CFI-Initial Oral Prep Guide

E6BAV8R

Well-Known Member
This guide was not written by me but a combination of people at my flight school. It is what I used on my CFI-Initial and it did a very good job in preparing me.

NOTE: You need to be able to apply these items to every situation and exhibit instructional knowledge; not just be able to produce the answer.

FAR Part 61/AC 61-65E
  • Categories/Classes on Pilot & CFI certificates
  • Pre-requisites for practical tests – 61.39(a)(6)
  • Retesting after a knowledge test/practical test – 61.49
  • Flight Review; What must it include? – 61.56
  • Does a Flight Review renew a pilot for that specific Category & Class, or all Category & Classes?
  • Other CFI Privileges – 61.31
  • Student Pilots – 61.87 / 61.93
    • Age, Eligibility; Where? – 61.83
    • Solo requirements & endorsements – 61.87
    • What must a pre-solo knowledge test cover? What is the passing grade? What do they get after completion of the exam?
    • What is required, on your part, when giving an endorsement?
    • Other airports within 25 & 50nm
    • Solo cross-country requirements & endorsements - 61.93
    • When is a cross-country endorsement required?
    • Specific solo cross-country flight endorsements – who can give?
    • Is a Student Pilot able to get a Special VFR?
  • Private pilot aeronautical experience – 61.109
    • New pilot
    • Additional rating; when is a knowledge test NOT required? – 61.63
    • What is a “cross-country”?
    • What is “night”? (3 types)
  • Endorsements for private pilot practical test – 61.107; 61.39(a)(6)
  • CFI practical test requirements – 61.185
  • CFI Renewal/reinstatement; how? - 61.197
  • CFI Records; how long? Where? - 61.189
  • Do you need a medical to give flight instruction?
  • How many hours a day can you instruct? - 61.195
  • What training time must you log in your student’s logbook? - 61.51
FAR Part 91
  • ALL aspects of Airspace and VFR requirements; When is Class B/C/D actually VFR? - 91.155 / 91.155(c)(d)
  • Right-of-way – 91.113
  • Airspeed limitations – 91.117
  • Minimum altitudes – 91.119
  • Fuel requirements day & night – 91.151
  • Acrobatic Flight – 91.303
  • Explain light gun signals to an 8-hour pre-solo student in a logical order – 91.125
  • Required equipment: ELT, MEL – 91.205; 91.207; 91.213
  • Required inspections (Exceptions? Special Flight Permits?) – 91.215; 91.409
  • What are the different a/c logbooks?
  • In the logbooks, where do we look first for the inspections?
  • What books will the 100-hour, Annual, and ELT inspections be found at?
Aerodynamics
  • Explain relationship amongst Lift, Weight, Thrust and Drag in Straight and Level / Climb / Descent / Slow Flight configurations
  • What is a Shallow, Medium and Steep turn? What is most stable? Why?
  • How does stall speed depend on CG location? On weight? On bank angle? On flap setting?
  • Know all V-Speeds for your make & model. Which ones depend on weight and/or CG location?
  • How do Vx, Vy and best glide speed depend on altitude?
  • V-G (Velocity and Load Factor) Diagram – Sketch and Explain. How are Vs and Va related?
  • Explain P-Factor to a 1-hour student
Performance Charts
  • Time / Fuel / Distance to Climb
  • Cruise
  • Takeoff / Landing Distance
Systems (Cessna 172-RG)
  • Gear
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Normal operations; explain what the various components do
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Gear Warnings; How many? Are they activated independently?
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Emergency Gear operation
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Explain sequence of events you would go through if you put the gear down and the green light did not illuminate
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Can you make the gear retract, or extend, if the wire to the squat switch is broken?
§Propeller
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]How does the governor control propeller pitch/RPM?
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Explain how an over speed, or under speed, happens and what you would do if it did
§Electrical
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]What is the voltage of the battery? Of the system? Why are these not the same?
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]How do electrical circuits close in our airplane?
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]How does an alternator work? How is its output controlled? What powers electrical system under a stabilized load?
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]What does the ammeter measure? What would you do if the ammeter showed a large negative, or positive, reading in flight? What instruments/equipment use the most power?
Weather
§Get copies of and explain what is happening / give a briefing
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Surface Analysis Chart
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Weather Depiction Chart
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Prognostic Chart
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Winds & Temps. Aloft
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Radar Summary
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]Satellite
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]AIRMETs / SIGMETs / Convective SIGMETs
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]METARs / TAFs
[FONT=&quot]o[/FONT]PIREPs
§When calling FSS, what order will the briefer give you the information in?

FOI
§Out of CFI Oral Exam Guide

PTS
§Know general procedures for practical tests
§Know airspeed, altitude, heading, bank angle and distance tolerances (as applicable) for each maneuver
§What are the Special Emphasis Areas applicable to all maneuvers on all practical tests?
§What happens in case of unsatisfactory performance?

Sectionals/Airport-Facility Directory/Cross Country Planning
  • Everything: All airspace notations and chart markings. Properties of airports (Does it have a Unicom? Multicom? Can you get major repairs there? Are the runway lights on all the time at night? When is the tower open?) Also reference Chart Users Guide
AIM
  • Airport markings / lighting (VASI, PAPI, Approach lights)
  • Operations in B/C/D/E Airspace
  • Entry into & exit from traffic patterns at uncontrolled airports
  • UNICOM & MULTICOM – 4-1-11
  • Wake turbulence avoidance procedures behind heavy a/c
  • Positive Exchange of Flight Controls
NTSB Reporting
  • Define an Accident. Define an Incident.
  • What has to be reported to the NTSB immediately? How long do you have for everything else?
Weight & Balance
  • Give lesson to a 15-hour student. Why is W&B important? How does the CG change when you extend or retract the landing gear?
  • Characteristics of the aircraft with a forward, or rearward, CG
E-6B Demonstration Lesson
  • Calculate TAS given altitude/temp.
  • Calculate Density Altitude from temp. and a non-standard altimeter setting
  • Show a 15-hour student how to compute Course, Heading and Gas Used for a ~100 mile cross-country – Integrate performance date into the lesson plane in a logical order!)
Maneuver Lesson 1
  • Show a 1-hour student how to taxi. What wind corrections do we want to apply? How to use pedals and toe-brakes.
Maneuver Lesson 2
  • Teach Level Turns to a 1-hour student. How is flying a plane differently from driving a car? What roles do the ailerons, rudder and elevator play?
Maneuver Lesson 3
  • Teach Short Field TO/Landing to a 15-hour student. How do you configure the plane and why? What are the critical speeds? What do you make the practice as realistic as possible?
Maneuver Lesson 4
  • Teach Crosswind TO/Landing to a 15-hour student. How far away from the runway do we crab? When do we put in wing-low method? Explain all aspects.
Maneuver Lesson 5
  • Teach Eights-on-Pylons to a 150-hour student. Why does pivotal altitude change with wind direction? How do you keep the wing on the pylon during the maneuver?
Pre-flight (Cessna 172RG)
  • How do you know all the placards are there?
  • Under the cowling; Magnetos, Vacuum Pump, Carburetor
  • What type of oil do you use? What type of hydraulic fluid?
  • How do you turn a magneto OFF? How do you know it really is off?
  • What causes the clicking noise when you turn the prop through?
  • Where is the gear squat switch and how does it work?
  • How are the ailerons, flaps, elevator and trim connected to their respective controls and how do they operate?
  • How many counterweights on each aileron?
  • What are the recommended tire pressures?
  • Where is the battery?
  • How would you start the airplane if the battery was dead?
  • How many static ports are there? Why?
  • What are all the antennas for?
Feel free to add to the list or PM me and I will add it.

Good luck!
 
That is pretty much how my CFI Initial was. There are a couple things I would add to it though.

Commercial Pilot Aeronautical Experience (61.129), endorsements for a commercial pilot practical test, and a section on spins, such as entry, recovery and the aerodynamics in a spin.

Other than that great job.
 
Maneuver Lesson 4
  • Teach Crosswind TO/Landing to a 15-hour student. How far away from the runway do we crab? When do we put in wing-low method?
Very nice list. I'm curious that you have the technique of crabbing or slipping listed as though it were mandated at a certain point.

can you elaborate further?
 
[/list]Very nice list. I'm curious that you have the technique of crabbing or slipping listed as though it were mandated at a certain point.

can you elaborate further?

Well, if I was going to teach the maneuver to a student pilot than I would be more inclined to teach him to slip/crab at a much higher altitude, say the base to final turn, rather than having him kick in the slip right as he is beginning his round out. Certainly there is no "set" altitude to put in the slip but I would much rather have my student put it in at a higher altitude and have him get his approach stabilized than having to worry about it during his round out and trying to land the airplane at the same time.

The examiner on my checkride wanted to hear that I would teach it to put it in on the base to final turn, by the way.
 
I would teach it to put it in on the base to final turn, by the way.

I don't really think you mean it the way you are writing it: "put it in on the base to final turn..."

Do you mean you would/ should see the need to start slipping during the turn?

Which may or may not be possible. Sure, after you have been around the pattern, or in noticably strong winds that you can forsee, but under normal wind conditions, on the first time you turn final, you may not know until you have pointed the nose down the centerline that you will need some x-wind correction.

Anyway, I was curious about your original wording - sounded like a mandated position to start either procedure. I teach slipping down final until the student can hold it well with a slip, then gradually allow crabbing down lower until he/she can transition from crab to slip just before or during round-out.

Students need the extra slipping time for practice.
 
I completely agree nosehair. That is what I was trying to say but I guess I worded it wrong. I would go back and re-word it on the OP but it doesn't look like I can edit it anymore.
 
That's what I kinda thought you meant - but the reason I asked is; that's technique. I don't really expect questions on technique on a checkride - even a CFI checkride.

There may be questions, but not pass-or-fail type, because they can't pass or fail on technique, as long as the maneuver is in line with the PTS.

The big problem with the CFI checkride is that the CFI is tested on his/her ability to teach the PTS maneuver. The completed maneuver. There is no testing on how to break it down into seperate elements. How to focus on just one part - like this, the x-wind correction.

Teaching involves the ability to break a maneuver/procedure down into it's various elements and focus on the part(s) that give the student difficulty.

Demonstrating a whole/complete complex maneuver/procedure and then expecting a student to copy the entire complex maneuver/procedure by rote memory is not an effective way to teach.

But that's how we are tested, so that is where one of the root problems in the aviation teaching business is.
 
Wow, thanks for this! My CFI checkride is next week on the 14th and this has been helping me tremendously.

One question: How much will the FSDO examiner go into Recreational and/or Sport Pilot questions??

Thanks again...without this guide I would have been lost on some of the things to study for!
 
Wow, thanks for this! My CFI checkride is next week on the 14th and this has been helping me tremendously.

One question: How much will the FSDO examiner go into Recreational and/or Sport Pilot questions??

Thanks again...without this guide I would have been lost on some of the things to study for!

I was involved in Sport pilot stuff since it came out. The FSDO is fairly clueless when it comes to Sport, so I wouldn't worry about it. It depends on which examiner you get as to what they focus on.
 
Wow, thanks for this! My CFI checkride is next week on the 14th and this has been helping me tremendously.

One question: How much will the FSDO examiner go into Recreational and/or Sport Pilot questions??

Thanks again...without this guide I would have been lost on some of the things to study for!

I agree; I wouldn't worry about it at all. They made no mention of it on my, or anyone else I know, checkride.
 
how would you describe...
  • "xplain relationship amongst Lift, Weight, Thrust and Drag in Straight and Level / Climb / Descent / Slow Flight configurations"
In regards to the SLOW flight config?
 
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