AOPA encourages instructors to check renewal date

In December 2024, the FAA stopped printing expiration dates on newly issued flight instructor certificates. Previously, certificates expired every two years, with the expiration date printed on the reverse side of the certificate. The FAA said at the time that removing the expiration date from the certificate would “increase efficiency, cut costs, and align instructor certificates with other airman certificates such as private and commercial, which do not expire.”

While the intent was to streamline the process and make it simpler for instructors to renew their qualifications, it has led to confusion. Several CFIs who had taken AOPA’s electronic flight instructor refresher course (eFIRC) found the FAA had posted incorrect recent experience end dates in the airmen registry database. AOPA reached out to the FAA, which confirmed the errors and has since corrected them in these specific cases because the affected CFIs were within the renewal or reinstatement period.

According to FAA policy, instructors now have a seven-month window in which to renew their certificate by completing a FIRC. Many of these, including AOPA’s eFIRC, can be completed online.

Flight instructors can renew their privileges beginning three months prior to their recent experience end date. Instructors who do not renew their privileges before the last calendar day of the month in which those privileges expire enter a reinstatement period during which they lose their instruction privileges.

During that time, CFIs have three months during which they can reinstate instruction privileges by completing a FIRC. CFIs who do not complete a FIRC during this three-month grace period are then required to take an instructor checkride to reinstate those instruction privileges.

AOPA recommends CFIs review their FAA Airman Registry record to ensure the recent experience end date listed there is correct. AOPA can assist members or CFIs who have used AOPA’s eFIRC to renew their certificate if their recent experience end date listed in the electronic registry is incorrect.

AOPA is working with the FAA to resolve the issue leading to incorrect registry information permanently. To help avoid future errors, AOPA now includes the correct recent experience end date when submitting IACRA applications for CFIs who use AOPA’s eFIRC.

The AOPA Air Safety Institute prepared detailed guidance for CFIs navigating the new process, including answers to many of the questions that CFIs frequently ask.

The You Can Fly program and the Air Safety Institute are funded by charitable donations to the AOPA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. To be a part of the solution, visit www.aopafoundation.org/donate.