Overwhelmed CFI Candidate/student

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   KDS on Mar 21, 2019

   You’ll get as many different opinions are there are people, but here is mine:

   Buy a Summit Aviation CD and install it on your computer. It will save you a heap of time searching for answers.

   Then start with the FOI knowledge test (written test).

   To study for it, read the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook. Then look at the bank of FAA questions and search for where in the text that particular question was lifted.

   Then study for the Advanced Ground Instructor knowledge test and take that.

   When you take that and pass it, apply for a ground instructor certificate – Advanced.

   That locks the time on your FOI test so you don’t have to worry about the 24 months expiring. You can also use the Advanced Ground Instructor certificate for other things.

   My experience is that people come in for the initial CFI test with very high scores on their FOI knowledge test and reasonable scores on the Flight Instructor – Airplane test. So, if you get a 98 on the FOI and it hasn’t expired, show that to the examiner as well as your ground instructor certificate. If something went wrong and you got a 72 on the FOI or had to take it two times, just show your ground instructor certificate. Taking the ground instructor test will help you prepare for the flight instructor – airplane test. You want to get a high score on both tests because most people do. I know the examiners are only supposed to think pass or fail, but despite what people think, they really are human. They’re going to look at those scores and that will be part of their first impression of you. You want the best possible first impression.

   The oral portion of the CFI test is what causes most failures. So really focus on studying. Flight schools will be more than happy to sell you a lot of dual time in the right seat because that is where they make their money, but they don’t push the study nearly as hard as they should.

   I’ve mentioned this here before, but as far as preparing for the flight portion, the flying is no problem. You know how to fly. You wouldn’t be where you are if you didn’t. Sitting in the right seat versus the left seat doesn’t take long to feel comfortable. The sticky part is talking and teaching while you do it. What I recommend is to teach yourself how to drive. Do it out loud when you’re in your vehicle. The pattern of speech is the same for the airplane. It’s just much cheaper to get a lot of practice doing it in your vehicle instead of an airplane. Then it won’t feel so strange to do it in the airplane as you train for the ride. But, do it out loud. Doing it in your head doesn’t give you the same practice.

   Then as you get near the time of the ride, find other people who have taken a ride with that particular examiner. Ask them what happened. Every examiner works from the same script, but every examiner is different and has different hot buttons. I once took a check ride with an FAA inspector and his first question was something I’d never considered in my life. It threw me for a loop because it didn’t have anything to do with the check that I was taking. Years later I found out he was the head of a department that did what he had asked me about, so to him, that was something important and something he felt comfortable talking about.

   Then I’d try to find resources who know enough to be able to give you a mock oral examination. It’s worth paying a CFI a couple hours of ground instruction time to have him or her give you a dry run test. Do it with a couple people. Also look at the videos that show that subject. I know the King School used to have a video that was basically a staged CFI check ride. You can also find a whole lot of stuff out on YouTube for free. Some is great and some is just okay at best, but there is value in all of it.

   Then, when you’re to the point of contacting the examiner, ask what maneuver lesson they would like to receive and what ground school lesson they would like to hear. Then prepare the best lesson you can. Use visuals and props and make it something really worth seeing.

   When the day comes for the check, RELAX. I know that is easier said than done, but it’s important. You wouldn’t believe the stupid things people say and do during practical tests that are the product of them being nervous.

   Finally, when you get all through and you have the CFI in your hand, come back here and tell us all about how it went and what you learned in the process.

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