The Other Eight-Hour Rule

FAA regulates how much CFIs can fly per day.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

CFIs have to carefully watch their time to avoid breaking the eight hours of flight instruction per-day rule. [Credit: Pixabay]

Key Takeaways:

Flight instructors are legally limited to eight hours of flight training within any 24-consecutive-hour period (cFAR §61.195), requiring careful scheduling and appropriate instructor assignments by flight schools.
Fatigue is a significant and prevalent risk for flight instructors, resulting from the demanding nature of the job, long hours, noise, and the added pressure of balancing instruction with other jobs.
Instructors must prioritize self-care through hydration, nutrition, and diligent self-assessment (like the IMSAFE checklist) to recognize and mitigate their own fatigue, ensuring safety and effective instruction for students.

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The instructors knew we could expect a full day of flying when we walked into the flight school in the morning and found a bottle of water and a granola bar on our desks.

This was the dispatcher’s way of letting us know the schedule was booked solid with back-to-back flights all day. What inevitably followed was the verbal warning to watch the Hobbs time carefully so you did not violate cFAR §61.195—Flight Instructor limitation and qualifications (a) Hours of training: In any 24-consecutive-hour period a flight instructor may not conduct more than eight hours of flight training.