Backseat Pilot - The Best CFI Lesson Plans

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

An Easier Path to CFI

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

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Stop Stressing. Start Teaching.

The CFI checkride feels overwhelming. Writing lessons, building slides, long days studying and prepping for orals, all while learning to teach and fly from the right seat - it's a lot. But you don't have to figure it out alone.

We've got your back with everything you need: ready-to-use lessons, professional slides, live training classes, and a proven system that's helped thousands of CFI candidates go from stressed to checkride-ready.

From overwhelmed to confident. We'll get you there.

Created by a 8,500+ hour CFI, CFII, MEI, Airline & USAF Instructor Pilot

Why Backseat Pilot?

Everything in One Place

Detailed lesson plans, professional slides, tailored syllabi, ACS reviews, and now live training classes. No hunting across the internet. No piecing it together yourself. It's all here.

Make It Yours

Every file is 100% editable (Word, PowerPoint, Pages, Keynote, PDF). Adapt our materials to your teaching style or use them as-is. Either way, you'll show up prepared.

Always Current, Always Free

New regulations? Updated content? You get it automatically at zero extra cost. Just log in and download. Most updates come directly from CFI feedback - we listen and improve.

Proven by Thousands of CFIs

Over a decade of helping pilots pass their checkrides and build successful instructing careers. Our materials work because they're built by instructors who've been exactly where you are.

How it Works

Prep

Turn two months of lesson writing into a 2-minute download. Get ready-to-use lesson plans and slide decks covering every CFI, CFII, and MEI task. Customize them to your style or use them as-is - either way, you'll show up to your checkride prepared and confident.

Now add live training to build your skills:

CFI Class Pass - Unlimited monthly classes for ongoing practice and feedback
CFI Prep Course - Small-group immersive course to dial in your teaching and oral exam skills
1:1 Instruction - Personalized coaching on your weak spots (coming soon!)

No stress. No guessing. Just structure, support, and the confidence you need to pass. We've got your back from first lesson to checkride day.

Sample Lessons & Slides:

Check

Walk into your checkride with confidence built from practice AND preparation. Your personalized lesson plans and slides - refined through live training sessions - show examiners you're organized, prepared, and ready to teach.

FAA-approved approach: The Aviation Instructor's Handbook (pg. 7-9) explicitly states that "commercially developed lesson plans are acceptable for most training situations, including use by flight instructor applicants during their practical tests."

Practice with our classes. Present YOUR materials. Pass with confidence.

CFI Prep Course (10/19 - 13:00 PT) - Backseat Pilot

Teach

Start teaching with everything you need. Your personalized lessons and slides integrate seamlessly into our detailed syllabi and ACS reviews - giving you a complete teaching system from day one.

Keep growing with the CFI Class Pass. Stay sharp with ongoing training, get answers to student questions, and refine your teaching skills alongside other instructors.

Already a CFI? Jump straight in. Our materials work for seasoned instructors looking to elevate their teaching game.

Your toolkit keeps evolving - new content, updates, and resources added regularly.

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 Major & 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.

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

Explore Our Products & Content

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!

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

Can I use the lessons on my checkride?

Definitely! Many pilots have (and passed)! We do, however, recommend that you use our lessons to supplement your own or go through and add/remove/edit the information to ensure you're well prepared for the checkride and are comfortable with the format and flow of the lessons.

And the FAA agrees. Straight from the Aviation Instructor's Handbook:
"Commercially developed lesson plans are acceptable for most training situations, including use by flight instructor applicants during their practical tests. However, all instructors should recognize that even well-designed preprinted lesson plans may need to be modified. Therefore, instructors are encouraged to use creativity when adapting preprinted lesson plans or when developing their own lesson plans for specific learners or training circumstances." (Page 7-9)

What formats is the content delivered in?

Whatever works for you! All content is provided as:

PC: Word & PowerPoint
Mac: Pages & Keynote
PDF

They also work great with Google Docs & Slides.

AND all documents are provided as individual files as well as eBooks with full navigation!

How do I download the content?

After checkout you'll be provided instructions to create an account on the website. The account is tied to the email address used when you place the order.

How do the updates work?

As content is added or updated, you'll receive an email summarizing the updates. Login to your account, click the My Digital Content button, and you're set!

Are there any subscription fees or future costs?

Nope! Leave the updates to us. One cost, free updates for life. The goal is to continue finding ways to add value without adding costs.

Still have questions? Email info@thebackseatpilot.com

Always happy to help!

Contact or info@thebackseatpilot.com

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CFI/CFI-I

I ended up purchasing the double I lesson plans. They are very good sometimes you'll have to reword things to help teach someone new to instrument training. I would add that backseat does cover FAA plates versus Jepp so it's good information on both ends. As I teach Jepp plates.

More Time to Study!

I passed my CFI checkride this past weekend! I just wanted to thank you for all of the great resources you have created. It gave me more time to study vs. working on formatting lesson plans. Thanks again!

Marcus is Awesome.

Marcus is an excellent CFI instructor — very thorough and incredibly patient. He took the time to walk me through lesson plans I was struggling with and explained everything in a way that finally made sense. His guidance helped me get organized and confident in my CFI studies. I’d definitely recommend his class to anyone starting their CFI prep or looking to strengthen their teaching skills.

Very helpful for Cfi checkride and teaching!

Marcus is a great teacher. You can tell right away how knowledgeable he is about all things aviation. This course will improve your Cfi knowledge, prepare you for your Checkride, and most importantly, help you become a more knowledgeable and safe instructor.
Learning how to present this information for the Checkride and in the classroom to our future students can be daunting, it’s a whole new world. Marcus really helped break it down and explained how to do the presentations as well as critique and fine-tune the presentations that we prepared. I recommend this course if you are just starting the Cfi rating or if you are getting ready to take your Checkride and need a little extra help.

Very Helpful!

I can't thank the team at Backseat Pilot enough for putting all this together. This has been such a huge time saver. Very well done! Thanks!

Thank you, Alfred! The review and kind words are sincerely appreciated. It's so great to hear the content could be so useful (I'll keep working to improve it too)!

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Why Backseat Pilot?

How it Works

Prep - Check - Teach

Save Time - Start Teaching

FAQ

Let customers speak for us