FAA WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program

The FAA WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program was established by the FAA's Aviation Safety (AVS) organization and is administered through the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam), operating under FAA Order 1100.159, FAA Safety Team. The program's primary statutory significance is in 14 CFR §61.56(e), which authorizes the FAA to issue pilot proficiency awards and allows a person to substitute completion of an approved Phase of the WINGS program for the flight review otherwise required every 24 calendar months under §61.56(a) and (c). This substitution is not automatic: an authorized instructor must log the WINGS Phase completion in the pilot's logbook and sign that the completion meets the §61.56 standard.

The WINGS program is administered online through FAASafety.gov, where each participating pilot maintains an account tracking their course completions and flight activity credits. The program is structured in three tiers — Basic, Advanced, and Master — each requiring the completion of both knowledge activities (FAA Safety Team online courses, webinars, or live seminars) and flight activities (actual flight sessions with a CFI that cover specific maneuver categories). The specific structure as of the current edition:

Basic Phase: 3 knowledge courses (each awarded activity credit on FAASafety.gov) plus 3 flight activities. The 3 flight activities are not freely chosen — they correspond to three maneuver categories: (1) Basic aircraft control (slow flight, stalls, ground reference maneuvers), (2) Takeoff and landing operations, and (3) Navigation and cross-country operations. Each flight activity must be logged and signed off by a CFI who enters the credit in the pilot's FAASafety.gov account or signs the logbook with a WINGS credit notation. For instrument-rated pilots, IFR-specific flight activities are available and recommended.

Advanced Phase: additional knowledge courses and 3 more flight activities, structured around higher-complexity maneuvers and weather/instrument topics. Advanced Phase requires Basic Phase as a prerequisite within the same cycle year.

Master Phase: the highest tier, requiring completion of both Basic and Advanced within the cycle year plus additional activity requirements. Master Phase is rare and recognized as a significant commitment to recurrent training.

The knowledge course catalog on FAASafety.gov includes hundreds of options — from FAA Safety Team webinars and Air Safety Institute (ASI) online courses (produced by the AOPA Air Safety Institute) to live safety seminars and industry workshops. Courses are assigned credit values; pilots accumulate the required number of credits across the year to satisfy each knowledge activity requirement. The flexibility to mix and match course formats and topics means pilots can build a WINGS year around their specific knowledge gaps.

A critical regulatory nuance: WINGS Phase completion substitutes for the §61.56 flight review, but it does not substitute for currency requirements under §61.57 — the 90-day passenger recency, night recency, or 6-month instrument recency. A pilot who completes a WINGS Basic Phase but has not flown three takeoffs and landings in the preceding 90 days is not current to carry passengers, even though their flight review obligation is satisfied. WINGS and currency are parallel, independent requirements.

Flight schools and flying clubs with rental operations have a direct interest in the WINGS program as a quality filter for their renter pilot population. A pilot who actively participates in WINGS and completes a Phase each year is, by definition, receiving at least three CFI-supervised flight sessions per year and completing several hours of structured knowledge activities — producing a measurably better-prepared renter than one who has done nothing since a perfunctory biennial flight review two years ago. Schools that actively promote WINGS to their renters and provide easy CFI access for WINGS flight activities reduce both their insurance risk and their accident exposure.

For CFIs operating within a school, WINGS flight activities represent a steady source of 1-hour lesson bookings from existing licensed pilots who are not seeking a rating. These bookings are often more predictable and less weather-sensitive than primary training lessons, making them a useful revenue buffer during periods of low student enrollment. Schools that track WINGS participation rates among their renter base also have a documented safety culture argument when negotiating insurance premiums or responding to FSDO inquiries.

Aviatize tracks the WINGS Phase status of each pilot in the school's renter or club database as part of the pilot currency record, alongside the traditional §61.56 flight review date and §61.57 currency requirements. When a pilot's most recent WINGS Phase credit (logged by a CFI in the system) is within the preceding 24 calendar months, the flight review requirement is shown as satisfied. If the pilot has not completed a WINGS Phase and the traditional flight review has lapsed, the booking engine blocks scheduling and prompts the pilot to arrange a flight review or WINGS flight activity.

For instructors using Aviatize, logging a WINGS flight activity is a specific lesson type in the system — distinct from a primary training lesson or a standard flight review — which automatically updates the pilot's currency record and contributes to the school's tracking of WINGS participation rates. KPI dashboards show the percentage of the school's active renter population that is WINGS-current, providing the chief pilot with a real-time read on the safety preparedness of the flying club's membership.