dr650
Well-Known Member
On the last day of August 2010 I became a CFI! The following is a detailed description of the oral and flight portions of the test, boring reading unless your taking your CFI soon:
Oral: Total time was about 4 hours but we took about a twenty minute break in between and the first 20 minutes were basically spent making sure I was ready for the test (ID, 8710, Endorsement). The examiner was Pat Long from the Rochester, NY FSDO, very nice guy but very thorough. He also had a new guy observing him. The new guy was nice as well and Pat had him interject whenever he had a question, he had a few but for the most part was quiet. It started with FOI, very basic questions, I was prepared for a lot more but he only asked a few FOI questions, 4 levels of learning and explain each in a practical way. He asked me if roat learning has a place in aviation. The answer is yes, Vspeeds, emergency procedures etc. Then he asked me to explain the principles of learning and again give a practical example of each. That was it for FOI. Next up was student pilot limitations, visibility required for a student pilot to solo, day and night. Then he asked what the three things were a student pilot needed to solo. I said endorsement on student pilot cert. and in log book but I could not name the third one. The guy observing Pat said he couldn't either and finally it came to me, pre-solo knowledge test...duh! Then he asked me a few questions with regards to endorsements, he set up a situation where a student had solo'd in a cherokee with another instructor and wanted me to give him keys to a cessna so he could go out and fly. Basically I had to know the endorsement is specific to make and model of airplane. Then he said the student asked for keys to the cherokee but after looking at his endorsement I realized it was over 90 days ago. I told him that I would tell the student he needed another 90 day sign off. He then asked (pretending to be the student) if I could just go with him once around the pattern and then sign him off. I answered no, I would have to see him demonstrate proficiency on the maneuvers listed in the FAR's.
From this point we went into some regulations. Airspace, weather mins, minimum equipment, if we are flying over water he asked if I needed flotation gear and I said no, only if for hire. Then we went onto what was the longest part of the test, the POH. He took the POH and we literally went page by page through sections 1-4. I was slow with a few answers (such as when you would take the fuel selector off both in 172 RG, the answer is when refueling on a slope to minimize cross-feeding between tanks) however, for the most part I answered correctly. We went through each V speed and the color of them on the airspeed indicator, engine size, even the min and max oil pressure (I didn't know this one my memory). He asked what max gross weight was and then how much we could way on taxi (8 pounds more than max gross weight). He asked if we could be at max gross when we landed, also how many pounds the baggage area was certified for. We then went through the emergency procedures and I had to know every bold face item because in the POH it states 'Procedures in the Operational Checklists portion of this section shown in bold-face type are immediate-action items which should be committed to memory.' We didn't skip a single one, know them all! Next up was me teaching short and soft takeoffs/landings. I taught the new guy that was observing, I made it a point to stress stabilized approach, they asked me to clearly explain what that was. Overall the oral went well, we discontinued the test at this point because the visibility was down and then I had to wait almost a month for the flight portion which took place yesterday.
Flight (1.9 on the hobbs):
The examiner had me prepare weight and balance, takeoff and landing distance, and weather briefing before he arrived. When he arrived I went over all three with him and for the most part he didn't ask any questions. Walked out to the airplane, he had me do a preflight but he didn't really observe, he let me do this on my own. We got in the airplane and two things he wanted during taxi which I didn't do, Taxi Diagram out (I had it on my clipboard but had paper over it), strobes only on for runway crossings because they can be distracting to other pilots, and have the heading bug on the wind direction so it is easy to use proper control deflections for wind conditions while taxiing. He did the takeoff and handed controls over to me at about TPA. He asked on takeoff at what point I would attempt to turn back toward the runway if I lost my engine. I said 800 feet AGL and he said its more like 1000 feet. I then flew out to an airport about 35 miles away that he told me to go to, at this point I was not allowed to use GPS. One I spotted the airport he gave me a heading and had me do slow flight, turn with 10 degree bank to heading, then back to original heading with 20 degree bank. He wanted the stall horn coming on and off during slow flight. We then did power-off stall and recovery and elevator trim stall. Steep turns, followed by chandelles (he wanted the horn on at the the end of the chandelle). Next was ground reference maneuvers (turns about a point and S turns). Then we went to another airport, again no GPS, but he said I could use anything else to get myself there. He had me demonstrate a soft field landing, then he had me teach him soft-field takeoff. As soon as he lifted off he started veering toward the trees I quickly said 'My Airplane' and took controls. Next he flew a short-field landing while I instructed, he flew this with basically no mistakes. We then headed back to buffalo where I had to demonstrate a short-field landing. I landed with quite a thud but he announced I had passed.
Note: Two things he was big on I forgot to mention, CLEARING TURNS before EVERY maneuver and leave the flaps down until clear of the runway.
I start teaching next week.
Oral: Total time was about 4 hours but we took about a twenty minute break in between and the first 20 minutes were basically spent making sure I was ready for the test (ID, 8710, Endorsement). The examiner was Pat Long from the Rochester, NY FSDO, very nice guy but very thorough. He also had a new guy observing him. The new guy was nice as well and Pat had him interject whenever he had a question, he had a few but for the most part was quiet. It started with FOI, very basic questions, I was prepared for a lot more but he only asked a few FOI questions, 4 levels of learning and explain each in a practical way. He asked me if roat learning has a place in aviation. The answer is yes, Vspeeds, emergency procedures etc. Then he asked me to explain the principles of learning and again give a practical example of each. That was it for FOI. Next up was student pilot limitations, visibility required for a student pilot to solo, day and night. Then he asked what the three things were a student pilot needed to solo. I said endorsement on student pilot cert. and in log book but I could not name the third one. The guy observing Pat said he couldn't either and finally it came to me, pre-solo knowledge test...duh! Then he asked me a few questions with regards to endorsements, he set up a situation where a student had solo'd in a cherokee with another instructor and wanted me to give him keys to a cessna so he could go out and fly. Basically I had to know the endorsement is specific to make and model of airplane. Then he said the student asked for keys to the cherokee but after looking at his endorsement I realized it was over 90 days ago. I told him that I would tell the student he needed another 90 day sign off. He then asked (pretending to be the student) if I could just go with him once around the pattern and then sign him off. I answered no, I would have to see him demonstrate proficiency on the maneuvers listed in the FAR's.
From this point we went into some regulations. Airspace, weather mins, minimum equipment, if we are flying over water he asked if I needed flotation gear and I said no, only if for hire. Then we went onto what was the longest part of the test, the POH. He took the POH and we literally went page by page through sections 1-4. I was slow with a few answers (such as when you would take the fuel selector off both in 172 RG, the answer is when refueling on a slope to minimize cross-feeding between tanks) however, for the most part I answered correctly. We went through each V speed and the color of them on the airspeed indicator, engine size, even the min and max oil pressure (I didn't know this one my memory). He asked what max gross weight was and then how much we could way on taxi (8 pounds more than max gross weight). He asked if we could be at max gross when we landed, also how many pounds the baggage area was certified for. We then went through the emergency procedures and I had to know every bold face item because in the POH it states 'Procedures in the Operational Checklists portion of this section shown in bold-face type are immediate-action items which should be committed to memory.' We didn't skip a single one, know them all! Next up was me teaching short and soft takeoffs/landings. I taught the new guy that was observing, I made it a point to stress stabilized approach, they asked me to clearly explain what that was. Overall the oral went well, we discontinued the test at this point because the visibility was down and then I had to wait almost a month for the flight portion which took place yesterday.
Flight (1.9 on the hobbs):
The examiner had me prepare weight and balance, takeoff and landing distance, and weather briefing before he arrived. When he arrived I went over all three with him and for the most part he didn't ask any questions. Walked out to the airplane, he had me do a preflight but he didn't really observe, he let me do this on my own. We got in the airplane and two things he wanted during taxi which I didn't do, Taxi Diagram out (I had it on my clipboard but had paper over it), strobes only on for runway crossings because they can be distracting to other pilots, and have the heading bug on the wind direction so it is easy to use proper control deflections for wind conditions while taxiing. He did the takeoff and handed controls over to me at about TPA. He asked on takeoff at what point I would attempt to turn back toward the runway if I lost my engine. I said 800 feet AGL and he said its more like 1000 feet. I then flew out to an airport about 35 miles away that he told me to go to, at this point I was not allowed to use GPS. One I spotted the airport he gave me a heading and had me do slow flight, turn with 10 degree bank to heading, then back to original heading with 20 degree bank. He wanted the stall horn coming on and off during slow flight. We then did power-off stall and recovery and elevator trim stall. Steep turns, followed by chandelles (he wanted the horn on at the the end of the chandelle). Next was ground reference maneuvers (turns about a point and S turns). Then we went to another airport, again no GPS, but he said I could use anything else to get myself there. He had me demonstrate a soft field landing, then he had me teach him soft-field takeoff. As soon as he lifted off he started veering toward the trees I quickly said 'My Airplane' and took controls. Next he flew a short-field landing while I instructed, he flew this with basically no mistakes. We then headed back to buffalo where I had to demonstrate a short-field landing. I landed with quite a thud but he announced I had passed.
Note: Two things he was big on I forgot to mention, CLEARING TURNS before EVERY maneuver and leave the flaps down until clear of the runway.
I start teaching next week.
