Flight Instructor Program · standards
Ticket: 08. Critique and assessment standard
Stories: US-3.3, applied by US-12.1 and US-12.2
Gate: Enrollment
Sources verified: 2026-08-13. FAA-H-8083-9B chapter 6, Assessment, read this session
Issued: 2026-08-13
One standard, defined once, applied everywhere. Lesson 4 teaches it. Every phase 2 and phase 3 lesson is critiqued against it. Clip critique under US-12.1 uses it. Cockpit review under US-12.2 uses it. Nobody writes a second one.
This page is meant to be open on the table during a debrief. It is short on purpose.
A delivered critique names all three. Two out of three is a fault list.
| The error | What actually happened, stated as observed behavior rather than as a judgment. "You rolled out 15 degrees past heading," not "sloppy" |
| Its probable cause | Why it happened. Fixation on the altimeter, a trim state never set, a scan that stopped at the panel. Without this the learner can only try harder, which is not a correction |
| The correction | What to do differently, specifically enough to act on next flight |
This is the pass condition for a critique in this program, whether the critique is of a Student you are role playing, of a Clip, or of your own recorded teaching.
The failure mode this standard exists to prevent is a debrief that is accurate, complete, and useless. Test any critique you deliver against these four questions.
The lesson's completion standard is the criterion. FAA-H-8083-9B chapter 6, read 2026-08-13, puts it directly:
In order to provide direction and raise the learner's level of performance, assessment needs to be factual, and it should align with the completion standards of the lesson.
Two consequences worth stating because both get broken constantly.
From FAA-H-8083-9B chapter 6, figure 6-1, read 2026-08-13. You will be tested on these and you will also be expected to actually do them.
| Characteristic | What it means in a debrief |
|---|---|
| Objective | Based on the facts of the performance as they were, not as they could have been. Watch for halo error, where liking the learner alters the assessment |
| Flexible | Fit the tone, technique, and content to the occasion and to the person. A good learner sometimes flies badly |
| Acceptable | Delivered with authority, sincerity, and evident competence. A certificate alone does not make a critique land |
| Comprehensive | Covers strengths as well as weaknesses. Not necessarily long, and not every aspect in detail |
| Constructive | Every identified weakness carries positive guidance for correction. Praise for its own sake, and negative comment that points nowhere, are both omitted |
| Organized | Any logical pattern. The sequence of the flight is usually the easiest to follow |
| Thoughtful | Respects the person's dignity. Ridicule, anger, and jokes at their expense have no place. Deliver criticism in private |
| Specific | The learner should leave with no doubt about what to do differently. "Your second landing wasn't as good" has no constructive value on its own |
From FAA-H-8083-9B chapter 6, read 2026-08-13. You should be able to name these and choose between them.
| Type | Who assesses | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Instructor to learner | You | The default after a flight lesson |
| Instructor and learner | Group discussion you lead | A classroom setting, controlled and purposeful, never a free-for-all |
| Learner-led | A learner leads | Generates interest and learning, less efficient |
| Small group | Groups each analyze an area | Classroom, with criteria you supply |
| Individual learner by another learner | A peer | Requires firm control from you |
| Self-critique | The learner on themselves | Under your supervision. This is the one this program uses on you most |
| Written | You, in writing | The learner keeps it. Slower, more considered, permanent |
Two notes the handbook makes that are easy to skip. A critique should come immediately after the performance, while the details are easy to recall. And whatever the type, you resolve disagreements and correct erroneous impressions rather than letting a wrong idea stand because the debrief was running long.
Self-critique comes first in this program, every time. You read your own Session Transcript before your instructor reviews it, and you critique your own recorded cockpit teaching before you are critiqued on it. That ordering is deliberate: self-assessment preceding feedback is the teaching principle the whole program rests on, and reversing it wastes the most useful thing the recording produces.
These are distinct artifacts with distinct purposes, defined in CONTEXT.md, and the standard falls apart if they get used interchangeably.
| What it is | Who it is for | |
|---|---|---|
| Critique | An instructor-to-learner assessment of a performance, meeting the three-part test above | The person who performed |
| Instructor Debrief | The instructor's assessment of a flight, delivered to the pilot who flew it and captured so that it can be time-linked to the Session Recording of that flight. The source of both the annotations that categorize a Clip and the Reference Critique attached to it | The pilot who flew, and afterwards the curation process |
| Reference Critique | The written statement of what errors a Clip contains, derived from the Instructor Debrief of that flight, held so that a Candidate's critique can be compared against a stated standard rather than a recollection | Whoever assesses a Candidate's critique of that Clip |
A Reference Critique is not an answer key, and this is the distinction that matters most when US-12.1 is applied. It is the stated standard the Clip was chosen to show. Per US-12.1, a candidate who names a real error the Clip was not chosen to show is credited, never marked wrong. The intended error is the pass condition. Additional correct observations are credit on top.
If you find yourself marking a candidate down for seeing something real, you are treating the Reference Critique as an answer key, and the standard says not to.
Recorded here so neither invents a second standard.
US-12.1, critique of a Clip. The candidate delivers a critique of a real Student's recorded maneuver. It is judged against the three-part test and the eight characteristics on this page. The Reference Critique supplies what the Clip was chosen to show. Pass condition: the intended error named, with probable cause and correction. Additional real errors are credit.
US-12.2, review of the candidate's own cockpit teaching. The candidate self-critiques first, then is critiqued, both against this page. The review is structured against the four-part cycle US-5.2 requires, so the assessment covers brief, demonstration, narration, and debrief, not only the flying. Each review ends with at least one specific changeable behavior for the next lesson, which is this page's "can they act on it tomorrow" test applied to the candidate themselves.
The written assessment is the record and the footage is not. Footage is deleted on the 30 day Promotion Window, so anything that has to survive is written down at review time. See policy/RECORDING-AND-RETENTION.md.
Coverage says which ACS topics a lesson addressed. It says nothing about how well, and it is never evidence in a critique. If a debrief starts citing Coverage percentages, something has gone wrong with more than the debrief. See Decision 21 and program/COVERAGE-MATRIX.md.
CONTEXT.md definitions