Under the new FARs set to take effect on December 1, 2024, there will no longer be an expiration date shown on a flight instructor certificate. Nevertheless, an instructor will still have to meet certain experience and activity requirements every 24 calendar months. It is also going to have a “grace” period for CFIs who slip up and don’t meet the 24-month activity requirement—they can take an approved flight instructor refresher course (FIRC).
As things shake out, we suspect that there will be some initial confusion, but that all will be well so long as CFIs keep track of when they’ve got to meet their activity requirement. And, after speaking with an FAA inspector who told us that he’d been called by a CFI two days after his CFI had expired and had to tell the CFI that he was out of luck, it was checkride time again, we think the new rules will prove popular for procrastinators and FAA inspectors who have had to pass along bad news to them for years.