A Practical and Efficient Way of Signing Off Students

As a CFI, endorsements can be tricky and you may find yourself second guessing whether or not you gave your student the right endorsements or better yet, enough!

Finding the right area in a student's logbook can be tough especially if they’ve been to a school prior to you and they logged them differently than you might be used to. Missing an endorsement is the worst mistake you can make when it comes to giving endorsements. You can never over endorse someone! Now, I may not ever give a student pilot a night solo endorsement but that's up to you. Sporty’s has come up with a solution to help prevent these mistakes, let's talk about it!

Sporty’s has just released their 2025 version of the Instructor Guide to FAA Endorsements. It has the updated AC 61-65J and with ACs being updated the solo endorsement I received 4 years ago, is probably outdated and incorrect. The AC is a great tool to help figure out what endorsements there are but the guide that Sporty’s came out with actually walks you through each one, gives you sample endorsements and explains when to use them including referencing the regulation.

If you are an instructor you can make a free account (CFI portal) and it's pretty easy to navigate the page to find them. You are able to type directly on the endorsement and print it out or you can reference it and write directly into their logbook. You can also access the endorsements digitally so you can pull it up on your phone or Ipad if needed. Don’t worry you can still add in all the limitations you want. Whether you’re a first year CFI or a five year CFI, the guide could help do it right the first time and you won’t be getting that angry phone call from the DPE that you forgot one of your students' endorsements.

FMI: www.sportys.com