High Performance Endorsement

Written by Head of Training | 21 April 2009

The first step in training to fly high-performance aircraft is to determine what training is (or should be) required. Section 61.31(f) of the FARs mandates merely that, before acting as PIC of an aircraft with an engine of more than 200 horsepower, a pilot must receive and log ground and flight training from a CFI. The CFI must determine that the pilot is proficient to operate a high-performance airplane and enter an endorsement in the pilot's logbook to that effect. The regulation is silent as to the duration and content of the curriculum.

You can conduct high-performance transition training in a high-performance plane, a flight simulator or a flight-training device that is "representative" of a high-performance airplane.

Advisory Circular 61-9b,"Pilot Transition Courses For Complex Single-Engine And Light Twin-Engine Airplanes." Although Advisory Circulars merely offer guidance, they do clarify what the FAA expects of you. AC 61-9b is a recommended syllabus for a transition course. Although it specifies that it is for transitions to "complex" rather than "high-performance" aircraft, the outline is suitable for either purpose. The Advisory Circular mandates in essence that transitioning pilots demonstrate proficiency in all the in-flight tasks covered by the Private Pilot Practical Test Standards.

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