kryan11
Well-Known Member
I just finished my CFI at American Flyers in Addison, Texas and I just wanted to give a review for anyone who might be thinking of going there.
First off, I am happy overall with my experience there, and knowing what I know now would definitely do it again. The staff at American Flyers has a genuine concern with helping you succeed as a CFI. They were all very friendly and always helpful. The instructors there were great. They had a wealth of knowledge to draw from, and never presented bad information. I was impressed with this. American Flyers has around a 75% pass rate for the CFI-Initial, and so far my class has exceeded that.
Now, for the critical part of the review. This is supposed to be a 2 week class for the CFI initial. Mine ended up being 6 weeks due to the weather, and everyone in my class getting sick with a nasty cold for a week. Being a 2 week class, it is absolutely imperative that you have commercial knowledge, and can perform commercial maneuvers. There were people in my class who hadn't flown in 9 years trying to become a CFI. They didn't know basic things like true airspeed, pressure altitude etc. They are still struggling, and after 6 weeks, still not even close to being ready for their checkride. You can not come into a 2 week CFI program like this. It will not work. You're simply going to slow the whole academy down and bring down your classmates with you. There is a shortage of airplanes, CFIs, and time. If you're going to need 5-6 flights to get ready, and have everything explained to you, you're going to bog down the whole system, and other people aren't going to get to fly because of it.
As far as the shortage of airplanes and instructors. We had 13 people in our academy. The class after us had 15 people. There are only (3) 172RGs. There are only (3) 2 year flight instructors who can sign you off. If everything works perfect, this realistically shouldn't be problem. But when students struggle, it's IFR weather for a week, the class and instructors get sick, and airplanes break. It slows it all down and this is why it took me 6 weeks to complete. Even after 6 weeks, only 5 people have taken their checkrides, 4 people passed. 3 more should be taking their checkrides this week, and I am not sure what will happen to the other 5. They are far behind due to a lack of knowledge and experience coming in to the class.
Overall I would say if you just finished up with your commercial and want to be an instructor, this is a great program for you. If you're willing to stay their everyday, study, and prove to them you're ready to get this done, they'll help you move right along. Be persistent with getting flights and getting your sign off. There's so many people that don't do that, and are just along for the ride, and they didn't get very far
This is not a course that someone is going to hold your hand through. They will teach you the basics of instructing. It's up to you to put in the work. What is nice though, is you meet like minded people to study with. I made a pretty good group of friends to practice teaching with, and go over everything. This is why I joined the class, to have this experience. I learn better working through things with other people. I made some great friends while I was there, and due to all of our work ethics, we all did well.
One last thing, it was extremely easy to get a checkride lined up here. I know this isn't the case at all locations, and why I chose Addison. I submitted my information to the FAA, and after 3 days they told me to go with a DPE. I scheduled my checkride with the DPE the following week. I had friends that heard back from the FAA the same day, and were scheduled with a DPE 3 days later. This is extremely nice and I was impressed with the availability of examiners.
Good luck to anyone who decides to go, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
First off, I am happy overall with my experience there, and knowing what I know now would definitely do it again. The staff at American Flyers has a genuine concern with helping you succeed as a CFI. They were all very friendly and always helpful. The instructors there were great. They had a wealth of knowledge to draw from, and never presented bad information. I was impressed with this. American Flyers has around a 75% pass rate for the CFI-Initial, and so far my class has exceeded that.
Now, for the critical part of the review. This is supposed to be a 2 week class for the CFI initial. Mine ended up being 6 weeks due to the weather, and everyone in my class getting sick with a nasty cold for a week. Being a 2 week class, it is absolutely imperative that you have commercial knowledge, and can perform commercial maneuvers. There were people in my class who hadn't flown in 9 years trying to become a CFI. They didn't know basic things like true airspeed, pressure altitude etc. They are still struggling, and after 6 weeks, still not even close to being ready for their checkride. You can not come into a 2 week CFI program like this. It will not work. You're simply going to slow the whole academy down and bring down your classmates with you. There is a shortage of airplanes, CFIs, and time. If you're going to need 5-6 flights to get ready, and have everything explained to you, you're going to bog down the whole system, and other people aren't going to get to fly because of it.
As far as the shortage of airplanes and instructors. We had 13 people in our academy. The class after us had 15 people. There are only (3) 172RGs. There are only (3) 2 year flight instructors who can sign you off. If everything works perfect, this realistically shouldn't be problem. But when students struggle, it's IFR weather for a week, the class and instructors get sick, and airplanes break. It slows it all down and this is why it took me 6 weeks to complete. Even after 6 weeks, only 5 people have taken their checkrides, 4 people passed. 3 more should be taking their checkrides this week, and I am not sure what will happen to the other 5. They are far behind due to a lack of knowledge and experience coming in to the class.
Overall I would say if you just finished up with your commercial and want to be an instructor, this is a great program for you. If you're willing to stay their everyday, study, and prove to them you're ready to get this done, they'll help you move right along. Be persistent with getting flights and getting your sign off. There's so many people that don't do that, and are just along for the ride, and they didn't get very far
This is not a course that someone is going to hold your hand through. They will teach you the basics of instructing. It's up to you to put in the work. What is nice though, is you meet like minded people to study with. I made a pretty good group of friends to practice teaching with, and go over everything. This is why I joined the class, to have this experience. I learn better working through things with other people. I made some great friends while I was there, and due to all of our work ethics, we all did well.
One last thing, it was extremely easy to get a checkride lined up here. I know this isn't the case at all locations, and why I chose Addison. I submitted my information to the FAA, and after 3 days they told me to go with a DPE. I scheduled my checkride with the DPE the following week. I had friends that heard back from the FAA the same day, and were scheduled with a DPE 3 days later. This is extremely nice and I was impressed with the availability of examiners.
Good luck to anyone who decides to go, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!