I'm great. I said so myself!

I was recently reminded the other day of a somewhat oddball question that I've been asked more than once. This won't be the last time I come across it, and the answer is a little bit complicated.

The question is, "Can I endorse myself for knowledge tests?"

The answer is, "It depends. And even if so, it depends."

The answer is actually pretty clear if you are a CFI and don't hold a ground instructor certificate. In that case, the answer is NO. The FARs are pretty clear on this under Part 61 Subpart H:

§61.195   Flight instructor limitations and qualifications

3(i) Prohibition against self-endorsements. A flight instructor shall not make any self-endorsement for a certificate, rating, flight review, authorization, operating privilege, practical test, or knowledge test that is required by this part.

Things get murkier if you hold a Ground Instructor (either Advanced or Basic) certificate. In that case, there is no prohibition under the ground instructor part of the FARs (Part 61 Subpart I) against self-endorsement. There's nothing that says you can, but there's nothing that says you can't, either. With the way the United States legal system works, that technically means you can.

However, the other "it depends" part is dependent on your testing provider actually accepting your self-endorsement as an BGI, AGI, or IGI. Which of those you're even able to self-endorse for depends on what ground instructor certificate you have:

• If you have a BGI, you can't self-endorse for anything except a Sport, Recreational, or Private certificate.
• With an AGI, you still can't self-endorse for an instrument written—that requires an IGI.
• And if you have only an IGI (i.e., no BGI/AGI), the only thing you can self-endorse for is your instrument written.

If you're unclear on the difference between an BGI and an AGI or what you can do as an IGI, the most popular post on this entire blog goes into that.

As always, if you have questions, I love to hear them. Please ask away!



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The author is an airline pilot, flight instructor, and adjunct college professor teaching aviation ground schools. He holds an ATP certificate with ERJ-145 and DHC-8 type ratings, as well as CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI, and IGI certificates, and is a Master-level participant in the FAA's WINGS program and a former FAASafety Team representative. He is on Facebook as Larry the Flying Guy, has a Larry the Flying Guy YouTube channel, and is on Twitter as @Lairspeed.

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