Any experience with CFI Academy or other compressed CFI programs?

P28RZFT

Well-Known Member
Does anyone have experience with CFI Academy out of Lodi? If so, how much CFI studying/flying/written test taking had you completed prior to their program?

How about experience with other compressed CFI programs, either in CA or elsewhere?

Thanks!
 
I know your original post was back in June, but, I am at CFI Academy right now, giving it a second try.
 
I know your original post was back in June, but, I am at CFI Academy right now, giving it a second try.
And how is/was your experience? I just had a pretty negative report, heard secondhand. I've also had a good report about them.

I opted to go with an experienced CFI as making the compressed timeframe just wasn't going to work for me. I'm in checkride prep mode now but just experienced a bit of a delay with a maintenance issue on my plane. I get to keep studying, probably for another month or so.
 
And how is/was your experience? I just had a pretty negative report, heard secondhand. I've also had a good report about them.

I opted to go with an experienced CFI as making the compressed timeframe just wasn't going to work for me. I'm in checkride prep mode now but just experienced a bit of a delay with a maintenance issue on my plane. I get to keep studying, probably for another month or so.
Good call on choosing an experienced CFI. I did the same thing, you learn so much more. Not dogging the 'inexperienced' instructors, as I'm still a new CFI myself, but from my experience, and from hearing about the experiences from others, many young CFI's just do not have that passion and dedication for teaching. Some do, as I had one during my commercial training. But younger ones like that are hard to find I've learned.

Another thing too, my instructor said the timeframe was going to be about 6 months to complete the rating. Initially I was kinda skeptical about it taking that long, but as I went through his training, I realize that all that extra training and studying on a deeper level has made me a much, much better CFI than I ever could have been going through an accelerated program.
 
I haven't heard good things about CFI Academy. I used CFI Bootcamp for my CFI-I, they're located in Palo Alto and I liked them. My favorite has been American Flyers in Addison, mainly because everyone works together there to make lesson plans and practice teaching.
 
There is so much information to learn to truly know and understand deeply, that I don't see how anyone could ever be successful coming from a 2-week wonder course.
The Flight Instructor Certificate is frustrating and painful af! It's not a fun certificate to pick up at all. Sometimes I wish I had never started down this path, but I'm not a quitter and I'm not stopping until I pass my checkride. Hopefully this misery will all end this spring and teaching will be better than getting beat up by my instructor all the time.
 
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There is so much information to learn to truly know and understand deeply, that I don't see how anyone could ever be successful coming from a 2-week wonder course.
The Flight Instructor Certificate is frustrating and painful af! It's not a fun certificate to pick up at all. Sometimes I wish I had never started down this path, but I'm not a quitter and I'm not stopping until I pass my checkride. Hopefully this misery will all end this spring and teaching will be better than getting beat up by my instructor all the time.
Man I couldn't have said it better myself!! It is a real pain in the neck alright! I remember thinking the exact same things when I was doing it. It does tend to take the 'fun' out of flying sometimes. But it's so worth it in the end. It is the most rewarding and exciting job I've ever done in my entire life, nothing will ever compare to it. Trust me, It starts to get fun when you sign people off for their 1st solo's, cross country solo's, checkrides, written tests, flight reviews, even giving discovery flights to people who have NEVER been flying in their entire life. That's what makes this job so fun and rewarding. All the hard work pays off. It brings you back to when you first started out. That's when you know that despite all the difficulty of going through the training and checkride to become a CFI, it's all worth it in the end.

And I totally agree about the CFI 'quickie courses.' When I passed my CFI ride in May of last year, I remember asking myself, "how in the THE hell does anybody regurgitate ALL that information in 2-3 weeks?" Then it occurred to me that's all it is, just regurgitation. There's no deep learning and correlation involved. That's what makes an effective instructor. There are CFI's who just 'teach the checkride,' because that's all they care about, and then there are CFI's who 'go above and beyond' and teach you how to teach. They make it harder, but in the end it'll make you a better flight instructor. Your students will appreciate it. You will appreciate it. There is no way I would be HALF the CFI I am if I went through a 'quickie course.' The experienced CFI's usually push you more. They really, really challenge you, they teach you to question things on a deeper level.

This isn't to say less experienced instructors aren't challenging, but they're not as common.
 
CFI Academy owner Manpreet Singh AKA Prince Singh, is a SCAM ARTIST! He duped me and 4 other flight training students of 40000$ back in 2008 with his then Flight school American School of Aviation going bankrupt. All other students from that flight school, roughly around 70 - 100 lost anywhere between 1000$ - 30000$. This incident has had a grave effect on me mentally and emotionally. Lawsuits were filed with no results. The case was a default because the court couldn't serve him because he was hiding. I have heard negative review from a flight student at CFI Academy who wasn't reimbursed 5000$ for undone training due to fake promises. I heard he only has one C172 and an Arrow at the school and it really is not airworthy. Im just trying to advice anybody thinking about joining there to please find a different option. This guy is an immoral human being.

It changed my life and shattered my dreams. I'm still trying to finish my flight training after 10 years. Suffered a lot but never gave up.
 
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