Instrument rating · ACS IR.VIII.A · Instructor lesson plan
Checking Instruments and Equipment
Student pack: Train: Checking Instruments and Equipment · Full lesson: Prepare guide
1 · Objective
By the end of this lesson your student can explain checking instruments and equipment in their own words, apply it in a realistic situation, and fly it to the ACS standard for IR.VIII.A.
Why it matters for safety: An instrument that flickered on the approach today is an instrument that may fail in cloud for the next pilot. The postflight write-up is how one pilot’s warning reaches the next. Skipping it to save five minutes passes the risk on.
2 · Assign before the lesson
Pre-work: the free Train pack, Checking Instruments and Equipment. After the flight: write up what didn’t work so the next pilot doesn’t find out in cloud.
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Pack: pilotprep.pro/train/ifr/checking-instruments-and-equipment · Full lesson: pilotprep.pro/prepare/ifr/checking-instruments-and-equipment
3 · Teach sequence
Key points to land
- After an IFR flight, go through every flight instrument and every nav and comm system, using the POH/AFM as the list, and compare each with how it behaved in flight; note anything that misbehaved, even briefly. Then document it. The walk-around supplements this; it doesn't replace it.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B); Your airplane's POH/AFM)
- Write discrepancies in the operator's squawk system, where maintenance and the next pilot will see them. The owner or operator keeps the airplane airworthy and has discrepancies fixed (91.403, 91.405); maintenance makes the maintenance-record entries; you, as PIC, decide whether it's airworthy for your next flight (91.7).(14 CFR 91.403(a), 91.405, 91.7(b))
- Inoperative equipment is repaired or formally deferred before the next flight. Placarding alone never defers anything. With an approved MEL and its letter of authorization, follow the MEL. Without one, 91.213(d): not required by the type certificate, the equipment list or KOEL, 91.205 or another rule, or an AD; then removed or deactivated with a maintenance-record entry, placarded "Inoperative", and judged no hazard. Deferred items are repaired at the next required inspection (91.405(c)).(14 CFR 91.213; 91.405(c))
- VOR check: for IFR use, within the preceding 30 days (±4° VOT or ground checkpoint, ±6° airborne, 4° between two receivers), normally done before the IFR flight; log the date, place, bearing error and signature. Stale or out of tolerance means no VOR use under IFR.(14 CFR 91.171)
- Note servicing needs: fuel, oil, and anything that needs a mechanic’s look.(Your airplane's POH/AFM)
The postflight check and write-up
- The systematic review first: each flight instrument, nav receiver, comm radio, the autopilot and the transponder, against what it did in flight. Then the walk-around: damage, leaks, ice or anything loose; the antennas and the pitot and static ports.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B); Your airplane's POH/AFM)
- Note anything that misbehaved in flight: a navaid flag, a flickering display, a radio that cut out, a gyro that drifted.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B))
- Record discrepancies in the aircraft’s maintenance records or squawk system, per the owner or operator.(14 CFR 91.405)
- Placarding "Inoperative" is one step of the formal deferral, done with deactivation or removal and a maintenance-record entry, not a routine personal postflight action. Your job is the write-up and telling the operator.(14 CFR 91.213(d))
Watch for in the airplane: Your instructor watches for a real walk-around, honest notes on anything that misbehaved, and a write-up the next pilot can use.
4 · Ask your student
In order: recall, then understanding, then applying it. Move up only when the answer shows it.
Recall · Where do you record a discrepancy after a flight?
A strong answer: In the aircraft’s squawk sheet or the operator’s maintenance system, so maintenance and the next pilot see it.
Understand · Why write up a problem that fixed itself?
A strong answer: An intermittent problem often fails for good later. The write-up lets maintenance find it before someone depends on it in cloud.
Apply · Your glideslope flagged twice on the approach and then worked. What do you do after landing?
A strong answer: Write it up with details: when, where and what it did, in the operator’s squawk system, and tell the owner or school. Maintenance then repairs it or defers it properly.
Scenarios to talk through
The COM 1 radio cut out twice during the flight. What do you do?
Sound decision: Always a specific write-up in the official squawk system, plus a heads-up to the operator or next pilot; the verbal handoff never replaces the write-up.
You notice the static port has tape residue on it. What do you do?
Sound decision: Leave it as found: don’t clean, scrape or probe a pitot-static port. Write it up and tell maintenance and the operator; the airplane isn’t ready for IFR until maintenance clears it.
You’re late and tempted to skip the write-up. Why not?
Sound decision: The next pilot may fly IFR relying on that equipment.
5 · Common student errors
Telling only a friend.
Why it matters: Maintenance never hears.
How to correct it: Write it in the official system.
Vague write-ups.
Why it matters: Maintenance can’t find it.
How to correct it: Say what, when and where.
6 · Completion standard
- Conduct a postflight inspection and document discrepancies and servicing requirements, if any.
- Your student answers each "Ask your student" question in their own words, up to the Apply level, without prompting.
- They talk through the scenarios and reach a safe, legal decision, explaining why.
- They complete the pack’s quick check and can say what they flagged.
Area trained? Close out with a practice oral focused on IR.VIII.A: pilotprep.pro/exam?exam=IFR&focus=IR.VIII.A
7 · References
- 14 CFR, 91.171, 91.213, 91.405
- Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), IFR flight
- Instrument Rating ACS (FAA-S-ACS-8C), Area VIII
- Airman Certification Standards, task IR.VIII.A
PilotPrep instructor lesson plan, from the Checking Instruments and Equipment lesson (checked against current FAA sources 2026-11-13). A study and teaching aid, not FAA guidance; teach to your own judgment and the current ACS.