10 week CFI course through stands

Ash Williams

Ash Williams

Well-Known Member
To continue my story from the "Miss me yet?" (closed) thread...

- I started ground school for the "10 week" CFI course July 8th
- passed the CFI ride October 30th (3.5 oral/ 2.0 flight)
- just finished the stands flight and received a couple gold stripes! (2nd attempt)

Thanks to everyone at FSA that helped me along the way! Instructors that I don't even know would ask how everything was going and give me words of encouragement! I must say though- sometimes it was a huge pain! I don't drink or smoke... but I'm thinking about starting now! :beer: :bandit:
 
Ash Williams said:
To continue my story from the "Miss me yet?" (closed) thread...

- I started ground school for the "10 week" CFI course July 8th
- passed the CFI ride October 30th (3.5 oral/ 2.0 flight)
- just finished the stands flight and received a couple gold stripes! (2nd attempt)

Thanks to everyone at FSA that helped me along the way! Instructors that I don't even know would ask how everything was going and give me words of encouragement! I must say though- sometimes it was a huge pain! I don't drink or smoke... but I'm thinking about starting now! :beer: :bandit:
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:D welcome to the VERO Vacuum :clap: :beer::bandit:
 
Congratulations!

That CFI program is one of the hardest and one of the best ways to really prepare yourself to be an educator. Well done!
 
Ash Williams said:
Uhhh... am I missing something?
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Once u start working at FSA, time slips by way too fast....(vacuum). A lot of us IP's have been here 3 to 4 years. Some have 4 years in just one contract program, not including the 141/61 side.

You'll see. It's hard to get away from this place.....
 
NickH said:
Congratulations!

That CFI program is one of the hardest and one of the best ways to really prepare yourself to be an educator. Well done!
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Thanks Nick! It wasn't easy but I sure learned a lot. I trust that it's given me a solid foundation to build upon.

T56Maniac said:
Once u start working at FSA, time slips by way too fast....(vacuum). A lot of us IP's have been here 3 to 4 years. Some have 4 years in just one contract program, not including the 141/61 side.

You'll see. It's hard to get away from this place.....
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Oh I see. Well that's good to hear! I was worried that you meant working there "sucks"! But if people are staying 3-4 years, they probably don't hate it eh!?
 
Ash Williams said:
Thanks Nick! It wasn't easy but I sure learned a lot. I trust that it's given me a solid foundation to build upon.



Oh I see. Well that's good to hear! I was worried that you meant working there "sucks"! But if people are staying 3-4 years, they probably don't hate it eh!?
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Well, I think it is more along the lines of they were stuck there because the economy tanked and the airlines, cargo, 135 and corporate jobs all froze up.

Although some IP's are there out of choice.

But at any rate, congrats on passing.
 
I miss working there, I left about 1 1/2 years ago, although I complained a lot about FSA and working there, when I left and got into other flying jobs I changed my mind, if I would go back to instructing, FSA is the place I would go back too.

When I started there as a student I saw a lot of CFIs getting hired and a lot leaving to other jobs, while working there I think I was the only one that voluntarily left, the rest left because they lost the job....

I also miss Vero, and my apt at Fairways. The place is really not that bad, I have been pretty spoiled as far as locations I lived in the last 5 years: Swiss Alps, French Riviera, Vero, South East Asia and now Rio de Janerio, but honestly Vero was the place I enjoyed the most.

Have a good time!!!
 
swisspilot said:
I miss working there, I left about 1 1/2 years ago, although I complained a lot about FSA and working there, when I left and got into other flying jobs I changed my mind, if I would go back to instructing, FSA is the place I would go back too.

When I started there as a student I saw a lot of CFIs getting hired and a lot leaving to other jobs, while working there I think I was the only one that voluntarily left, the rest left because they lost the job....

I also miss Vero, and my apt at Fairways. The place is really not that bad, I have been pretty spoiled as far as locations I lived in the last 5 years: Swiss Alps, French Riviera, Vero, South East Asia and now Rio de Janerio, but honestly Vero was the place I enjoyed the most.

Have a good time!!!
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Dont lie, you miss Sheely.
 
Either way, I've decided to take the job at FSA.

Sooo... I'm looking forward to helping students and seeing some of you on the line!

Since I kinda left it out before, and it IS the title of this thread, here's a quick rundown of the 10 week CFI course for anybody wondering what to expect. There are already a couple good threads on standardization so I'll leave that out.

10 Week CFI
- 1st month: Ground school, FOI, FIA written tests. Use this time to review, study, and catch anything that you may have missed or forgotten about. You will also start to practice teaching a little bit here- lecture method, guided discussion, etc.
- 2nd- 3rd month: Practice ground instruction, fly/practice flight instruction, go home, make lesson plans/study, repeat.
- Pass your stage check, celebrate!
 
Welcome aboard! Now get your other ratings as quick as you can. Then you can get into other programs and fly the Seminole.
 
Ash Williams said:
Either way, I've decided to take the job at FSA.

Sooo... I'm looking forward to helping students and seeing some of you on the line!

Since I kinda left it out before, and it IS the title of this thread, here's a quick rundown of the 10 week CFI course for anybody wondering what to expect. There are already a couple good threads on standardization so I'll leave that out.

10 Week CFI
- 1st month: Ground school, FOI, FIA written tests. Use this time to review, study, and catch anything that you may have missed or forgotten about. You will also start to practice teaching a little bit here- lecture method, guided discussion, etc.
- 2nd- 3rd month: Practice ground instruction, fly/practice flight instruction, go home, make lesson plans/study, repeat.
- Pass your stage check, celebrate!
Click to expand...

Out of interest - do they have a fixed price for the CFI course, if so how much?
 
unclenobby said:
Out of interest - do they have a fixed price for the CFI course, if so how much?
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4 years ago, the price was around $9k for the CFI-A course. That covered the 4 week ground school and the flight costs. I believe housing, food, books, and other incidentals are extra. Also, if you fly more time than the syllabus, it will cost you more. The reason I got my CFI here was because I wanted to work here. They used to rarely hire outside instructors. Now it seems that is all they hire. We currently don't have many CFI students. I can't say whether or not getting your CFI here will help your chances of getting hired but it definitely will not hurt. Standardization will not be difficult if you get your CFI here as you will already be trained to perform the maneuvers the FSI way. For me, at the time, it was worth the price.
 
soonerpilot06 said:
4 years ago, the price was around $9k for the CFI-A course. That covered the 4 week ground school and the flight costs. I believe housing, food, books, and other incidentals are extra. Also, if you fly more time than the syllabus, it will cost you more. The reason I got my CFI here was because I wanted to work here. They used to rarely hire outside instructors. Now it seems that is all they hire. We currently don't have many CFI students. I can't say whether or not getting your CFI here will help your chances of getting hired but it definitely will not hurt. Standardization will not be difficult if you get your CFI here as you will already be trained to perform the maneuvers the FSI way. For me, at the time, it was worth the price.
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Thanks, was curious since there is little on the website regarding pricing.
 
soonerpilot06 said:
4 years ago, the price was around $9k for the CFI-A course. That covered the 4 week ground school and the flight costs. I believe housing, food, books, and other incidentals are extra. Also, if you fly more time than the syllabus, it will cost you more. The reason I got my CFI here was because I wanted to work here. They used to rarely hire outside instructors. Now it seems that is all they hire. We currently don't have many CFI students. I can't say whether or not getting your CFI here will help your chances of getting hired but it definitely will not hurt. Standardization will not be difficult if you get your CFI here as you will already be trained to perform the maneuvers the FSI way. For me, at the time, it was worth the price.
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This was about my quote too, 3 years ago. It ended up being a bit more pricey, when I did the course the school was really busy (with contracts like PTN and so on), it was summer, so most of the flying was done either in the morning or in the late afternoon (due to weather), the cadets available where always few, and sometimes you had to wait around to get one. I decided to do my entire CFI in the arrow, when I got hired I just rented 3 times the cadet teaching a friend that just started the CFI course and was fine with Stand. I think the CFI program is really good, really safety oriented,other then making you a CFI it will make you a better CPL, my Instructor was nice enough to let me practice even more some of the maneuvers that maybe were not really up to CPL standards on most attempts (he deviated from the TCO a bit in the first two flying lessons) I think while I was getting my CFI I felt a lot more stressed and under pressure in the plane than with any other rating, that really helped me becoming more efficient under this circumstances.
 
Yes- I left already---> Ryan W. hit my wife's Highlander so I was like, "Screw this place, I'm outta here!" Ha! (99.97% of it buffed out btw) Anyway, I found a place to work in Pensacola FL that fit my goals better. And so far, I'm having a blast!

Total money spent for the 10 week CFI course at FSA... $10,697 bucks. I did all the ground school, and flew exactly 25 hours. That number includes money spent on books, uniforms, etc. (class related stuff) It does NOT include housing, food, car insurance, etc. (personal stuff)
 
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