juskl
Well-Known Member
Ok, Now that I have had a week to decompress a bit, I thought I would write about my CFI checkride to hopefully help out those of you coming up on it or will come to it in the future. I am just glad that it is over and done with.
My test was split into a two day test, where the Oral was on a Wednesday and the flight test on Thursday.
The Oral Test:
Went very well for me and lasted about 3 1/2 hours. My examiner was very thorough and as soon as he was confident in your knowledge of an area, it was time to move on.....(which was fantastic).
The FOI stuff was handled in a different way (but made perfect sense). My examiner had me Teach him how people learn from start to finish but he wanted me to teach him an area that I previously taught for the Police Department and then parallel that with learning to fly...... I know that sounds a bit strange, but it actually just blasted open my memory and I was able to soar through it without even really thinking about it. I bring this up so that those of you whom haven't taken this yet and maybe have taught before, can use a similar technique. I was a driving instructor for my Department and I knew that stuff down pat due to experience. It was very simple for me to parallel that to flying. It was good to know that I knew a hell of a lot more than I thought. So that went well....which is nice......
There was some confusion on needing an instructor's sign off to take the FOI written...... He said that I needed it, I said that I did not due to my knowledge of what signoff's are needed. Long story short, I did not argue and we were able to get through it do to my sign off under the knowledge of FOI sign off that I received from my Instructor.
Talked about all the regs Part 43 Mx (know it, know it, know it). The difference between the MEL and not. Also STC's, 337's and Preventitive Mx. Stayed here for quite a bit.
Part 61 regs.... used the example about adding a Class versus Category rating and what was required and not required.
Part 91.... I honestly don't remember what we discussed here... Sorry, time compressed....
I know that this sounds like an obvious thing, but make sure that you teach everything and relate everything to the correlation level of learning. I taught Stability using a shallow, medium and steep bank turn. Not difficult just different.
Difference between MCA and Slow Flight
Aerodynamics of a Stall, Spin, etc.......(fortunately I got my Spin endorcement and training from my school that has a very extensive aerobatic training program on site..... also my instructor for that is very well known in the Phoenix metro area for this type of training (did it all in a Great Lakes), so I flew through this.... literally, otherwise the examiners are cracking down on less than adequate spin training).
Lesson Plans....... Fortunately, I spent alot of time and effort on my lesson plans...(as most of us have). He really liked my plans. I used a regular notes style format with some lesson plans being up to five pages long (similar to how I had to do them for the Police Department when I worked there). He asked me some questions about my plans and looked over them for quite some time (to make sure I was the one that did them....I was). The reason I bring this up is because my examiner is very sceptical of applicants that come into a checkride with either few plans or predone plans (meaning the plans were printed off by a school or a web site).. He said that those are fine to teach to for your later teaching career, but that when an applicant brings those in for a checkride, it gets interesting for the applicant (read difficult)..... But I did mine and moved on....
Taught MCA.....went well (know the difference though between that and slow flight).
Went over Mx books for both airplanes I used (Warrior and Arrow). Make sure you go over this with your instructor and that the records are up to date and correct. You have to teach this to your examiner as you do everything during the checkride.
This is most of what I can remember at this point. It was very fair and I really wanted to nail this due to the horror stories of some applicants that I know whom had 7 hour marathons and unexpected questions. I made sure I busted my arse on this one.....
Next day the Flight Check:
Ok, now I got hit over the head with a sledge hammer on this part. First part, as I am teaching him the preflight and we open the cowling, the "what's that" questions came on about the engine and it's systems..... Honestly, being mostly a Cessna guy and never really looking under the hood, didn't know anything..... Now, I could draw diagrams of systems and how they work and but couldn't tell you about the copper looking wire that lead to the cylinders was the primer tube. This part which could have been maybe a few minutes, turned into an hour long session..... And I was sweating it...... Fortunately, I knew enough about general systems to satisfy him, but it was not easy..... Long story short (especially if you are flying a warrior for a checkride) spend some time with the Mx crew and/or your instructor and really know the engine compartment and the basics of things in it, so you do not look the fool as I did..... Seriously, I never even thought about it... (my fault), and was never taught it in depth..... So get to know and be able to point out the vacuum, mags, alternator, cylinders, starter (and how it works), etc.... know it, know it, know it, and save yourself the frustration.
Know every bump, notch, control surface, antena, everything for the aircraft you are flying. Heard stories of applicants showing up in a plane that they hardly ever flew and didn't know how to work the various systems in the cockpit, because the other arrow they flew didn't have it, or it was different... You are the expert for that plane and must know it all.....
Know all there is to know on the landing gear for both fixed gear and retract (squat switch)...
If something is inop'd in the aircraft there better be the documentation in the Mx books (just an FYI, don't depend on the school or Mx to have done that, make sure for yourself).
Know all the airspeeds in percent levels as in..... what does 55% power equal in airspeed, groundspeed, etc....
Know Vspeeds including Vso 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc....
Make sure you are locked on to all speeds during your flying. Even though you may have some give to the tollerence levels for a given maneuver, the more locked on you are the more the examiner will be impressed and the better your ride will go.
Be able to fly MCA at all flap settings, not just full flaps. Sounds easy and is, just be prepared for it, as well as the ability to teach it.
Steep Spirals at both Glide speed (looking for a place to land after an engine failure) 3 rotations.... and at maximum decent, engine fire type, get through a hole in the clouds type of maneuver Va, 60 degree bank angle.
Take offs and Landings: (switched to the Arrow for this per regs)
Everything for me was doing very well up until this point. Started with a normal takeoff in the Arrow (good)
- Soft Field Landing (very good), immediately transition to a soft field take off....(could have been better but passable)
- Short Field Landing (Failure)..... Yep, I did the ultimate no, no. I slightly overshot final, and busted myself to the examiner telling him why you should never do that, got below my target speed (70kts), and floated the landing to the right side of the runway... I tried to save a crappy approach....Don't ever do that, just go around and set it up again. So I busted on that. It was actually one of the worse landings I have done in years.... Oh well.
So I came back the following week to finish up with My short Field Landing (right on the money and realy went well).
Short Field Take Off..... Went well
Power off 180.... Was very good too.
So I got through it, thankfully and Passed.
I can tell you all that I was expecting to be teaching a lot more on the checkride than I did. I mostly demonstrated and taught what I was demonstrating, but I did very little of the actual Mouth Flying while the Examiner flew.... Different for every examiner I guess. Mine wanted to make sure I could fly and have complete knowledge of the manuevers. Again, just a bit different than I was expecting. And make sure you are locked on for the manuevers, whom ever said that you don't have to fly perfectly was full of it.....You don't have to fly perfect, but you better be pretty damn close (as well as you should).
I started flying in the middle of September and Finished up last week. So this was a four month endevour that I did full time. Including waiting for a period of almost 4 weeks for a checkride, as there is alot for them to do.
My examiner is a Check Airman for U.S. Air in the Airbus and was a very low stress, and nice guy. He expected alot out of me and for the most part I did very well. Anything that I didn't do well, was on me and only me. Which brings me to another point, if you do not do well on something or do not know something, take ownership of it and make it your fault, even if it is not. Though it may not be fair, it will make you shine on the checkride.
Hope this helps a bit. I know every examiner is different and every location is a bit different, but this is just my little experience, and I hope it helps some of you out there.. Good luck....
My test was split into a two day test, where the Oral was on a Wednesday and the flight test on Thursday.
The Oral Test:
Went very well for me and lasted about 3 1/2 hours. My examiner was very thorough and as soon as he was confident in your knowledge of an area, it was time to move on.....(which was fantastic).
The FOI stuff was handled in a different way (but made perfect sense). My examiner had me Teach him how people learn from start to finish but he wanted me to teach him an area that I previously taught for the Police Department and then parallel that with learning to fly...... I know that sounds a bit strange, but it actually just blasted open my memory and I was able to soar through it without even really thinking about it. I bring this up so that those of you whom haven't taken this yet and maybe have taught before, can use a similar technique. I was a driving instructor for my Department and I knew that stuff down pat due to experience. It was very simple for me to parallel that to flying. It was good to know that I knew a hell of a lot more than I thought. So that went well....which is nice......
There was some confusion on needing an instructor's sign off to take the FOI written...... He said that I needed it, I said that I did not due to my knowledge of what signoff's are needed. Long story short, I did not argue and we were able to get through it do to my sign off under the knowledge of FOI sign off that I received from my Instructor.
Talked about all the regs Part 43 Mx (know it, know it, know it). The difference between the MEL and not. Also STC's, 337's and Preventitive Mx. Stayed here for quite a bit.
Part 61 regs.... used the example about adding a Class versus Category rating and what was required and not required.
Part 91.... I honestly don't remember what we discussed here... Sorry, time compressed....
I know that this sounds like an obvious thing, but make sure that you teach everything and relate everything to the correlation level of learning. I taught Stability using a shallow, medium and steep bank turn. Not difficult just different.
Difference between MCA and Slow Flight
Aerodynamics of a Stall, Spin, etc.......(fortunately I got my Spin endorcement and training from my school that has a very extensive aerobatic training program on site..... also my instructor for that is very well known in the Phoenix metro area for this type of training (did it all in a Great Lakes), so I flew through this.... literally, otherwise the examiners are cracking down on less than adequate spin training).
Lesson Plans....... Fortunately, I spent alot of time and effort on my lesson plans...(as most of us have). He really liked my plans. I used a regular notes style format with some lesson plans being up to five pages long (similar to how I had to do them for the Police Department when I worked there). He asked me some questions about my plans and looked over them for quite some time (to make sure I was the one that did them....I was). The reason I bring this up is because my examiner is very sceptical of applicants that come into a checkride with either few plans or predone plans (meaning the plans were printed off by a school or a web site).. He said that those are fine to teach to for your later teaching career, but that when an applicant brings those in for a checkride, it gets interesting for the applicant (read difficult)..... But I did mine and moved on....
Taught MCA.....went well (know the difference though between that and slow flight).
Went over Mx books for both airplanes I used (Warrior and Arrow). Make sure you go over this with your instructor and that the records are up to date and correct. You have to teach this to your examiner as you do everything during the checkride.
This is most of what I can remember at this point. It was very fair and I really wanted to nail this due to the horror stories of some applicants that I know whom had 7 hour marathons and unexpected questions. I made sure I busted my arse on this one.....
Next day the Flight Check:
Ok, now I got hit over the head with a sledge hammer on this part. First part, as I am teaching him the preflight and we open the cowling, the "what's that" questions came on about the engine and it's systems..... Honestly, being mostly a Cessna guy and never really looking under the hood, didn't know anything..... Now, I could draw diagrams of systems and how they work and but couldn't tell you about the copper looking wire that lead to the cylinders was the primer tube. This part which could have been maybe a few minutes, turned into an hour long session..... And I was sweating it...... Fortunately, I knew enough about general systems to satisfy him, but it was not easy..... Long story short (especially if you are flying a warrior for a checkride) spend some time with the Mx crew and/or your instructor and really know the engine compartment and the basics of things in it, so you do not look the fool as I did..... Seriously, I never even thought about it... (my fault), and was never taught it in depth..... So get to know and be able to point out the vacuum, mags, alternator, cylinders, starter (and how it works), etc.... know it, know it, know it, and save yourself the frustration.
Know every bump, notch, control surface, antena, everything for the aircraft you are flying. Heard stories of applicants showing up in a plane that they hardly ever flew and didn't know how to work the various systems in the cockpit, because the other arrow they flew didn't have it, or it was different... You are the expert for that plane and must know it all.....
Know all there is to know on the landing gear for both fixed gear and retract (squat switch)...
If something is inop'd in the aircraft there better be the documentation in the Mx books (just an FYI, don't depend on the school or Mx to have done that, make sure for yourself).
Know all the airspeeds in percent levels as in..... what does 55% power equal in airspeed, groundspeed, etc....
Know Vspeeds including Vso 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc....
Make sure you are locked on to all speeds during your flying. Even though you may have some give to the tollerence levels for a given maneuver, the more locked on you are the more the examiner will be impressed and the better your ride will go.
Be able to fly MCA at all flap settings, not just full flaps. Sounds easy and is, just be prepared for it, as well as the ability to teach it.
Steep Spirals at both Glide speed (looking for a place to land after an engine failure) 3 rotations.... and at maximum decent, engine fire type, get through a hole in the clouds type of maneuver Va, 60 degree bank angle.
Take offs and Landings: (switched to the Arrow for this per regs)
Everything for me was doing very well up until this point. Started with a normal takeoff in the Arrow (good)
- Soft Field Landing (very good), immediately transition to a soft field take off....(could have been better but passable)
- Short Field Landing (Failure)..... Yep, I did the ultimate no, no. I slightly overshot final, and busted myself to the examiner telling him why you should never do that, got below my target speed (70kts), and floated the landing to the right side of the runway... I tried to save a crappy approach....Don't ever do that, just go around and set it up again. So I busted on that. It was actually one of the worse landings I have done in years.... Oh well.
So I came back the following week to finish up with My short Field Landing (right on the money and realy went well).
Short Field Take Off..... Went well
Power off 180.... Was very good too.
So I got through it, thankfully and Passed.
I can tell you all that I was expecting to be teaching a lot more on the checkride than I did. I mostly demonstrated and taught what I was demonstrating, but I did very little of the actual Mouth Flying while the Examiner flew.... Different for every examiner I guess. Mine wanted to make sure I could fly and have complete knowledge of the manuevers. Again, just a bit different than I was expecting. And make sure you are locked on for the manuevers, whom ever said that you don't have to fly perfectly was full of it.....You don't have to fly perfect, but you better be pretty damn close (as well as you should).
I started flying in the middle of September and Finished up last week. So this was a four month endevour that I did full time. Including waiting for a period of almost 4 weeks for a checkride, as there is alot for them to do.
My examiner is a Check Airman for U.S. Air in the Airbus and was a very low stress, and nice guy. He expected alot out of me and for the most part I did very well. Anything that I didn't do well, was on me and only me. Which brings me to another point, if you do not do well on something or do not know something, take ownership of it and make it your fault, even if it is not. Though it may not be fair, it will make you shine on the checkride.
Hope this helps a bit. I know every examiner is different and every location is a bit different, but this is just my little experience, and I hope it helps some of you out there.. Good luck....
