requirement for a flight review. Each approved Redbird Pro flight provides two WINGS flight credits, and pilots can complete multiple flights in a single simulator session to maximize their flight credit allowances.

The benefit for the instructor is that a flight counts as a flight activity recognized under the FAA-sponsored pilot proficiency program. So, if you do this with at least five pilots 15 times before your CFI privileges expire, you’ve renewed your privileges. You do not have to fly 15 times each with five pilots. You simply must administer 15 total flights yourself, ensuring that at least five different pilots were involved.

The sim flights are available anytime via the app, offering a convenient, cost-effective, and structured option for completing WINGS flight tasks. The flights are in a collection titled WINGS Credit Flights by Redbird, which pilots and flight instructors can access from the main navigation menu in Redbird Pro. 

Each flight scenario provides a preflight brief that includes the weather conditions, the phase and location of the flight, and an approach plate. When a pilot and instructor are ready to begin the flight, they simply follow the prompts in the Redbird Pro app to connect to a nearby Redbird ATD and start the flight.

After completing a flight, the instructor can validate the training immediately by going to ezwings.net—provided by the WINGS Industry Network—selecting the option to give credit, and choosing Redbird Flight from the list of approved organizations.

The extensive benefits of Redbird Pro

Beyond the credit it offers toward renewing a certificate, the app provides a wide range of tools needed to measure, improve, and maintain proficiency on the flight deck, making it a valuable tool for flight instructors to recommend to newly minted private and instrument-rated pilots and high-hour pilots seeking a structured proficiency plan between training sessions. 

Upon downloading and installing Redbird Pro from either the App Store or Google Play, the app prompts you to fill out information about your goals and background that inform your eight-element proficiency score. Additionally, you can perform a baseline skills flight on a flight simulator to assess and quantify your current state of proficiency in areas such as stick and rudder skills, navigation, aeronautical decision-making, and instrument approach procedures. 

After establishing your current level of proficiency, the app provides several ways to continue measuring and improving your skills and abilities, helping you improve your proficiency score and, consequently, your performance on the flight deck. Hundreds of articles by aviation experts are available in the app, each followed by a quiz to ensure you absorb and understand the information. If you do well on the quiz, your proficiency score in one or more elements relevant to the article will increase.

If you want a bigger bump, find your nearest Redbird simulator to complete one of the many available skill flights or flight scenarios. Skill flights are quick and to-the-point, single-maneuver training exercises along the lines of ACS-based private pilot and instrument pilot maneuvers. Flight scenarios, on the other hand, include preflight instruction and a video introduction, a scenario that challenges both stick and rudder skills and aeronautical decision-making, a debrief video, and a scoring screen that analyzes your performance in detail. 

Even if you cannot make it to a Redbird flight simulator, you can watch the “chair flight video” that accompanies every scenario, which shows another pilot flying the scenario, details how it should have been approached, and outlines common pitfalls and mistakes. 

Once you complete a flight scenario, you can expect your Pro Score to move meaningfully up or down based on your performance. You can drill into the data to identify the specific areas that contributed to the change in your score, providing invaluable insights into your strengths and weaknesses as a pilot. 

The app uses this data to curate a list of additional articles, skills flights, and scenarios that will help you improve your weaknesses or simply refresh the skills you have not addressed in a while. If you go too long without completing a training task in the app or logging a real flight, your proficiency score will degrade at the same rate as a typical pilot’s actual proficiency.

Redbird Pro offers monthly and annual subscription plans after an initial 30-day free trial. For more information, visit https://www.redbirdflight.com/redbird-pro.