Creating your own personal power points and diagrams really helps reinforce the knowledge (in your brain and motor memory).... not to mention how it is helpful and looks impressive to the student. Good tip bro....I agree with you 100%.
Great video! My examiner told me to stop teaching in the plane after teaching the first maneuver. He said he knew I could teach. Every DPE is different, it’s the great unknown lol.
Mike - this is excellent! I am working on getting my CFI renewed and getting my double-I add on. Your advice on creating your own lesson plans was excellent and definitely helps you learn it.
Good stuff mike! Thanks for the video. I’ve got my CFI coming up in 2 weeks. Found this video helpful. Especially “teaching your way out of mistakes” “I am a CFI” and nailing down the FOI.
FANTASTIC video! Thank you so much for this! Gave me lots of info and tips that I was looking for. Working on getting my CFI and seems like such a mountain to climb!
Agree, this video helps to calm me down about the whole process. Just took the writtens and now getting down to it seems so overwhelming. Didn’t even know where to begin or how to attack this! Combine that with all the videos saying how insanely hard it is makes me want to curl up into the fetal position LOL.
Thank you for the talk! I'm studying and preparing to get the instrument instructor rating first, since that's what I'm more familiar with. I'm ready for the FOI knowledge test now and I'll be developing the lesson plans soon.
Great advice here folks! Thanks for the info! Some DPEs are so old school , any checklist you use at your flight school go out the window. Make sure you not only are proficient at what your school teaches, but reconcile and include any differences from your POH/AFM that your school checklist omits; so, I had to discontinue my first attempt at CFI initial because the examiner started having me change my checklists right before my flight. I got thru the oral but I was so exhausted after 6 hours that I didn’t think I could fly to standards using the new checklist- I was essentially told that if I didn’t use the new checklist and approach speeds that I would fail.
Mike Bennett For Cessna 172S: first thing off the bat was the examiner noted we don’t even have a committed Short Field/Max Performance T/O Checklist (there are parentheses to include differences between various configurations& T/O, but the speed procedures were committed to memory/technique)- wasn’t going to try to fight any battles-and was taught to retract flaps thru Vx (62KIAS, and at safe altitude ) when POH says retract at 60KIAS ;not a big deal, I was feeling fine with that b/c wld b within +- 5 standards . POH also says to “Slightly Tail Low” thru entire roll (when we were taught to SLIGHTLY rotate at 51 which wld put us “Slightly Tail Low” before our climb out speed-apparently not what DPE wanted to hear- he wanted tail low entire roll , almost like what we were taught for soft field) to climb out at 56 ...Short field Landing he noted we don’t have a Committed Checklist (just an approach/b4 landing checklist)- I was taught 1.3 Vso w/full flaps by my commercial DPE which wld put final approach speed at 52, when POH very specifically says 62- big difference there. Balked Landing specifically says after immediately retracting flaps to 20 to climb at 60 KIAS retract to 10 , and then at safe alt thru 65 KIAS , retract flaps fully. We were taught to climb out at Vx62KIAS instead of 60KIAS and to put flaps at 10 after 55KIAS, not 60 after per POH. Looking back , if i wasn’t so exhausted after the oral I probably would have dealt with and nailed it just fine, but I just wasn’t fully prepared for that change up and DPE was increasing intensity specifically over this stuff , and kept saying how strict he was over it, and it kind of psyched me out -in an already stressful environment - so I just called it before the flight. Lengthy , but hope this developed some insight for you.
holyteejful your DPE sounds like a nut job. Tail low would not result in a shorter takeoff. You are adding drag. The only reason to do that is during a soft field takeoff.
holyteejful to get real short field landing performance, all speeds should be adjusted for weight. 62 is too fast for most training weights. Landing Weight / max gross weight sq x speed at max = new landing speed.
Thanks man this is great - building lesson plans is a daunting task, wasn't sure where to begin. I like the technique about screenshotting videos to explain / grab attention - just might have to steal that...
Mike thanks for great post, I’m working on my CFI now trying to get all book work done before I start main bulk of the flying. Lesson plans were kind of stumping me but your explanation helped a lot. Do you for a beginner and someone who is a CFI part time would be better to start at a part 141 school. I currently work as atc controller so I’m trying to figure out how many hours I can devote per week toward students and realistically how much flight time a week I can build up. Thanks again
@@110knotscfii Sorry to hear that does the new covid relief changes that the FAA released a couple weeks ago help you at all. Thanks for the encouragement. ☺️
Thanks Mike! About to take my CFI initial and this really helped! I wish I would have watched this before I went down to American Flyers. How is the instructing going?
good video, the last part you say about waking up day of exam and telling yourself your a instructor really hit home, mine is scheduled on the 19th. very excited and thanks for the encouraging video
600 pages?! mine was less than 50 pages, albeit dumb downed lesson plans. The big thing is being able to explain everything. To create another textbook for yourself isn't necessary as long as you know where to reference the necessary information from the FAA resources (tab everything for quick reference). I will agree however that Runway Incursion avoidance as well as risk management are very big and a special emphasis area. Congrats on passing your checkride, I just passed mine last Friday. Cheers
Thanks for your insights. I’m a retired military pilot so I didn’t go through the traditional flight school route so forgive me if my question is stupid. During this virus shutdown I’ve started home study for my CFI and keep hearing about building a binder. I get that I’ll need to write lesson plans for each task but I checked the private pilot ACS and there are only 64 tasks (including SES) so why a 600 page binder? What am I missing? Thank you
Steve Ramsey 600 pages is total overkill. I suggest Powerpoint presentations. They are pretty and you’ll use them in your work. Maybe print the slides and put them in a “binder”. My CFII was a few PowerPoints. The same ones I use today.
Hey MikeGreat Video and thank you. Im having huge issues with my lesson plans. My instructor knows that I know the info well. However I am struggling since my school has a lot of foreign students and some have never driven a car or used a bicycle. And I am not going as super basic as I can. Any ideas?
John Keith that’s the challenge. For example: Teaching turns around a point have the student walk around a cup on the floor. To simulate wind push them (softly). “See how you’re moving closer to the point?” “What do you have to do?” Push back “how do we do that in an airplane?” Fly into the wind. Shallow the bank, or with allot of wind we crab into the wind. Now when downwind push them on their back. “What do you have to do to remain the same distance from the cup?” Turn steeper.
I am enjoying your videos. They are quite informative. You may have covered this before, but I am 34 years old and absolutely loathe my current career. I have always loved aviation and should have done this many years ago, but is it too late for me to become a pilot and have a career that I love?
chris k no. Not at all. I’m 40 and I’m going for it. 1. Have your finances set. Don’t run out of money. 2. Go to an accelerated school for everything beyond private. 3. Become a CFI. You’ll learn more as a CFI than any other type of flying. 4. Be prepared to be poor. Like can’t fill the oil tank and trashed credit poor. 5. Enjoy the trip.
Mike Bennett Thanks for that reply. I currently dont have the ability to get loans for a flight school, so I was looking at going to a local airport and I guess I would have to pay for each hour out of pocket, but I absolutely know that I will love being at the controls.
Hello Mike! Congrats on your CFI checkride! I really like your videos. Any chance I can get your email so I can get some more information about your CFI training? Thanks for sharing your experience.
Cameron Gallagher did he fail you? If so, I’d make a call to the FSDO and request a new DPE. Law of primacy. Teach the right thing FIRST. Memory is error prone, using lesson plans and notes keeps you on topic and limits mistakes.
This is way too much work. You don’t have to know everything to pass the CFI practical and you sure as hell don’t have to have a 600 page binder. My binder was less than 200 pages and was all written by other people. No wonder why it took this guy 2 years whereas others can do it in months or even weeks.
First negative comment. Congratulations. Maybe the DPEs aren’t as strict now that we are hard up for CFIs. I don’t know. All I know is that I’ve seen total trash pilots passing the CFI lately. I’m glad my Examiners demanded high standards. Oh, I was also an architect for a Fortune 500 and started my own contracting company at the same time. So, that’s the two years.
