There's no escaping checkouts

Aviation is full of checkouts. Some are formal and others informal; some are undertaken only once, others recurring on a schedule. Checkouts with a variety of objectives are part of the landscape in aviation--ritualistic but also a big cog in the built-in safety consciousness of flying.

How do checkouts reflect the safety consciousness of flying? Walk into a flight school fixed-base operator (FBO) where you're not on the customer list. Flash your fancy new plastic pilot certificate and say you'd like to air out one of their nice machines. "OK," comes the reply. "When would be a convenient time for you to set up a rental checkout with one of our instructors?" At this point, as those TV ads for exercise equipment and investment vehicles declare, your results may vary.

Renting an airplane isn't as simple as walking up to a car rental agency, flashing your driver's license and a credit card, and walking out with the keys. An aircraft rental checkout may be anything from three landings and "sign here," to a drawn-out affair that starts in the classroom, moves to the hangar, and eventually--if you have not done anything foolish or spilled coffee on the check pilot's new clothes--includes an airborne component as well. This could be a single flight or more than one. And chances are good that a reexamination, annually or at some other interval, is also part of the deal.

Nor do you have to visit a new flight school or FBO to enter the realm of checkouts. If you want to move to another make and model at your current base, a checkout will be required. Obviously it's always easier to fly with people you know--especially if you are sure they hold you in high regard--but even here, underneath the smiles and good humor, your skills are being subject to careful scrutiny of any possible risk factors. This is in the interest of protecting the flight school and its property, but it's good for you too. A positive attitude is a great approach to the process. So is preparation.

Although a rental checkout or "aircraft familiarization flight" in a new make and model is a nonregulatory kind of flight test, it could well be conducted to the highest standards of flight testing. In a well-thought-out ride of this type, the focus will be on quirks of performance or control responses of the aircraft in question. If an aircraft is equipped with an unfamiliar feature (such as a manual flap handle, a constant-speed propeller, or nonstandard placement of a switch or control) its use will be emphasized until the flight instructor is satisfied that it will not become a problem when the renter is flying solo.

For instance, we know of one flight school that enforced a checkout policy requiring any pilot seeking to rent its older-model Cessna 172s to perform final approaches with full flaps (40 degrees), ending in by-the-book go-arounds from just above the ground. Didn't matter how many hours you had in Cessna 172s manufactured after 1976. Didn't matter if you were a new private pilot or the chief check airman for a major airline. If you haven't experienced the high sink rates and tricky transition demands of Skyhawks up through Model M, you are a novice in the older machines--period. All flight instructors on the premises were under stern mandate to cover this during the rental checkout. Even experienced pilots admitted that the type-specific training was worth the price of admission.

It isn't just the paying customers who are subject to the hierarchy of checkouts at a typical general aviation business. The flight staff comes under regular examination too. Instructors may be responsible for giving checkouts to customers, as well as commercial pilots hired to fly sightseeing trips or tow gliders. But there's a chief instructor making sure his or her CFIs are up to snuff for both visual and instrument flying. If an FBO also flies charters under FAR Part 135, an entirely independent system of flight checks will be in place for the pilots trained and qualified to fly the company's charters, all as approved by the local FAA flight standards district office. The pilot at the head of this charter operation is also subject to flight checks, typically conducted by the local FAA inspector responsible for overseeing the charter operation.

As mentioned, consider up front that your checkout in a new make and model aircraft may take more than one flight if the bid to become qualified in the new machine is a big leap for your experience or comfort level. One private pilot offered this meditation on her transition from the low-wing, fixed-gear 180-hp and 160-hp aircraft of her training days to a 230-hp Cessna 182 Skylane equipped with a constant-speed prop. "It took me a long time--eight hours--to check out in the Cessna 182. Transitioning from low-wing to high was part of the problem. Another part of the problem was that I didn't do enough research on the ground--didn't try to get a good grasp of the constant-speed prop before going out and flying.... Next time I get checked out in something, I will do my homework."

Turn this kind of challenge into an opportunity. Since pilots are subject to human nature like everyone else, we don't dream up reasons to go out and submit ourselves for examination except when absolutely necessary. Checkouts provide a chance to kill two birds with one stone. Arrange in advance for your checkout to double as a flight review, even if your last one is not about to expire--or an instrument proficiency check, if you are instrument-rated and need one.

If you are up to date on all your required proficiency flying, simply making sure that you perform three landings will freshen up your 90-day currency compliance, perhaps saving you an obligatory trip to the airport--and into your checking account--on some future date. Some pilots who didn't think of doing that beforehand are pleasantly surprised when the flight instructor who administered the checkout offers to make the required endorsements--a compliment to the way you performed during the flight. (So remember to bring your logbook.)

Incidentally, an aircraft familiarization flight is a great way to satisfy some of the flying required to participate in the FAA's Wings pilot proficiency program. You can learn more about Wings at AOPA Online.

Do you have to be a flight instructor to give a checkout? Usually, and certainly in any circumstance requiring a logbook endorsement or mandated by an insurance company. But not in all cases. An exception might be a flying club officer (duly certificated as a pilot) authorized to approve a new club member, or a private pilot who is an aircraft owner and wants to observe a prospective co-owner's flying habits to satisfy himself that the new guy won't damage their joint property. However, a prudent alternative is for the club official or aircraft owner to delegate this task to a CFI.

Some checkouts do have regulatory overtones. Your introduction to high-performance aircraft (more than 200 hp), complex aircraft (flaps, controllable propeller, and retractable landing gear for land planes), or a taildragger is governed by federal aviation regulations requiring that before you fly one as pilot in command, your logbook bear a one-time entry from a qualified instructor "who certifies the person is proficient to operate" such an aircraft.

This requirement has advantages and disadvantages, and makes some CFIs uneasy about its implications. For instance, while the taildragger endorsement rule assures that you cover the basics of tailwheel operations to the satisfaction of a flight instructor versed in this aspect of flying, that one-time signoff should not mislead you into assuming that you are now an expert in any tailwheel aircraft. Think about it: A big-horsepower, six-seat Cessna 185 is very different from a two-seater of 100 hp or less. If you earned your tailwheel endorsement in a Cessna 140, it would not coronate you regent of the Cessna 185 pilot corps nor immunize you against the unique challenges of commanding one of the old radial-engine beauties like a Stinson Reliant or a Cessna 195.

Nor would the reverse situation be a cinch--those light airplanes that don't sit on command like their big siblings can be a handful on the ground in a rousing breeze. Quiz time: Your paper trail to fly that 300-hp Cessna 185 would require, in addition to the tailwheel endorsement--what? A high-performance endorsement. But not a complex-aircraft endorsement because it is a fixed-gear aircraft.

Does it all sounds like a lot of fuss and bother? Don't despair--there's much fun to be found in complying with the regs and rental rules related to expanding your aeronautical horizons.

One nice feature is that many flight instructors love giving checkouts. It's a break from the routine and a chance to fly something more interesting and capable than the trainers in which he or she spends so many flight hours--after all, that's why you want to fly it too. And it's a short-term project, free of the administrative burden that accompanies the usual training for certificates and ratings. Perhaps the most instructor pleasure derived from giving checkouts comes from flying with someone who already holds a pilot certificate.

Although an instructor should never relax vigilance, a checkout can be a collegial kind of flying. It may also become the way you make new flying friends or meet the instructor you'll choose to take you to the next level. In that sense, you are conducting a checkout too, so take it easy and enjoy the ride.

Dan Namowitz is an aviation writer and flight instructor. A pilot since 1985 and an instructor since 1990, he resides in Maine.

Want to know more? Links to additional resources about the topics discussed in this article are available at AOPA Flight Training Online.