The Pilot's Hotline
Real CFIs, Real-Time, Text or Voice
Get expert guidance from certified flight instructors over SMS or live voice call — for everything from preflight planning to mid-flight troubleshooting. Risk assessments, IFR filing help, post-flight debriefs — all one text or call away.
Your first conversation is free.
Pro plan unlocks live voice calls.
What Our Pilots Say
"I was experiencing some unexplained engine roughness in cruise. I reached out to an engine specialist on CFIHotline. Not only did they diagnose exactly what was going on with my mixture and mag settings, but they helped me realize engine management concepts I had never even considered before!"
- Sarah L., Commercial Pilot
"Planning a night departure leg, I almost picked the cheaper fuel stop — but it would have put me over miles of unlit terrain right after takeoff. The CFI I texted walked me through the risk and pointed me to an airport over a higher population area with plenty of visual references at night. A small premium on fuel was absolutely worth it for the margin of safety."
- David R., Private Pilot
"I was planning my first VFR crossing of Lake Michigan and texted CFIHotline to think through the route. The instructor surfaced things I hadn't even considered — best-glide distance from shore at different cruise altitudes, what a life vest actually buys you in cold water versus my optimistic plan, and how to bend the route just enough to stay within reach of a coastline the whole way. Completely changed how I think about over-water flight."
- Tom W., Private Pilot
"On a winter cross-country I noticed light rime forming on the leading edge and shot a quick text to CFIHotline. The instructor walked me through how fast icing can go from light to severe, told me to descend out of the layer immediately, and helped me pick the closest airport reporting VMC below the freezing level. Reading about icing in a textbook is one thing — having a CFI in your pocket while it's actually happening is something else."
- Rachel K., Instrument Pilot
"On a trip far from home I had a rough magneto check after a fuel stop. I was lucky it happened on the ground and not airborne, but I was stuck. I texted CFIHotline and used the NEAR-airport routing to find an instructor based about 30 miles away — he drove out, met me at the FBO, helped me run a proper troubleshooting checklist on the engine, and confirmed the airplane was safe to ferry home after a borescope on one cylinder. Knowing I could pull a real, local CFI to my exact location turned a stranded day into a story instead of a disaster."
- Greg M., Private Pilot
"Planning my first trip into a non-towered field tucked between two ridgelines, I used the NEAR-airport routing and got matched with a CFI who actually flies in there every week. His list of gotchas: non-standard right traffic for one runway, an unmarked private strip half a mile south that shares the CTAF, a sneaky downdraft on short final when the wind's out of the west, density-altitude math that nobody bothers writing down, and which FBO actually answers the phone after 5pm. None of that was in the chart supplement. The trip went smooth because of one conversation — without it, I'd have stumbled into at least two of those the memorable way."