Lesson Plans
The following lesson plans are designed around the newly-published CFI Airplane Airman Certification Standards (ACS), dated November 2023, effective May 31st, 2024 (FAA-S-ACS-25). These lessons were originally prepared between December 2019 and March 2020 for the CFI-A PTS (Change 6), however they have been updated to conform to the CFI-A ACS.
You can view the changelog here, which is always updated when I change these plans. If you are looking for the older PTS versions of these lesson plans, they can still be found here.
These non-editable PDF lesson plans (available individually below) will always be free to use and download. I made these available to the flying community to give thanks for the wonderful resources that I used during my own training. Please feel free to use these as you like. Nearly all of the images contained within are from FAA publications or are of my own creation, so they should be safe to distribute.
I also offer fully editable (MS Word) versions of these lesson plans that you can customize to your linking for purchase below. These are exactly the same as the free versions, but editable. If you want to show your support, you can either purchase the editable plans or make a small donation below.
Area I - Fundamentals of Instructing
Human Behavior, Effective Communication, The Learning Process, and more.
Area II - Technical Subject Areas
Technical subjects like the Fundamentals of Flight (Aerodynamics), Aeromedical Factors, and Aircraft Systems.
Area III - Preflight Preparation
Lessons on preflight planning, including airworthiness, weather, and pilot qualifications.
Area IV - Preflight Lesson on a Maneuver to be Performed in Flight
Delivering a preflight lesson on a maneuver to be performed in flight.
Area V - Preflight Procedures
Lessons on preflight inspection, taxiing, and runup procedures.
Area VI - Airport Operations
Lessons on Airport Traffic Patterns, Airport Signs and Markings, and working with ATC.
Area VII - Takeoffs, Landings, and Go-Arounds
Lessons on Normal, Crosswind, Soft and Short-Field Takeoffs and Landings.
Area VIII - Fundamentals of Flight
Lessons on the basics of flight: straight-and-level, turns, climbs, and descents.
Area IX - Performance and Ground Reference Maneuvers
Maneuvers such as Steep Turns, Chandelles, and Lazy Eights, as well as S-Turns, Turns Around a Point, and Eights on Pylons.
Area X - Slow Flight, Stalls, and Spins
Lessons on slow flight, and various kinds of stalls.
Area XI - Basic Instrument Maneuvers
Basic Instrument Maneuvers, including straight-and-level, turns, and recovery from unusual attitudes.
Area XII - Emergency Operations
Lessons on emergency (forced) landings, systems and equipment malfunctions, and more.
Area XIV - Postflight Procedures
A lesson plan on tiedown and Securing after flight.