FAA AGI Advanced Ground Instructor study guide
FAA AGI Advanced Ground Instructor · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Advanced Ground Instructor (AGI) certificate is the FAA's ground-only teaching credential for instructors who want broader endorsement authority than the basic ground instructor rating carries. It is aimed at people who teach ground school rather than fly with students: career ground instructors, pilots building instructional experience before a flight instructor certificate, and aviation teachers in schools and colleges. The FAA AGI Advanced Ground Instructor study guide has 9 sections and about 2,501 words.
01Regulations, Publications, and Airman Certification Requirements
The ground instructor certificate lives in 14 CFR Part 61, subpart I. Eligibility is narrow and often misremembered: you must be at least 18, read/speak/write English, pass the Fundamentals of Instructing knowledge test, and pass the knowledge test for the rating sought (Advanced Ground Instructor).
319 words, about 2 min02Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance
Lift, weight, thrust, and drag must balance, but the exam tests your understanding of how they trade. Induced drag decreases as airspeed increases; parasite drag increases with the square of airspeed.
309 words, about 2 min03Aircraft Systems, Powerplants, and Flight Instruments
Split the aircraft into four teaching blocks: electrical, pitot-static, gyroscopic, and powerplant/fuel. The airspeed indicator, altimeter, and VSI all use the static port.
262 words, about 1 min04Weight, Balance, and Loading
Weight and balance questions are simple arithmetic wrapped in terminology. Learn the vocabulary cold: datum (reference point), arm (distance from datum), moment (weight × arm), empty weight (includes unusable fuel and full oil), useful load (max gross minus empty weight), and EWCG .
270 words, about 1 min05Navigation, Flight Planning, and Cross-Country Physiology
The navigation sequence is mechanical: plot a true course , apply variation to get magnetic course, apply deviation to get compass heading, then apply wind to convert TAS into groundspeed and true heading. Mnemonic: east is least, west is best - with easterly variation magnetic is less than true.
250 words, about 1 min06Weather Theory, Reports, and Forecasts
Stability drives most weather questions. A stable atmosphere resists vertical motion: smooth air, stratus clouds, steady precipitation, and haze.
284 words, about 1 min07Airspace, Air Traffic Control, and Airport Operations
Know the seven classes and what each requires. Class A is above 18,000 ft MSL, IFR only.
302 words, about 2 min08Human Factors, Aeromedical Factors, and Aeronautical Decision Making
Aeromedical questions reward pattern recognition. Hypoxia - euphoria, tingling, poor judgment, cyanosis - is treated with oxygen and descent.
252 words, about 1 min09Fundamentals of Instructing and Ground Instruction Techniques
Ground instruction questions ask you to match a scenario to a concept. Know the domains : cognitive (knowledge), affective (attitudes), psychomotor (physical skill).
253 words, about 1 min