PREP - CHECK - TEACH

Everything you Need for Your CFI Checkrides & to Teach Future Students

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Our most popular product - All Instructor lesson plans, ACS Reviews & Syllabi

Save Big with The Whole Shebang

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Over 12 Years of Updates, and Counting - We'll do the Work to Keep You Current

Free Updates with ALL Content

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Your One Stop CFI Shop

Are you an aspiring or current CFI preparing for your instructor checkrides and looking to provide top-notch instruction, or a flight school looking for consistently updated training materials?

Look no further than Backseat Pilot - your ever-evolving CFI resource.

Why Backseat Pilot?

Everything You Need to Succeed

  • Detailed Lesson Plans
  • Professional Slides
  • Tailored Syllabi
  • Thorough ACS Reviews

100% Editable Content

Adapt our materials to fit YOUR teaching style & lifestyle. All files are included in PC (Word & PowerPoint), Mac (Pages & Keynote), as well as PDF formats! And they work with Google Docs and Slides!

FREE Updates for Life

Stay current with evolving regulations and content improvements - at ZERO extra cost or effort! Simply login & download the latest content.
The majority of our updates are based on your feedback. Don't hesitate to reach out.

Proven Expertise & Success

With over a decade of content updates and highly satisfied CFIs, our products have received hundreds of glowing reviews from pilots & flight schools successfully navigating their CFI checkrides and instructing careers!

FEATURED PRODUCT

THE WHOLE SHEBANG

Our Most Popular Offering & Biggest Savings (Saves $146)!

  • All CFI, CFI-I, & MEI Lesson Plans & Slides
  • All Private, Instrument, & Commercial ACS Reviews
  • All Private, Instrument, & Commercial syllabi
  • Our IFR/VFR Kneeboard Reference Card
  • Free updates & additional content as it's developed

You're set for life! This all-inclusive package equips you with everything you need to prepare for your instructor training & checkrides, and to teach with confidence.

Learn More & View Samples

How it Works

Prep

Turn two months of writing lessons for your checkrides into a 2 minute download with our ready-to-use lesson plans and slide decks covering every single CFI, MEI, & CFI-I ACS and PTS task. Tailor them to your needs (or use them as-is) and start practicing teaching!

Samples:

And checkout our NEW CFI Prep Course
Next course starts August 24th!

Check

Go to your instructor checkrides confident with personally tailored lessons & slide decks designed for YOUR success.

Aviation Instructor's Handbook, pg. 7-9:
"Commercially developed lesson plans are acceptable for most training situations, including use by flight instructor applicants during their practical tests..."

Teach

Take your tailored lessons & slide decks and seamlessly transition to instructing future pilots with detailed syllabi, ACS Reviews, and our adaptable resources.

Already have your ratings? Skip steps 1 & 2 and start using our materials to elevate your teaching!

Keep moving forward with our constantly updated, improving, and growing content!

Samples:

Probably one of the most comprehensive and articulate, straightforward lesson plan sets out there.

Alec

Welcome!

I’m Nate — the guy behind Backseat Pilot! It all started after a lost comms situation at KLGB. The tower's radios went out, I got a steady green light to land, and afterward I kept thinking: What if I got a different signal and hadn’t been 100% sure what it meant? That moment sparked the original "Backseat Pilot" — my IFR/VFR reference card for the critical, hard-to-remember, and rarely used info that pilots need.

What began as a simple reference card has grown into full lesson plans, slides, syllabi, and more — built from my experience as a CFI, CFI-I, MEI, airline pilot, and USAF C-17 Instructor Pilot. I spend countless hours updating and refining everything with FAA resources, real-world flying, and most importantly feedback from pilots like you — with the goal to make your training easier, more effective, and more practical.

If you have any questions or need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I sincerely believe aviation is a family and the intent of Backseat Pilot is to help people succeed - Always happy to help!

Welcome!

I’m Nate — the guy behind Backseat Pilot! It all started after a lost comms situation at KLGB. The tower's radios went out, I got a steady green light to land, and afterward I kept thinking: What if I got a different signal and hadn’t been 100% sure what it meant? That moment sparked the original "Backseat Pilot" — my current IFR/VFR reference card for the critical, hard-to-remember, and rarely used info pilots need that.

What began as a simple reference card has grown into full lesson plans, slides syllabi, and more — built from my experience as a CFI, CFI-I, MEI, airline pilot, and USAF C-17 instructor pilot. I spend countless hours updating and refining everything with FAA resources, real-world flying, and most importantly feedback from pilots like you — with the goal to make your training easier, more effective, and more practical.

If you have any questions or need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I sincerely believe aviation is a family and the intent of Backseat Pilot is to help people succeed - Always happy to help!

Welcome!

I’m Nate — the guy behind Backseat Pilot! It all started after a lost comms situation at KLGB. The tower's radios went out, I got a steady green light to land, and afterward I kept thinking: What if I got a different signal and hadn’t been 100% sure I remembered what it meant? That moment sparked the original "Backseat Pilot" — my current IFR/VFR reference card for the critical, hard-to-remember, and rarely used info pilots need that.

What began as a simple reference card has grown into full lesson plans, slides syllabi, and more — built from my experience as a CFI, CFI-I, MEI, airline pilot, and USAF C-17 Instructor Pilot. I spend countless hours updating and refining everything with FAA resources, real-world flying, and most importantly feedback from pilots like you — with the goal to make your training easier, more effective, and more practical.

If you have any questions or need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I sincerely believe aviation is a family and the intent of Backseat Pilot is to help people succeed - Always happy to help!

Prep - Check - Teach

Save Time - Start Teaching

Don't let the challenges of preparing for your CFI checkrides, building a CFI program, and instructing overwhelm you. Streamline your preparation with Backseat Pilot's resources, so you can focus on flying and teaching.

Take advantage of our comprehensive resources designed to support your success.

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The CFI lesson plans are an amazing tool!! These have been an amazing template and tool to help me build my own lesson plans. If you’re on the fence about it, I highly suggest taking advantage of these!!

Connor

Using Our Content

Lessons & Slides

A complete and detailed lesson & slide deck for every task in the CFI & MEI ACS and CFI-I PTS. Our CFI, CFII & MEI lessons are exactly what you need for your Instructor checkrides AND to teach future students.

Edit and tailor the lessons & slides to your teaching style or drop them on a tablet and go straight to work instructing!

Consistent FREE updates and improvements (as with all of our content).

Best For:

  • Instructor Checkrides
  • Teaching Students

Document Types:

  • PC: Word & PowerPoint
  • Mac: Pages & Keynote
  • PDFs
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Using Our Content

ACS Reviews

Our ACS Reviews cover the Knowledge and Risk Management sections of every task in the FAA's Private, Instrument and Commercial ACS (CFI ACS is in the works).

Thorough and organized, they're great for instructors and students alike. Instructors, supplement your CFI, CFII & MEI lessons to ensure your student is prepared for their checkride. Students, use our ACS Reviews as a study guide to help prep for your checkride!

As always, updates are included and, of course, FREE.

Best For:

  • Reviewing ACS specific material with students
  • Studying for ACS based checkrides

Document Types:

  • PC: Word
  • Mac: Pages
  • PDFs
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Using Our Content

Syllabi

Take our lessons, slide decks, and ACS Reviews and combine them with our Private, Instrument & Commercial single-engine syllabi for a one stop CFI shop!

Our syllabi provide a detailed breakdown of every ground and flight lesson, including the Lessons and slides to teach from, student review topics, planned ground topics, aircraft maneuvers, and more! On top of this you'll find detailed hourly breakdowns, the applicable FAR requirements, as well as student trackers to monitor progress through each course.

Updates are FREE, as expected.

Best For:

  • Detailed structure to teach Private, Instrument & Commercial students
  • Tying the Lessons, PowerPoints & ACS Reviews together

Document Types:

  • PC: Word & Excel
  • Mac: Pages & Numbers
  • PDFs
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More Resources

Pilot Resources

Checkout our growing compilation of resources providing sample study guides, a pilot resume template, multiengine concepts, airspace, and more!

Check Them Out

Flight Training Articles

Insights, advice, and direction for those trying to figure out where to start, flight training, time building, career options, and more!

Read More

Advisory Circulars

A collection of the ACs we found particularly helpful when preparing for CFI

Learn More

Backseat Pilot

PREP - CHECK - TEACH

Everything You Need for your CFI Checkrides & to Teach Future Students

FAQ

A few of our most common questions. Find more answers to your questions on our FAQ page.

Still have questions? Email info@thebackseatpilot.com
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