CFI checkride

[labbats]

My apologies to the new CFIs. I may have been a major reason the FAA created that Special Emphasis Program.

 

[sqwkvfr]

Yeah, sorry it's been a while for me. Go through the gleim book. It has an outline of everything you could be asked. Create flashcards with each of the individual parts of that outline. Where I went to school we had to have those memorized and the chief pilot would sit us down and ask us each part, then have us describe some of various ones. I think they had a 98% first time pass rate. When you have the questions memorized, it's hard to say too much or too little on your checkride and get yourself into a bind. Because that is all they are legally allowed to ask you. The outline from the book.

OK, don't get me wrong here, and I appreciate this advice...

BUT,

I've spent the last two days doing this and I realized that if I continue at my present rate, I'll be done outlining the entire 570 page Gleim's book sometime in December.

Could you help me out and be a little more specific about how this is supposed to be done? Do you do it only w/problem areas? Do you just write down the points as a memory aid?

 

[ePilot22]

I just finished my CFI two weeks ago. The real trick is not knowing everything, that's what the commercial ticket was for. The trick is the ability to explain what you already know to someone that doesn't have a clue. I had an FAA observer for my CFI checkride and when I failed, he said the knowledge was there but not the ability to teach it. Two pieces of advice:

1.) Go to your nearest IHOP (or whatever) and practice on the waitress. Teach her how to fly!

2.) This is also what I got from the FAA guy; pretend you're trying to teach someone how to eat a bag of cookies for the first time.......remember you can't just tell them to open the bag.......they don't know how!

It's kind of like a reverse correlation or dumbing it down. Terminology is also key.

Good Luck!

Tom

 

[moxiepilot]

OK, don't get me wrong here, and I appreciate this advice...

BUT,

I've spent the last two days doing this and I realized that if I continue at my present rate, I'll be done outlining the entire 570 page Gleim's book sometime in December.

Could you help me out and be a little more specific about how this is supposed to be done? Do you do it only w/problem areas? Do you just write down the points as a memory aid?

to me it seems like you're just trying to get the answers so that you can pass the checkride. no one can tell you how to study or what you need to brush up on. you need to by now know your own weaknesses and how you study. if you haven't figured this out then you're definitely not ready to be an instructor - you'll never understand your students.

instead of worrying that it might actually take some time and effort to put the work into studying, stop your whining and do it.

 

[mattpilot]

i like your avatar moxie

 

[sqwkvfr]

to me it seems like you're just trying to get the answers so that you can pass the checkride. no one can tell you how to study or what you need to brush up on. you need to by now know your own weaknesses and how you study. if you haven't figured this out then you're definitely not ready to be an instructor - you'll never understand your students.

instead of worrying that it might actually take some time and effort to put the work into studying, stop your whining and do it.

First of all, your interpretation of the effort that I've put into this matter thus far is completely incorrect. I've put more time into studying for and preparing for this deal than you obviously have any idea.

I think I have good reason to be worried about this particular checkride because of the 80% fail rate.

What I'm trying to do here is seek advice on what others wish they had done--also not unreasonable.

Labbats seems to have a good suggestion, but I'm finding it difficult to do what he suggested without getting too specific and detailed. Regardless, it's hard to put an outline on flashcards and maintain any sort of continuity regarding the depth or specificity of the information....so I was hoping to find out if I was doing something wrong.

I wanted advice that would helpful, not a lecture from some unformed twit that has no idea how much time or effort that I've put into this.

I also question the wisdom of advice offered by someone who, instead of being encouraging and offering useful information, stoops to the level of insulting another's work ethic, perceptiveness, and intelligence.

In the future, you can keep your comments to yourself.

 

[huncowboy]

Well before I have started preparing, luckily someone mentioned that I should already start working on my brief for the CFI oral while in Multi Comm training since multi was not very difficult. Several hours and days of preparation went into each lesson plan. I was able to prepare and present all the subject areas for the CFI oral within 3 months, thanks to my security job at the time. Nothing got stolen btw.

Look into the PTS and make sure you can teach (have a lesson plan for) every subject area they can ask. Questions toward you should start with: Teach me... this and that. If they start asking rote level, you are not doing something right. Don't bust primacy when you teach! CFI ride is a bad place to take a guess. Following your lesson plan will help you stay organized. There is nothing worse than jumping back and forth between subsections. Maintain a logical flow, for this you will need to practice teach your lessons.

Despite all the advices, the CFI ride IMHO is a big crapshot. You can study all you want, but if you get unlucky you can bust on something you have not looked over for a long while, or on something that has never been explained properly to you as a student. I guess I did not help by writing this.

I thought I was ready for my CFI, and I did pass. Looking back now, I could have easily failed it. After instructing a couple of hundred hours I know a lot more now, yet I am still light years from people like the Orlando FISDO's regional inspector who I have had a chance to sit down with for several hours to talk about, among other things, examination of CFI candidates. You just can't learn "experience" from books. Having said that, I was another less than 300h TT factory new CFI not so long ago.

Good luck!

 

[nosehair]

I wanted advice that would helpful, not a lecture from some unformed twit that has no idea how much time or effort that I've put into this.

...get a thicker skin...

 

[sqwkvfr]

...get a thicker skin...

...as I was saying...

Geeze, I hope you guys aren't such pricks to your students.