Ground school lesson
Certificates, documents and airworthiness
The first task on the practical test is paperwork: yours and the aircraft's. It is also the easiest area to walk in knowing cold.
What you will be able to do
- Name the documents that must be aboard the aircraft.
- Name what must be current for you to act as pilot in command.
- Explain how inspections and inoperative equipment are handled.
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Step 1 of 3
The aircraft's papers
Four things ride with the aircraft, remembered by generations of pilots as ARROW:
Letter Document A Airworthiness certificate, displayed in the aircraft. R Registration certificate for the aircraft. R Radio station license, only for international operations. O Operating limitations: the flight manual or POH, placards and instrument markings. W Weight and balance data and equipment list for this specific aircraft. On the practical test you will be asked to locate these in the actual aircraft, not recite them. Know where each one lives in the machine you train in.
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Step 2 of 3
Your papers
To act as pilot in command you need
- Your pilot certificate and government photo ID on your person.
- Your medical eligibility: a valid US driver's license for day sport privileges, or a medical certificate or BasicMed where required, and no known disqualifying condition (61.53 applies regardless).
- Currency: a flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months, and to carry a passenger, three takeoffs and landings within the preceding 90 days in the category and class.
- Your logbook endorsements: the sport pilot's privileges live as instructor endorsements in your logbook, so the logbook or records must be available.
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Step 3 of 3
Is the aircraft airworthy?
An aircraft is airworthy when it conforms to its design and is in condition for safe operation. For the pilot, that reduces to checkable facts:
Inspections current
A light-sport aircraft requires a condition inspection every 12 calendar months per its operating limitations, and a 100-hour inspection where it is used for instruction or hire. The maintenance records prove it happened.
Something is broken: now what? Inoperative equipment is not automatically disqualifying, but it is never simply ignored. The rule set (91.213 and the aircraft's operating limitations) decides whether the item is required; anything inoperative must be removed or placarded INOP, and the pilot in command makes the final call that the aircraft remains safe for this flight. When in doubt, it does not fly.
Check yourself
3 questions. Pick an answer to see whether it is right and why.
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Which documents must be aboard the aircraft?
ARROW: airworthiness, registration, (radio license internationally), operating limitations, weight and balance. The pilot's logbook stays with the pilot, not the aircraft.
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To carry a passenger, what recent experience must you have?
Passenger currency is three takeoffs and landings within the preceding 90 days in the same category and class, on top of a flight review within 24 calendar months.
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The turn coordinator in your training gyroplane is dead. Can you fly?
Inoperative equipment goes through a decision process: is it required by the rules or the operating limitations? If not, deactivate or placard it INOP, and the pilot in command still owns the final safety call.
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14 CFR 61.53, 61.56, 61.57 and 91.203/91.213, and the FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (public domain). Your aircraft's inspection cycle is in its operating limitations.