Just got through with the CFI Academy at Morristown. I feel it was well worth the time and money I spent. Some examples:
1.) Derry Galbreath is such a calm and cool individual and I learned more from him in a month then from all my previous instructors. This is not a dig at my previous instructors, you can only do so much with a 2 hour (or less) block of time). It really does prove that to really learn something, you should learn how to teach it.
2.)The director at Morristown, Lucas, is very sharp, knows his stuff and talks a mile a minute. Quite a character and a fine instructor. The assistant chief, Rob, is excellent too.
3.) The instructors I had while I was there covered a wide range, from a 20 year old guy in college to a retired state trooper. They had all been through American Flyers CFI course, so the instruction was mostly the same. It is a bit odd to be "passed around like a sorority girl" as one poster here put it, but since I rarely had a schedule block of less then 4 hours, giving plenty of time to "read" that instructor. It also teaches you how it is to fly with different people.
Sometimes, you would ride along in observation, land somewhere, and then you would fly. To those who did ERAU or another "academy" school, that's nothing new. But it really makes a difference to someone coming from an FBO-type environment.
In general:
1) If you do go for the CFI academy, be sure your instrument skills are sharp and that you fly from the right seat once or twice prior. My first day was 3.2 hours Hobbs, first time right seat, and was in actual IFR, something I hadn't done in a long time. Overwhelmed is an understatement But using the sim at American Flyers ( for "free", since it's included in the CFI course) really helped me get back on track.
2.) The reason for #1 is money. The only downside is that AF is expensive if you go "over" on the included time, compared to the prices I am used to anyway. All told, I spent about $5500 for the CFI course, for a total of 23 hours of flight time, slightly more then the 19 or so in the course price. With food and lodging for a month, a little more then $7000. In my previous post, I figured it was nearly even between staying home or going to AF. And it only took 30 days, not months it possibly would have taken me at my local school.
3.) Go to the AF locations with a CFI Academy, don't do "one on one" if you can avoid it. AF is very expensive in that regard, almost $200/hr for plane and instructor.
4.) If you go to any location in a major metro area, make sure your ATC skills are sharp. Trying to learn proper ATC and how to teach in a totally unfamiliar area was very daunting for one guy in my class.
American Flyers might not be for everyone and every location is different. But personally, it worked out well for me. Any questions, either post here or PM me.
PS. AF does not rent airplanes, they only use them for instruction. The R models are in good shape and I was never stuck on the ground by a maintenence problem. The 172 RG they use for the commercial, well, that's different. Safe, yes. Old and tired, most definitely. But since it is 20 years old and has been used as a trainer since day one, the old bird still worked well enough. 14,000 hrs. TTAF is a lot of hard landings, especially for an RG.
