A TCO is a training guide or syllabus. The TCO includes all the lessons that make up the course. Each lesson contains a very detailed list of all the goals for the lesson, and each goal or maneuver must be performed to a required standard and signed off by the instructor and student prior to moving on to the next lesson. There is also a chronological log in each TCO. This log acts as a master spreadsheet that tracks the training for the entire course.
One of the elements that separate the Part 141 institutions from the Part 61 institutions is the TCO. The FAA dictates that in order for a school to submit an application to have a course FAA-approved, it must first have the required management team in place, the required aircraft in place and it must compose a TCO to accompany the course. Composing a TCO for each course is a challenging process for the school, but accepting the challenge and getting each TCO approved gives the school an incredible advantage when training and tracking students.
Classic has nine FAA-approved courses with accompanying TCO’s, and all of our Part 61 courses also use TCO’s.