A CFII is a flight instructor certificate carrying an instrument-airplane rating, and it is what authorizes you to give the instrument training required for an instrument rating and for the instrument portions of the commercial and airline transport pilot certificates. There is no separate certificate called a CFII: it is an added rating on the flight instructor certificate you already hold, governed by 14 CFR 61.183, 61.187(b)(7) and 61.195(c).
We teach it inside the $15,400 program that covers CFI, CFII and MEI together at Van Nuys. For that program as a whole see our flight instructor (CFI) course in Los Angeles; for what an instructor certificate is and what it authorizes, see certified flight instructor in Los Angeles.
If You Searched For The CFII PTS, Read This First
The Practical Test Standards are no longer the document your checkride is conducted to. The FAA publishes the Flight Instructor for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards, FAA-S-ACS-25, effective 31 May 2024. Study material written against a PTS is out of date, and the difference is not cosmetic: the ACS restructures every task into knowledge, risk management and skill elements, and adds an explicit risk management column that examiners test directly.
If your last exposure to instructor standards was a PTS, read our CFI ACS and PTS explained page before you buy any books. Buying a superseded study guide is the most common and most avoidable mistake in instructor preparation.
What A CFII May Teach
14 CFR 61.195(c) is the controlling limitation. A flight instructor may conduct instrument training for the issuance of an instrument rating, for a type rating not limited to VFR, or the instrument training required for a commercial pilot or airline transport pilot certificate, only if that instructor holds an instrument rating appropriate to the aircraft used for the training on both their pilot certificate and their flight instructor certificate.
The practical consequences are worth stating plainly:
- A CFI without the instrument rating on the instructor certificate may not give instrument training toward an instrument rating, even if that CFI personally holds an instrument rating and flies approaches every week.
- A CFII may give the 10 hours of instrument training required for the commercial certificate under 14 CFR 61.129, and the instrument time required under 61.65 for the instrument rating itself.
- A CFII may conduct instrument proficiency checks under 14 CFR 61.57(d), which is steady work from rated pilots who have fallen out of currency. Our instrument proficiency check page covers what that involves.
- Instrument training given in a multi-engine airplane also requires the multi-engine class rating on the instructor certificate, which is why CFII and MEI are usually taken together.
The Requirements
| Paragraph | What it requires |
|---|---|
| 61.183(a) | Be at least 18 years old. |
| 61.183(b) | Read, speak, write and understand English. |
| 61.183(c) | Hold a commercial or airline transport pilot certificate with the appropriate aircraft category and class rating, and an instrument rating or instrument privileges on that certificate. |
| 61.183(d) | Hold a logbook endorsement on the fundamentals of instructing under 61.185. |
| 61.183(e) | Pass the fundamentals of instructing knowledge test, unless you already hold a flight instructor certificate. |
| 61.183(f) | Pass a knowledge test on the aeronautical knowledge areas appropriate to the instructor rating sought. For the instrument instructor rating this is the flight instructor instrument knowledge test. |
| 61.183(g) | Hold a logbook endorsement covering the 61.187(b)(7) areas of operation. |
| 61.183(h) | Pass a practical test in an aircraft representative of the rating, or in an approved flight simulator or flight training device. |
| 61.183(j) | Log at least 15 hours as pilot in command in the category and class of aircraft appropriate to the rating sought. |
Note that 61.183(i), the spin training endorsement, is a requirement attached to a flight instructor certificate with an airplane or glider rating; if you already hold a CFI, the endorsement in your logbook from that course is the record of it. Our CFI spin endorsement page covers that training.
The Areas Of Operation
14 CFR 61.187(b)(7) lists the areas of operation for an instrument instructor rating: fundamentals of instructing; technical subject areas; preflight preparation; a preflight lesson on a maneuver to be performed in flight; air traffic control clearances and procedures; flight by reference to instruments; navigation aids; instrument approach procedures; emergency operations; and postflight procedures.
Compare that with the single-engine instructor list and two things stand out. There are no takeoffs and landings, no ground reference maneuvers and no stalls. And every remaining item is something you must teach rather than simply fly. The CFII checkride is, more than any other, a test of explanation.
What The Training Actually Involves
Teaching A Scan You Stopped Thinking About
The hardest part of the CFII is not flying approaches. You can already fly approaches. It is breaking down an instrument scan into something teachable, diagnosing which instrument a struggling student is fixating on, and giving a correction that fixes the cause instead of the symptom. Every CFII candidate arrives able to fly a coupled ILS and discovers that explaining why the student's altitude wanders on the localizer is a completely different skill.
Right-Seat Instrument Flying
You will fly approaches from the right seat, often partial panel, while talking. The sight picture is different, the primary instruments are further away, and your right hand is on the yoke rather than the throttle. It takes a handful of hours to stop feeling clumsy.
Lesson Plans That Survive Contact With A Student
The ACS expects you to present a preflight lesson on a maneuver. Build real lesson plans for holding, the ILS, the RNAV approach, partial panel, unusual attitude recovery and circling approaches. The examiner will pick one and ask you to teach it, and will play a student who does not understand the first explanation.
The Technical Subject Areas
Expect to be examined on the regulatory and system knowledge you have not looked at since your own instrument checkride: currency and the instrument proficiency check under 61.57(c) and (d), alternate airport requirements, approach chart minima and how they are derived, RNAV approach types and equipment requirements, pitot-static and gyroscopic systems and their failure modes, icing, and how to teach a student to recognize all of it.
What The Checkride Day Looks Like
The CFII ride is shorter than the initial instructor ride and structured differently, and knowing the shape of it helps.
Paperwork first, as always: certificate, medical, logbook endorsements, the knowledge test report, and the IACRA application. Then the oral, typically two to three hours rather than the four or more that an initial instructor oral runs, because the fundamentals of instructing are not re-examined. It concentrates instead on the technical subject areas specific to instrument flight and on your ability to teach them. Expect a whiteboard, and expect to be asked to teach holding entries to somebody who says they do not understand after your first explanation. The examiner is not being difficult; a real student will do exactly that.
The flight is flown with you in the right seat. You will be asked to demonstrate and teach at the same time, and the examiner will frequently play the student, flying badly on purpose to see whether you notice and whether your correction addresses the cause. Partial panel, an unusual attitude recovery, a hold, and at least one approach to minimums are near-certain. A significant portion of the ride may be conducted in an approved flight training device, since 61.183(h) permits the practical test to be taken in an aircraft representative of the rating or in an approved simulator or training device under Part 142; confirm with your examiner what they will accept before the day.
The single most common cause of an unsatisfactory result is not flying. It is a candidate who flies the approach beautifully in silence.
Where The Simulator Fits
The program includes two hours in the Redbird MCX, an FAA-approved advanced aviation training device. For instrument instructor training it earns its place for one reason: you can create failures on demand and then freeze the scene. A vacuum failure on the approach, a static blockage in the descent, a missed approach from minimums in a crosswind, repeated until you can talk a student through it calmly. None of that is available in an airplane at a sensible price or a sensible risk level. Details are on our full-motion flight simulator page.
Cost And Timeline
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Ratings covered | CFI, CFII and MEI |
| Price | $15,400 |
| Single-engine flight time | 20 hours |
| Multi-engine flight time | 8 hours in the Piper Seminole |
| Full-motion simulator | 2 hours |
| Dual instruction | 30 hours |
| Ground instruction | 50 hours, across twelve eight-hour ground days |
| Typical elapsed time | About four weeks full time |
| Knowledge tests | Approximately $175 each at a PSI testing center |
| Examiner fees | Roughly $1,000 to $1,500 for the initial instructor ride, roughly $800 to $1,000 for each add-on |
The full breakdown, including where the $15,400 goes and how the payment plans work, is on our CFI training cost and timeline page.
CFII Or MEI First?
If you are adding the ratings one at a time rather than taking the program, the order matters less than people think, but there is a defensible answer.
Take the CFII first if you intend to instruct full time. Instrument students are the most reliable work available to a new instructor. They are already certificated pilots, they arrive prepared, they finish, and their lessons go ahead on days when the marine layer has canceled every primary flight on the field. In Los Angeles between May and July that is not a small consideration. The CFII also unlocks instrument proficiency checks under 61.57(d), which are short, well paid and recurring.
Take the MEI first if you are close to an airline timeline. The multi-engine instructor rating is what lets you build the 50 hours of multi-engine class time required by 14 CFR 61.159(a) while being paid instead of paying. If you are already near 1,500 hours with a thin multi-engine column, that is the more urgent problem.
Take all three together if you can. One long examiner fee and two short ones is cheaper than three separate courses, the ground work overlaps heavily, and you come out employable in every lane at once.
Why The CFII Is The Add-On That Pays
A CFI who cannot teach instruments is limited to primary students and good weather. A CFII can teach instrument students, sign instrument proficiency checks, teach the 10 hours of instrument training required for the commercial certificate, and work on days when the marine layer has grounded every primary lesson on the field.
There is a second, less obvious benefit. Teaching instrument flying is the fastest way to become genuinely good at it yourself. You cannot explain a scan you have never analyzed, and the process of breaking down your own habits into teachable steps exposes every shortcut you have been getting away with. Most instructors say their own instrument flying improved more in the six months after the CFII than in the two years before. Our flight instructor salary page covers what instructing pays while you build toward 1,500 hours, and flight instructor jobs covers what the work is like here.
Related Reading
- CFI requirements — the full ladder to the initial instructor certificate.
- CFI ACS and PTS explained — what changed and how to study for it.
- Multi-engine instructor (MEI) rating — the third rating in the set.
- CFI training cost and timeline — where the $15,400 goes.
- Instrument rating in Los Angeles — the rating your future students will be working toward.
- Instrument proficiency check — work a CFII can sign for that a CFI cannot.
CFII Rating FAQ
What Is A CFII?
A flight instructor certificate carrying an instrument-airplane rating. It authorizes the holder to give instrument training toward an instrument rating and the instrument training required for commercial and airline transport pilot certificates, under 14 CFR 61.195(c).
Is There A CFII PTS?
Not any more. Instructor practical tests are conducted to the Flight Instructor for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards, FAA-S-ACS-25, effective 31 May 2024. Any CFII study material written against a PTS is out of date.
Can A CFI Teach Instrument Flying Without The CFII?
Not toward an instrument rating. 14 CFR 61.195(c) requires an instrument rating appropriate to the aircraft on both the pilot certificate and the flight instructor certificate before an instructor may give that training.
Do I Need To Retake The Fundamentals Of Instructing Test For The CFII?
No, not if you already hold a flight instructor certificate. 14 CFR 61.183(e) exempts a person who holds a flight instructor certificate from the fundamentals of instructing knowledge test.
How Many Hours Does The CFII Require?
14 CFR 61.183(j) requires at least 15 hours of pilot in command time in the category and class of aircraft appropriate to the rating sought. There is no separate instrument hour figure beyond the instrument rating you already hold.
How Much Does A CFII Cost At Van Nuys?
We teach it inside the $15,400 program covering CFI, CFII and MEI together. Knowledge tests are approximately $175 each and examiner fees are paid separately.
Can I Take The CFII Checkride In A Simulator?
14 CFR 61.183(h) permits the practical test to be taken in an aircraft representative of the rating, or in an approved flight simulator or flight training device under Part 142. Whether a particular device is acceptable is a question for the examiner, so confirm before you book.
Should I Do CFII Or MEI First?
Most instructors take the CFII first, because instrument students are plentiful and the rating pays for itself faster. Taking all three together in one program is cheaper than adding them one at a time.
Start The Instructor Program
If you hold a commercial certificate with an instrument rating and you want the instructor ratings that make you employable in every kind of weather, book a free consultation and bring your logbook. We will tell you how long the program will take with your totals and what it will cost. Call (818) 330-1318 any day from 9 AM to 9 PM. If you are earlier in the path, a discovery flight is $229 for 60 minutes and logs as dual instruction. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406, on Van Nuys Airport.