Department of Flight

Yes. Embry-Riddle students and immediate family members are permitted to observe any flight training activity. Any person participating in a training flight must be in proper attire — long pants, shirt with sleeves, socks and closed-toe shoes. Check in at the flight desk and inform the dispatcher that you wish to observe a training flight.

Student parking is available at the Flight Department, and for those without a car, shuttle service runs from campus to the Flight Department at regular intervals during peak hours. The shuttle is also available on-call during nights, weekends and holidays when the Flight Department remains open.

Yes. You are required to have a headset, electronic flight computer, iPad and a flashlight. These items may be acquired through the Embry-Riddle Bookstore or other commercial sources.

Private Pilot (FA 121) Training Start Dates

At Embry-Riddle, students are phased into our training at different start dates for capacity and safety reasons. Training start dates are assigned on a first come, first served basis depending on your matriculation date to the university. You can identify your start date by looking at your flight block registration (FA 95S). Each section will line up with the start date listed in the chart below (based on the semester you are registered for):

	FA 95S Sections
Semester	50, 51 & 53	60, 61 & 63	70 & 71	80 & 81
Fall Semester Start Date	Week 1	Week 5	Week 9	Week 13
Spring Semester Start Date	Week 1	Week 5	Week 9	Week 13
Summer A Start Date	Week 1
Summer B Start Date	Week 1	Week 5

Start dates for instruments occur on a first come, first served basis as well. However, students are assigned daily as room in the flight block section (FA 95I) permits.

The flight courses required for graduation (up to Commercial Pilot Multi-Engine) are designed to be completed by the end of the junior year. If you are highly motivated and available to fly or stay through summer breaks, you can easily finish in less time if you put forth the time and effort.

When you register for classes, you will choose a flight block consisting of three hours when you have no other classes Monday through Sunday each week. You can expect to be scheduled for a mixture of activities for a minimum of three days a week within that flight block. Activities may be ground orals, simulators or flight depending on your progress through the course. You may be scheduled for extra activities in a week if your instructor has extra time and resources are available.

Yes. For safety reasons, any person occupying Embry-Riddle aircraft must wear long pants, a shirt with at least short sleeves (NO shirts with cutoff sleeves or sleeveless shirts), socks and closed-toe shoes.

After you finish your Commercial Pilot Multi-Engine course, you may enroll in a Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) course for issuance of CFI Airplane and CFI Instrument certificates. We also offer Extreme Attitude Recovery Training (XART) in our fully aerobatic American Champion Super Decathlon aircraft. XART training is growing in the industry as a way of training pilots to recover aircraft from extreme attitudes that may result from aircraft malfunctions or bad weather.

Students who are not well enough to fly must call or report to the Health Services on campus to have themselves medically grounded at least 30 minutes prior to the activity start time for the absence to be excused. Students must also report to Health Services to be cleared when they are feeling better and ready to fly. Students may be only restricted from flying in cases where they are well enough to do ground activities but not safe enough to fly. After two medically excused absences in a semester, a student will be required to present a doctor's note to a training manager to be excused.

If you come to Embry-Riddle with a Private Pilot Certificate you’ll be enrolled in a transition course to familiarize you with the area, our aircraft and our operations to ensure that you can meet the same standards as a student who just finished getting their certificate from Embry-Riddle.

We know that every student who gets their certificate before they come to Embry-Riddle has flown under differing circumstances than those at Embry-Riddle. Our goal is to try to ensure that as you move on to other advanced courses, you have the same knowledge as any other student going into that course. The training time in the transition course also counts toward the FAA minimums for issuance of a Commercial Pilot Certificate.

The Embry‑Riddle Prescott Flight Department allows owners of private aircraft to park on the Riddle Ramp with prior permission only. If you are interested in parking on the Riddle Ramp, please email details regarding your request. Requests are not guaranteed and may be approved dependent on available ramp space.

During flight check in, students should inform the Embry-Riddle representative that they have previous flight experience. At that time, an appointment will be scheduled with the Chief Instructor or his representative to review the students' logbook and determine which ground and flight course the student will be placed in.

If the student has already been endorsed for a check ride and has an endorsement in their logbook, they may petition the flight department chair for permission to train elsewhere and complete their check ride. Students must have prior written permission for this option.

Students are expected to stay and fly their first summer to complete their initial certificate or rating. Students are encouraged to fly during school breaks.