Hello everyone and thanks for reading!
Ive decided to come for some input on my CFI training and some problems Ive been having. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated. This may be a bit long winded so i'll apologize beforehand =)
I have decided to pick up flight training after a very long break from flying. 8 years ago i attended a flight school and recevied up to my multi commercial rating. I completely stopped flying shortly after and as such most of what i had learned has fallen prey to disuse. So now i am faced with relearning a large portion of things along with the additional CFI information needed to obtain the rating.
I have been working with an instructor who is extrememly knowledgeable and takes pride (rightly so) in sharing the vast amount of information he has aquired. My problem i am having is that as i go over ground lessons with my instructor i never seem to know the amount of information he feels i should know. There are times when i show up with what i will feel like is a thorough lesson but he comes back with more information that i should have added. Addmitedly, some of the things i agree with but some times it seems like the information he wants added are above what would be needed for a lesson.
This fact, coupled with my own need to feel like i know everything to be prepared, has lead to me taking a very long time to get through my CFI training. So much so, that a family member of mine who is also a CFI (that he received a very long time ago) has started to question if my instructor is asking too much. I understand that it is an instructors responsibility to continuously improve his knowledge and understanding of subject material to better teach students and answer their questions. But how do you know when enough is enough for a lesson plan?
While i enjoy hearing the information my instructor has to offer i find myself banging my head against a wall trying to make sure i stuff every possible piece of information into a lesson. This usually leads to my lesson being full of things on paper that i cant seem to memorize well enough. I knew going into this that i would have my plate full because of needing to relearn many of the things that a new CFI shows up knowing from recent previous ratings obtained. But its becoming increasingly frustrating to the point where im becoming discouraged feeling like i have to have a billion facts/regs and anything else memorized and able to spit out on request.
I suppose some examples may help illustrate my point. On recent lessons while going over aerodynamics my instructor told me i should be able to quote and be able to use the formula for the coefficient of lift, stating that he has taught ground schools where people made him show how the formula works.
Or during aeromedical factors telling me i should be able to diagram and effectively explain exactly how the lungs work, or where the chemical rhodopsin is mostly located in the eye, or how the eye actually works receiving the image upside down and the inverting it throught the optic nerve along with the parts of the eye.
Or being able to diagram/explain the inside of an alternator or starter and knowing exactly how it works. Or being able to diagram and list the parts on an electrical system schematic. I was even told a story of someone failing a checkride for not knowing the symbol for a diode/resistor on an electrical schematic!
As i said before my instructors knowledge base is amazing at times and i actually admire his ability to rattle off facts and figures for things. Am i just not applying myself enough to knowing what every CFI is expected to know pre checkride? Or am i and my instructor setting the expectations for an initial CFI too high? I'm commited to being the best that I can be but it seems like its taking me waaaay longer than most to complete this checkride. At times i feel like im just not pushing myself hard enough but other times i feel like my instructors expectations are a bit off. He has stated that he is almost to receiving his gold standard and it makes me wonder if he is just making sure that all students show up so prepared there is no way of failing short of doing something stupid in the plane.
Suggestions?
Ive decided to come for some input on my CFI training and some problems Ive been having. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated. This may be a bit long winded so i'll apologize beforehand =)
I have decided to pick up flight training after a very long break from flying. 8 years ago i attended a flight school and recevied up to my multi commercial rating. I completely stopped flying shortly after and as such most of what i had learned has fallen prey to disuse. So now i am faced with relearning a large portion of things along with the additional CFI information needed to obtain the rating.
I have been working with an instructor who is extrememly knowledgeable and takes pride (rightly so) in sharing the vast amount of information he has aquired. My problem i am having is that as i go over ground lessons with my instructor i never seem to know the amount of information he feels i should know. There are times when i show up with what i will feel like is a thorough lesson but he comes back with more information that i should have added. Addmitedly, some of the things i agree with but some times it seems like the information he wants added are above what would be needed for a lesson.
This fact, coupled with my own need to feel like i know everything to be prepared, has lead to me taking a very long time to get through my CFI training. So much so, that a family member of mine who is also a CFI (that he received a very long time ago) has started to question if my instructor is asking too much. I understand that it is an instructors responsibility to continuously improve his knowledge and understanding of subject material to better teach students and answer their questions. But how do you know when enough is enough for a lesson plan?
While i enjoy hearing the information my instructor has to offer i find myself banging my head against a wall trying to make sure i stuff every possible piece of information into a lesson. This usually leads to my lesson being full of things on paper that i cant seem to memorize well enough. I knew going into this that i would have my plate full because of needing to relearn many of the things that a new CFI shows up knowing from recent previous ratings obtained. But its becoming increasingly frustrating to the point where im becoming discouraged feeling like i have to have a billion facts/regs and anything else memorized and able to spit out on request.
I suppose some examples may help illustrate my point. On recent lessons while going over aerodynamics my instructor told me i should be able to quote and be able to use the formula for the coefficient of lift, stating that he has taught ground schools where people made him show how the formula works.
Or during aeromedical factors telling me i should be able to diagram and effectively explain exactly how the lungs work, or where the chemical rhodopsin is mostly located in the eye, or how the eye actually works receiving the image upside down and the inverting it throught the optic nerve along with the parts of the eye.
Or being able to diagram/explain the inside of an alternator or starter and knowing exactly how it works. Or being able to diagram and list the parts on an electrical system schematic. I was even told a story of someone failing a checkride for not knowing the symbol for a diode/resistor on an electrical schematic!
As i said before my instructors knowledge base is amazing at times and i actually admire his ability to rattle off facts and figures for things. Am i just not applying myself enough to knowing what every CFI is expected to know pre checkride? Or am i and my instructor setting the expectations for an initial CFI too high? I'm commited to being the best that I can be but it seems like its taking me waaaay longer than most to complete this checkride. At times i feel like im just not pushing myself hard enough but other times i feel like my instructors expectations are a bit off. He has stated that he is almost to receiving his gold standard and it makes me wonder if he is just making sure that all students show up so prepared there is no way of failing short of doing something stupid in the plane.
Suggestions?