FAA AGI Advanced Ground Instructor study plan
FAA AGI Advanced Ground Instructor · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Aerodynamics and aircraft performance
Explain how angle of attack, camber, and airspeed generate lift, and calculate how lift changes when airspeed is doubled or halved.
Distinguish induced drag, parasite drag, and total drag, and state the operational significance of L/D max for glide, climb, and cruise.
Predict aircraft behavior in the stall and spin regimes, and compute load factor at 30, 45, and 60 degrees of bank.
Differentiate static versus dynamic and longitudinal, lateral, and directional stability, and describe how center-of-gravity position alters each.
Your checkpoint
Deliver a 15-minute whiteboard lesson on lift, drag, and stalls to a peer or recording device; score your own accuracy against a 5-point rubric and reach at least 4/5 with all corrections noted.
Aerodynamics and aircraft performance & Weight, balance, and loading
Compute density altitude from pressure altitude and temperature, then predict the resulting changes in takeoff roll, climb rate, and landing distance.
Derive takeoff, climb, and landing figures from tabular performance data, interpolating between published rows and columns.
Calculate total weight, total moment, and center-of-gravity position for a sample loading and judge whether the result falls inside the envelope.
Reposition a load to correct an out-of-limits center of gravity and convert between station numbers and percent mean aerodynamic chord.
Your checkpoint
Submit a completed weight-and-balance worksheet covering five distinct loadings (all CG positions correct, at least one out-of-envelope case corrected) plus ten performance computations scored at 90 percent or better.
Navigation, flight planning, and flight physiology of cross-country operations
Plan a three-leg visual cross-country using pilotage, dead reckoning, and one ground-based or satellite navigation aid, computing true course, wind correction angle, and ground speed for each leg.
Calculate fuel burn, time en route, and distance for each leg while reserving the required day and night fuel minimums.
Convert among true, magnetic, and compass headings for a given route using published variation and a sample deviation card.
Identify the physiological threats of long cross-country legs, including hypoxia, fatigue, dehydration, and spatial disorientation, and state one countermeasure for each.
Your checkpoint
Produce a complete navigation log for a route of at least 250 nautical miles, with every leg recalculated by a second method and all legs within 2 nautical miles and 2 minutes of each other.
Weather theory, reports, and forecasts
Decode a METAR, a TAF, and a PIREP into plain language and predict the resulting flight category at a given station and time.
Explain atmospheric stability and the standard, dry, and moist adiabatic lapse rates, and connect them to cloud formation, turbulence, and showery versus steady precipitation.
Interpret frontal passages, pressure systems, and the hazards of icing and embedded thunderstorms well enough to justify a go or no-go decision.
Evaluate ceiling, visibility, wind, and temperature-dewpoint spread to name the single most limiting factor for a planned departure.
Your checkpoint
Complete a timed 25-item weather decoding and interpretation exercise at 85 percent or higher, and attach a written go/no-go recommendation for one sample route supported by three specific forecast citations.
Regulations, publications, and airman certification requirements & Aircraft systems, powerplants, and flight instruments
Cite the regulations governing flight instructor privileges, endorsements, recent experience, and medical eligibility, locating each rule by part and section within two minutes.
Locate and apply information from advisory circulars, the AIM, and a sample pilot's operating handbook to answer practical lookup questions.
Trace the four-stroke cycle and describe how the induction, fuel metering, ignition, cooling, and lubrication systems support it.
Explain the errors and failure modes of pitot-static instruments and gyroscopic instruments, including blockage, leak, and precession effects.
Your checkpoint
Build a one-page regulatory lookup map and answer 20 lookup questions with the exact citation recorded for each; score at least 18 of 20 with correct citations.
Airspace, air traffic control, and airport operations
Classify Class A through Class G airspace by dimensions, entry requirements, and equipment, and state the pilot actions required in each.
Determine visual flight rules weather minimums and special use airspace restrictions for ten varied scenarios.
Interpret air traffic control clearances, position reporting requirements, runway and taxiway markings and signs, and light-gun signals.
Decode airport diagrams and notices to airmen, and compute the headwind and crosswind components for a runway relative to a reported wind.
Your checkpoint
Solve a 15-scenario airspace and weather-minimum problem set at 90 percent or higher, submitted with a labeled reference sheet of airport signs and markings you drew yourself.
Fundamentals of instructing and ground instruction techniques & Human factors, aeromedical factors, and aeronautical decision making
Construct a 30-minute ground lesson plan with observable objectives, ordered teaching steps, a teaching technique for each step, and a completion standard.
Apply at least two structured decision-making models to five accident or incident scenarios and name the point where the chain could have been broken.
Identify the aeromedical factors of hypoxia, hyperventilation, carbon monoxide exposure, dehydration, and vestibular illusions, and state the recognition and correction for each.
Explain the five hazardous attitudes and their antidotes, and describe how an instructor builds risk management into every lesson.
Your checkpoint
Deliver a 30-minute recorded or peer-observed ground lesson with a written self-evaluation, and pass a 10-item scenario quiz on decision making and aeromedical factors at 90 percent or higher.
Navigation, flight planning, and flight physiology of cross-country operations & Weather theory, reports, and forecasts
Re-test every objective flagged as weak in the week 4 and week 6 assessments until each reaches 90 percent or higher.
Complete two full-length timed practice examinations under test-day conditions and record domain-level scores for each.
Rebuild flashcards for every missed item and explain each missed concept aloud without notes.
Assemble a one-page personal error log categorizing mistakes as knowledge, interpretation, or careless reading, and state a fix for each category.
Your checkpoint
Two full-length practice examinations scored at 85 percent or better overall with no single domain below 80 percent, plus a completed one-page error log.
Milestones
Week 2: Weight-and-balance worksheet and performance set both scored at 90 percent or better; any center-of-gravity error forces a redo before starting week 3.
Week 4: Cumulative 30-question quiz covering aerodynamics, performance, weight and balance, navigation, and weather scored at 80 percent or higher; if below, add two hours of targeted review to week 5.
Week 6: Full-length 60-question timed practice examination completed, with domain-level scores recorded and every domain at or above 70 percent.
Week 8: Two final practice examinations at 85 percent or better overall, no domain below 80 percent, and a written error log with a corrective plan for each mistake category.