Suggested books for new CFI student?

[JSky26]

I will be starting my CFI training within a few weeks and I was wondering what some of you reccomend besides the FOI. I've heard the Jepp book is pretty decent...any other suggestions? Thanks

 

[knewhigher]

The Flight Instructor PTS always references FAA publications. They are a bit blander than Jepp or Gleim, but they are officially referenced and usually cheaper. For the most part other books are just fancy mock ups of the FAA books. From what I can remember some of the main publications the PTS references are:

FAR/AIM
Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
Airplane Flying Handbook
Aviation Instructor’s Handbook
Aviation Weather Services
Aviation Weather
Advisory Circulars
Commercial PTS
Private PTS
Assorted Advisory Circulars

The best part is, almost all of these are available on FAA.GOV for FREE (or at least the cost of printer paper and ink). For the written tests you can always go with the Gleim answer key books. If you are a visual learner you can always get some Sportys DVDs to tie everything together. Good luck!

 

[Peanut gallery]

Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators

Good stuff!!!!!

 

[Way2Broke]

After you get your CFI buy "The Savvy Flight Instructor" by Brown. It will teach you everything that you really need to know. I have the Jepp book and have found it to be useless. For the instructor ratings your best bet is to learn the FAA publications in and out. Afterall you will be testing with the folks that wrote them.

 

[woutlaw]

I'm doing my CFI now and give a hearty second to the above advice.

I bought the Jepp book initially and, while it's a fine book, wound up using the FAA publications. The FAA pubs are suprisingly well written.

Everything in the Jepp book is in the FAA books, almost verbatim. (That being said, if you'd like the Jepp book I'll gladly sell you mine. Never been used and only dropped once. )

Grab the Private and Commercial PTS (print 'em off our just buy the little ASA version, which is handy) because you'll be referring to them for every lesson plan.

I'd also recommend H.C. "Skip" Smith's "The Illustrated Guide to Aerodynamics".

"The Savvy Flight Instructor" is excellent. It's mainly about how to actually handle the business side of flight instructing and the weird situations that crop up anytime you're dealing with people.

For the FOI written I just did a bunch of practice tests using the test-prep software from Dauntless (http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/GroundSchool/cfi.asp)

Virtually everything I've done for the CFI to date has come from:

+ Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
+ Airplane Flying Handbook
+ Aviation Instructor's Handbook
+ Instrument Flying Handbook
+ FAR/AIM
+ Private and Commercial PTS
+ Illustrated Guide to Aerodynamics

I think you can buy all of 'em for about the cost of the Jepp book. (Or, as has been pointed out, just print them off for free.)

I have found the Jepp Private Pilot book handy when creating lesson plans. I bought a copy off of Ebay for 20 bucks.

Good luck! Doing the CFI has been more work than I expected and significantly more fun than I expected.

 

[greedypilot]

"The Flight Instructor's Manual"
by: William K. Kershner

 

[JohnE]

I agree about the government publications. Very well written and thought out.

On a related note. What format do you guys follow when writing lesson plans?

Also, is the cost of training for the CFI (books, instruction, etc) tax deductible?

 

[Goose Egg]

In addition to those already listed, I found the Gliem CFI Maneuvers Manual almost indispensable for creating my lesson plans.

As far as what format to use, I think I just used one of the examples in the Gliem book (if memory serves me--it's been a little while.)

-Goose

 

[JohnE]

In addition to those already listed, I found the Gliem CFI Maneuvers Manual almost indispensable for creating my lesson plans.

As far as what format to use, I think I just used one of the examples in the Gliem book (if memory serves me--it's been a little while.)

-Goose

Does the DPE or FAA examiner expect to see complete lesson plans for private and commerical instruction? Or just a couple of samples.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Ditto on all the FAA pubs. I used them for my CFI, CFII.