Training CFI students
Training CFI students can actually be some of the best fun you can have as a flight instructor. My shtick always was to play the boneheaded student, e.g., the unprepared student, "What are we doing todaayy?" "I don't understand this," etc. It keeps things light and pleasant.
You absolutely want to drill your CFI students thoroughly on the FOI. The FOI is the essence of flight instructing. The
Aviation Instructor's Handbook is our manual, our way of life, what we live and breathe. Its principles really do work. They should not be learned only to try to get past the CFI oral but should be internalized and adopted. Your CFI students should be lecturing you on the FOI and not the other way around.
Your students should create their own lesson plans from scratch using the FOI's format. They should present them to you, with you playing "dumb" student, using all training aids. They should use the blackboard (whiteboard), toy airplanes, diagrams, everything. Train them to use simple presentations, aiming their teaching at the fourth grade or less level. No kidding! They have to bear in mind that most students will come to them not knowing anything about airplanes. Even the more intelligent student will appreciate simple and concise explanations.
In the airplane, after your CFI students are comfortable flying out of the right seat, they should strive to never stop teaching. All the while, they should be teaching what they're doing. If they go silent at any time, get on them to start talking. Going silent during the practical will put them on the road towards a bust.
Finally, your CFI students should be completely familiar with the PTSs for their CFI certificate and the PTS(s) for the rating(s) they're seeking. They absolutely must be familiar with all FAA pubs referenced in the PTS. Although they, or you, might like Kershner or Peter Dogan better, the FAA manuals are always the
final word on what to know, how to do it, what to say about about it and how to teach it.
As I read
14 CFR 61.195(h), one has to be a flight instructor two years (24 calendar months) and has given 200 hours of instruction to train first-time CFI students:
(h) Qualifications of the flight instructor for training first-time flight instructor applicants.
(1) The ground training provided to an initial applicant for a flight instructor certificate must be given by an authorized instructor who --
(i) Holds a current ground or flight instructor certificate with the appropriate rating, has held that certificate for at least 24 months, and has given at least 40 hours of ground training; or
(ii) Holds a current ground or flight instructor certificate with the appropriate rating, and has given at least 100 hours of ground training in an FAA-approved course.
(2) Except for an instructor who meets the requirements of paragraph (h)(3)(ii) of this section,
a flight instructor who provides training to an initial applicant for a flight instructor certificate must --
(i) Meet the eligibility requirements prescribed in §61.183 of this part;
(ii) Hold the appropriate flight instructor certificate and rating;
(iii) Have held a flight instructor certificate for at least 24 months;
(iv) For training in preparation for an airplane, rotorcraft, or powered-lift rating, have given at least 200 hours of flight training as a flight instructor . . . .
(emphasis added)
I trained CFI students at ERAU and FlightSafety, and all who trained them had held their CFIs at least two years and had given at least two hundred hours of dual.
Hope that helps. Good luck with your CFI students.
