Solo Endorsement question

[flyinboxes]

Hello CFI"s I have recently started instructing on the side again after a loooooooong hiatus. Anyway, when you sign off for a students first solo, the logbook gets signed I know but what about the medical certificate (the student pilot cert)? Is that just every 90 days or do you have to sign both? I'm confused. Thanks in advance.

 

[transampilot]

You must endorse the back of their student pilot certificate(Medical) once for solo, and once for solo x-c. The logbook must also be endorsed, and that logbook endorsement is good for 90 days. You can renew the endorsement with another logbook endorsement as many times as you want. The student pilot certificate doesn't need to be endorsed again unless something has changed which makes the endorsement invalid for the particular flight, i.e. restrictions placed upon it by the instructor's endorsement.

 

[midlifeflyer]

The student pilot certificate doesn't need to be endorsed again unless something has changed which makes the endorsement invalid for the particular flight, i.e. restrictions placed upon it by the instructor's endorsement.

or, i.e., a transition to a different make/model.

flyinboxes, you probably want to spend some time in the student pilot regs and AC 61-65E which deals extensively with certification requirements and endorsements:

 

[flyinboxes]

Thanks to both of you. Thats what I thought. I have looked and read alot but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. The regs are clear as mud half the time. Thanks again!

 

[Princedietrich]

To elaborate on what the previous posters have correctly stated:

The student is going to get a total of 3 singoffs/endorsements for initial solo. The first will be on the back of the student pilot cert, and this cert is type-specific and has no expiration. The other two will be in the logbook, the first stating that the student has passed the pre-solo written exam and the second stating that the student has the practical ability to solo. The second endorsement is good for 90 days and can be renewed ad-nauseum.

Further endorsements include repeated landing practice at an airport within 25NM, repeated flights to an airport less than 50NM away, and an endorsement for each individual cross country with specific airports and routing included. Students can also be endorsed for solo at night and for solo flight into a particular Class B airport.

 

[nosehair]

To elaborate on what the previous posters have correctly stated:

..and to further elaborate and nit-pik this post:

The other two will be in the logbook, the first stating that the student has passed the pre-solo written exam

The pre-solo written exam is not, strictly speaking, an "endorsement requirement".

It is being done as a popular method of recorded proof in the logbook, but it is not a regulatory requirement to have it in the logbook. The regulations only state that it must be done.

The regulations, 61.87(p)(iv)&(v) require certificate and logbook endorsements.

The pre-solo exam requirement, 61.87(b)(1)&(2) only require that the test is administered and corrected by the solo-endorsing instructor.

You may choose to record that fact in an "endorsement" form, as is shown in the AC.

 

[flyinboxes]

Thank you, that makes since. I have combined the practical and written requirements into one endorsement I got off the AOPA website I think.

 

[acaTerry]

This thread is a perfect example of why the CFI renewal process needs an overhaul. Get rid of the BS questions like where LD max occurs during slow flight with 10 degrees of flaps at 3500 feet at 74 degrees F while your pitot tube has a gnat in it while your rudder is deflected 5 degrees right with a 180 HP engine running at 2450 RPM, and get to the important stuff like endorsements and real teaching.

 

[Princedietrich]

I heartily agree with you

 

[midlifeflyer]

This thread is a perfect example of why the CFI renewal process needs an overhaul. Get rid of the BS questions like where LD max occurs during slow flight with 10 degrees of flaps at 3500 feet at 74 degrees F while your pitot tube has a gnat in it while your rudder is deflected 5 degrees right with a 180 HP engine running at 2450 RPM, and get to the important stuff like endorsements and real teaching.

I agree but I'm not sure that "overhaul" is necessarily the correct term for, "Dear Gleim: Please include a module on certificate requirements and endorsements in your online FIRC."