Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

FW CFI Ground School (Face-to-Face)

AVTN 2340-02

Course: AVTN 2340-02
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: AVTN
CRN: 33417

Course Description

This course covers the study of flight instruction fundamentals as required by FAA regulations for students pursuing a Certified Flight Instructor rating. Topics covered include learning theory and styles, the teaching process, communication, instructional techniques, lesson plans, performance evaluation, aeronautical decision-making, flight safety, and regulations. (Fall, Spring, Summer) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Prerequisite(s): AVTN 2100 or PILT 2105 or instructor permission or department permission.

Required Texts


REQUIRED TEXT(S): SUU Part 141 CFI/CFII Course syllabus, current edition (can be found on SUU Aviation Portal)

Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25C), Federal Aviation Administration,
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/faa-h-8083-25c.pdf

2025/2026 FAR/AIM (ASA or Jeppesen) - Available in Bookstore or available as an app in the app store

CFI ACS
https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/cfi_airplane_acs_25.pdf


Additional information can be obtained on the FAA Aviation Handbooks and Manuals Page:

Learning Outcomes

Students will gain adequate knowledge of ground training concepts for the CFI/CFII Pilot ratings. Students will demonstrate this knowledge in part through oral quizzing in class and with their flight instructors at the airport. They will also demonstrate this knowledge through two written Stage Exams. The students will demonstrate through the Stage I Exam adequate knowledge to take and successfully pass the Fundamentals of Instruction Knowledge Exam and they will demonstrate through the End-of-course Exam adequate knowledge to take and successfully pass the Flight Instructor Knowledge Exam. Students' will demonstrate adequate understanding of Federal Aviation Regulations pertaining to flight instructor duties and responsibilities by successfully passing a regulations exam. 

Course Requirements

The FAA requires 100% attendance! Your attendance will be recorded in the SUU Aviation Portal. Any absences will be reflected in these records and must be made up with an instructor at the airport.

Your participation will be evaluated through team work and individual presentations. You will be expected to participate as assigned in team activities, projects, and presentations. Team participation will affect the Team Work portion of the course grade.


Testing Procedures

All exams in this course will be taken on Canvas during the assigned week for each exam at the SUU Testing Center.

FAA knowledge exams may be substituted for exams of this course as follows:

  • No substitution may be made for the Stage I Exam of this course.
  • No substitution may be made for the Regulations Exam of this course.
  • No substitution may be made for the Stage II Exam of this course.
  • Either the FOI and the FIA may be substituted for the End-of-Course Exam of this course.

Each student must pass each stage exam and the end-of-course exam by 70% or better to satisfy training requirements of the ground syllabus. If a student earns a grade lower than 70% on any of these three exams the unsatisfactory exam(s) must be taken again until the student successfully passes each exam by 70% or better. Please note that the score received from the first attempt of any exam will be the official grade for that exam in the course grade calculation. The first attempt is what will count towards your grade, retakes will count towards FAA credit for the class.

Course Outline

  1. Ground Lesson 1 - Intro and How to Create Lesson Plans
  2. Ground Lesson 5 - Planning Instructional Activity and Course Development/Lesson Planning
  3. Ground Lesson 7 - Flight Instructor Responsibilities
  4. Ground Lesson 8 - Professionalism as an Instructor
  5. Ground Lesson 4 - Elements of Effective Teaching and Classroom training Techniques
  6. Ground Lesson 2 - The Learning Process
  7. Ground Lesson 1 - Human Behavior
  8. Ground Lesson 3 - Effective Communication
  9. Ground Lesson 6 - Student Evaluation and Testing
  10. Stage I Exam: Fundamentals of Instruction (FOI)
  11. Ground Lesson 9 - Runway Incursion Avoidance
  12. Ground Lesson 10 - Logbook Entries and Certificate Endorsements
  13. Ground Lesson 11 - FARs and NTSB 830
  14. Federal Aviation Regulations Exam
  15. Ground Lesson 12- Using the AIM
  16. Ground Lesson 13 - Aeronautical Charts, VFR Navigation, Magnetic compass, Navigation Facilities and Radar Services
  17. Ground Lesson 14 - Meteorology, Procurement and Use of Aeronautical Weather Reports and Forecasts, Recognition of Critical Weather Situations, Windshear Avoidance
  18. Ground Lesson 15 - Safe and Efficient Operation of Aircraft, Visual Scanning and Collision Avoidance, Radio Communications, Procedures for Operating Within the National Airspace
  19. Ground Lesson 16 - Aircraft Performance, Use of Performance Charts, Effects of Density Altitude, Significance of Exceeding Aircraft Performance Limitations
  20. Ground Lesson 17 - Weight and Balance Computations
  21. Ground Lesson 18 - Principles of Aerodynamics, Basic Aerodynamics and the Principles of Flight, Principles and Functions of Aircraft Systems
  22. Ground Lesson 19 - Stall Awareness, Spin Entry, Spins, and Spin Recoveries, Low Rotor, Mast Bumping, LTE, Settling With Power
  23. Ground Lesson 20 - Aeromedical Factors
  24. Ground Lesson 21 - Aeronautical Decision Making and Judgement
  25. Ground Lesson 22 - Preflight Actions
  26. Ground Lesson 23 - Night Operations, High Altitude Operations
  27. Ground Lesson 24 - Maneuvers, Procedures, and Emergency Operations, Hovering Maneuvers
  28. Stage II Exam: Flight Instructor Rotorcraft Helicopter (FRH) or Flight Instructor Airplane (FIA) FAA question banks
  29. End-of-course Exam: Comprehensive exam combining FOI and FRH or FIA (depending on aircraft platform)

Details of each ground lesson are outlined in the current SUU Part 141 CFI/CFII Ground Syllabus.

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change without advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Late assignments are strongly discouraged and acceptance of late work will be at the discretion of the instructor. Late work will only be accepted up to two weeks after the original due date, or the last day of classes, whichever comes first. Late work may be docked as much as 50% of the assignment grade.

Attendance Policy


You are required by the FAA to attend every scheduled class. You must have 70% in person attendance in each stage- if you miss more than 30% of class per stage, you will be failed in the class. 
Per FAA Requirements you are required to receive all the ground lessons in this course. If you are absent from a given ground lesson, you will not receive credit for that lesson until you make up the subject material missed via a 60-question quiz on canvas, or a 5 paragraph essay, as assigned by the professor. A pass of 70% or greater is required. Any essays deemed written by AI will be denied credit. IF you show up to class after roll call attendance, you will be counted as absent from the class. You are responsible for contacting me to make up classes.

Course Fees


Students are assessed aviation program fees with each credit hour of aviation courses registered. The current course fee schedule is available through the following link: 

There is a fee for each of the Knowledge Exams required for Flight Instructor ratings (typically 2 knowledge exams). The last known cost for each exam was $185.00.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.