Definition
A structured review conducted by an instructor with a student after a training flight, in which the student's performance is critiqued against the lesson's completion standards, strengths and weaknesses are identified, and the next steps in training are discussed.
Plain English
After the flight, the instructor and student sit down together to go over how the lesson went, what was done well, what needs work, and what comes next.
Context Anchor
Used in flight training after the airplane is parked and the lesson is complete, usually before the instructor and student separate for the day.
Derivation
From 'post' (Latin, meaning 'after') and 'flight,' combined with 'evaluation' (Latin 'evaluare,' to determine value). Literally, 'judging the value of what happened after the flight.'
Why Pilots Care
It turns each flight into a deliberate learning experience and reduces the chance of repeating the same mistakes on the next lesson.
Grounding Statement
After the flight, the instructor and student pause, look back at what actually happened, and turn that experience into the next step forward.
Intuition Check
Do not read “evaluation” as just a pass-or-fail grade. Here it means a practical training review: what happened, how well it matched the goal, and what should be improved next.
Example Sentence 1
During the postflight evaluation, the instructor pointed out that the student's traffic pattern altitudes were consistently 100 feet low and assigned extra pattern work for the next lesson.
Example Sentence 2
After the lesson the student reviewed notes from the postflight evaluation before the next flight.