Technical Question for CFIs Prt 2...

[BoDEAN]

Have to plan a cross country for the FAA next week on my checkride. Any tips or can anyone point me to a "layout" of essentials/steps for planning so I don't miss anything?

I've done numerous cross countries,but none in the last 90 days, and just want to make sure I have a starting point, and a finishing point, and don't miss anything in-between.

Thanks

 

[Riddle momma]

XC planning

This is what I ask my students to do:

A. FILL ALL BLANKS IN!

1. Measure total distance and course
2. Find TOC
2A. See post on this subject for more info
3. Find TOD
2B. Same as TOC instructions. If your plane does not have descent charts, use a 500 fpm descent at your same cruise speed (basically, just pulling power back and descending at the already trimmed airspeed)
2C. Add 10 minutes to time and to fuel burn for pattern
4. Select checkpoints 20-30 miles appart
5. Determine heading, time and fuel to each checkpoint
6. Total times, fuels and distances.
7. Note departure and destination frequencies
8. Draw an airport diagram of your destination as you would see it from your direction of arrival (spatial orientation)
9. Note navaid (VOR) frequencies and identifiers you may use during flight

Remember, you won't fly more than 2 checkpoints during your checkride, but this doesn't mean you shouldn't plan it as if you were really gonna fly it. The examiner will ask a few questions about the planning and how you arrived at each number, but they will drill you if you bring a partial plan.

Good luck to you! If you have any more questions PM me!

 

[Buffettpilot]

Not sure what ride your taking with the FAA, but keep in mind a divert field and quick calulations to get you there.

Just a thought

 

[BoDEAN]

Thanks for the post.
Taking the CFI checkride

 

[Kaman]

Hello,
Obviously you need to be overprepared for the CFI checkride, but odds are pretty slim that you'll be required to plan a cros country for your CFI checkride. None of my CFI friends had to do it, nor did I. Not to say that it's impossible! In any event, best of luck and be sure and have ALL the reference publications from the CFI PTS when you walk in for your oral. FAA Inspectors could care less about any other flight training publications or books.

Regards,

ex-Navy Rotorhead

 

[BoDEAN]

Thanks.
I know for a fact I have to plan/show her a cross country.
The FAA lady I am doing it with said it will take all day, start at 9am.

She wants me to teach her a ground refernce maneuver (I will pick s-turn) and plan a cross country for her.

Only thing that makes me wanna crap my pants is the FOI stuff....

 

[bobbysamd]

Diversions and FOI

Riddle Momma gave you the ERAU way of doing business. I remember it all. But do have a way of teaching diversions.

My Riddle students showed me a number of ways to do diversions. The best was taking an ordinary No. 2 pencil and using a pocketknife to make cuts in it 10 nm apart. Use that pencil during your flights. Then, you have a ready-made plotter to measure distance from the point at which you start the diversion to the diversion airport. You then hold the pencil and bring it up to a VOR compass rose. See where the pencil angle falls and you have determined your mag course to the diversion airport. For airspeed, just use your IAS and do the simple division problem. That's close enough for PTS standards for estimating your time to the airport and fuel burn.

Of course, during your ride, teach each and every step to the examiner. Silence during a CFI ride is a sure road to a bust.

Just keep reading the FOI and embrace its principles as your way of life. In so doing you'll have no trouble on the oral.

Good luck with your practical and let us know how it went.

 

[Buffettpilot]

Dude, that sucks....All day practical with planning a cross country. Oh well, just the same ole stuff you already know. I studied my butt-off for the CFI and the practical went by pretty easy.

I used a DE, and he would probe you for stuff you are a little weak on and then hit that part, not sure how the FAA will be--good luck- sure you will do fine.



Hey Bobby, you in CO? I'm down in COS.

 

[bobbysamd]

Overdone and overblown CFI orals

Originally posted by Buffettpilot
Hey Bobby, you in CO? I'm down in COS.

Yessir. Denver.

And it indeed sucks for Gizbug to have an all-day practical. There was an examiner in SDL who gave eight-hour CFI orals. It usually was too late to fly and they would fly the next day. This gal was revered in the region. There was another examiner at SDL who gave CFI orals in half the time or less. Go figure. We could start a whole separate discussion on why some examiners drag out CFI orals.

 

[midlifeflyer]

bobbysamd said
Riddle Momma gave you the ERAU way of doing business. I remember it all. But do have a way of teaching diversions.

A couple of years ago, someone in an online group asked for a mnemonic for diversions. I made one up as a joke.

The 4 F's:

Find it - choose the nearest suitable airport
Figure it - generally, what direction is the field from your current location? One of the 8 cardinal headings is enough.
Fly it - start heading in that direction
Fine tune it - tweak the heading to make it more accurate

Needless to say, someone immediately came up with the 5th "F"

F*** it - what you say when that engine roughness that made you divert becomes an engine failure.

 

[flywithastick]

Thanks.
I know for a fact I have to plan/show her a cross country.
The FAA lady I am doing it with said it will take all day, start at 9am.

She wants me to teach her a ground refernce maneuver (I will pick s-turn) and plan a cross country for her.

Only thing that makes me wanna crap my pants is the FOI stuff....

Couple of years back, mine with the Houston FSDO took two days. 6-7 hrs day one on oral. About the same flying and changing planes day two.

No cross country planning. Brought lots of FAA references into the oral. They saved me a couple of times. The guy was very reasonable. If I got derailed, he'd give me time to collect my thoughts and check my (FAA) ref matl for the answers. Awful nice feeling when he said I could quit talking and just take him back to the airport!

 

[BoDEAN]

Thanks for the replies.
I found the blue binder ERAU gave me when I attened the campus for 2 yrs.
There is a little page on cross-country planning. Wee!

A lot of good information in this little blue binder!
Priceless in my book!

 

[JetPilot500]

When your flight planning is done, take a common-sense (practical) look at your flight plan.

Other than making sure all the boxes are filled, I used to do one major check of the flight plan....Verify the flight plan makes sense!

I would see some very well done and good looking flight plans only to find out that it was all wrong due to a "simple" miscalculation. I would perform a simple test...

-------------------------------------------------
Remember this from High School?

Rate X Time = Distance
- or -
Knots x Hours = Nautical Miles

and with a little algebra you get

Rate = Distance / Time
--------------------------------------------------

So lets say the trip is in a Cessna 172 (TAS = 110 KTAS).

Now just check the totals at the bottom:
Total Distance = 100 NM
Total Time = 45 min (or .75 hours)

Avg. Course = 360°
Avg. Winds = 360° / 25

Calculate:
Rate = 100 nm / .75 hours

Answer:
Rate (Groundspeed) = 133 KTS


Hmmmmmmmmmmm....

Well this flight plan fails the simple test. With a 25 knot headwind, it makes no sense to have a 133 Knot Grounspeed. So, this common sense check proved a very big, and very common, mistake.

As with anything in aviation decision making, always ask yourself first, "Does this make sense."

This simple test, will keep you out of trouble. It will also allow you to quickly verify a flight plan.

Hope This Helps,
JetPilot500

P.S. Good Luck on the ride!

 

[Sniper Bob]

Long checkrides are for the birds.

Here's my take on all day checkrides:

1. The guy's an @$$, on a power trip, and likes to show everyone how smart he is.

2. Really doesn't have a life and likes to make others miserable.

3. Just wants to get out of the office.

4. Combination of the above.


This is just a hunch based on my limited experience, but any Fed or DE that worth a $&^% should be able to tell, within the first 30 minutes of the oral, that you know what you're doing. To drag it out for more than 4 hours is just insane. I'm far from being Mr. Perfect Instructor, but I can usually tell on climbout how long an aircraft checkout will take(ie: a 1 hour flight vs a multiple flight ordeal). Surely a Fed/DE that has way more experience than me, can do it in less time. Sheeesh.


Did I dream this, or did I hear it correctly(way in the past) that a Practical Exam was to take no more than 8 hours? And if that's correct, is it 8 hours per day or 8 for the entire Exam, no matter how many days. Of course, I could just be making this up. I do get hit in the head a lot.

Anyhoo, good luck with the whole 'Day in the Life of a Scared $hitless CFI Applicant' thing. And may you never have to scream: FLARE!!!

 

[generaltso]

my tip is don't get lost.

 

[safepilot24]

One thing that has helped me I got from Riddle:

Teach students to do weight and balance in the prelim steps of flight planning. This teaches them efficiency of planning as their whole route may be affected by a fuel stop if required for the flight. Also, have other students come along, and actually fill up gas at your destination, so they must do it again.

But....... to get back to your original question, the weight and balance in the first couple of steps is a good idea.

Remember, everything is on YOUR time for the checkride....YOU are in charge!

Best of luck!

 

[flywithastick]

Re: Long checkrides are for the birds.

Here's my take on all day checkrides:

1. The guy's an @$$, on a power trip, and likes to show everyone how smart he is.

2. Really doesn't have a life and likes to make others miserable.

3. Just wants to get out of the office.

4. Combination of the above.

As a cfi, we should want these checkrides to be tough... tough as he!! actually - regardless of the reason. Why do you think cfi's get so little pay?! Supply and demand... too much supply drops the going rate. That's unless we don't care about the pay, which doesn't seem like the case with all the complaining about the low $$/hr.

 

[fulcrum]

also as a cfi you should tell your students that there is no rule in the book that says the student should fly in a straight line , i make my students go from 'one good check point to another " it not only makes it interesting but i belive it to be much safer than flying 40 miles over featureless terrain , just dont over do it
fulcrum