Cfi School

Jfk-Pilot

Well-Known Member
Hey guys so tommorow i will be attending CFI school at ATP, and I honestly don't even know what to expect. So far i have been reading through the oral guides and the pts's to get my self ready.

I was just wondering if anybody has any helpful remarks on what i should expect, and how the over all process works?

Thanks in advance for the responses, and ill keep you guys posted on the progress.
 
There are pleanty of write ups on this topic within the thread. Forever777 and myself included have some of them. Honestly I am hoping you have been studying your ass off for this other wise you might be in for a rude awakening. Being a CFI and trying to get your rating within ATPs time frame is a 24/7 job. THE other stuff you could get away with not studying as hard but when it comes to CFI school it all will show how much you really studied over the 90 day course. If you did your job and studied your ass off and studied to prepare for CFI school you will probably be fine. If you took your time, went to the beach, got laid a few times and were not worried about the end; well you might be in for a rude awakening.
 
Get the FOI stuff memorized down cold. Everthing else is mostly a review of commercial stuff. I would say at least 3/4 of my oral was over the FOI material. And I can't stress this next point enough...GROUP STUDY!!! This is the best way to absorb the material in the short time allotted. I don't know where you're doing cfi school but if it's in Vegas you will be with most of your group all the time...eating, sleeping, and studying so take advantage of it. And dry-fly whenever the opportunity arises! Good luck to you and just remember...you're on the home stretch now!!!
 
Get the FOI stuff memorized down cold. Everthing else is mostly a review of commercial stuff. I would say at least 3/4 of my oral was over the FOI material. And I can't stress this next point enough...GROUP STUDY!!! This is the best way to absorb the material in the short time allotted. I don't know where you're doing cfi school but if it's in Vegas you will be with most of your group all the time...eating, sleeping, and studying so take advantage of it. And dry-fly whenever the opportunity arises! Good luck to you and just remember...you're on the home stretch now!!!

My CFI initial was about 10 minutes of FOI and about 3 hours of everything else.
 
My CFI initial was about 10 minutes of FOI and about 3 hours of everything else.
my CFI initial oral was 0 minutes of FOI, then maybe a total of 2 hours on part 61 regs, endorsements, flight requirements for commercial applicants, a little bit about factors effecting critical engine and vmc, maneuvering speed, nothing about systems, and a little bit about aerodynamics, like dihedral, and relative wind, yadda yadda, and sectional charts.

i had my ground instructor license... not every examiner cares if you have it, but black will knock off a good hour, and it's not hard to get, so get it. even if its just the instrument ground instructor - its worth it!! and good to have later if you plan on getting ur gold seal.
 
thanks guys for all the reply.

so today was the first day of cfi school, and i must say it was not that bad,we basically went off the entire aircraft and some aerodynamics, and then began to teach from the lesson plans. I was able to answer all the questions that guy threw at me, and the rest of the class, and didn't really feel uncomfortable with any of the material.

But yea as many you said, this week and a half will definitely be a true test, but I see no reason why i shouldn't be able to succeed.

We will find out when our check rides are on friday, so that shall be exciting.

I'll keep you guys posted.

-Stan
 
I did my initial CFI at Fort Lauderdale with Mr. Black, a DE that looks like he fell right out of the Sopranos. Oral was like 7 hours.
 
stan,

you come off kind of intimidating while giving a lesson. there is your critique my friend.

Haha, oh look who found me.


Well sir, i have to say that your lesson plan on steep turns, was not very effective and you also gave us wrong information (ex: centrifugal force), so based on the law of primacy I will retain the wrong information for a long period of time, and it will be more difficult for me to remember the right information. LOL

So ha!

See you tomorrow bud.

-Stan
 
I did my initial CFI at Fort Lauderdale with Mr. Black, a DE that looks like he fell right out of the Sopranos. Oral was like 7 hours.

He was supposedly an interrogator for one of the 3 lettered agencies. My oral with him was a total of 4 hours, with 1/2 hr to 45 minutes spent on FOI... ymmv
 
I did my initial CFI at Fort Lauderdale with Mr. Black, a DE that looks like he fell right out of the Sopranos. Oral was like 7 hours.

He was supposedly an interrogator for one of the 3 lettered agencies. My oral with him was a total of 4 hours, with 1/2 hr to 45 minutes spent on FOI... ymmv

7 hours & 4.5 hours. You guy got off easy. ;) My examiner was a psychological profiler for a 3 letter, government agency. For me it was 12.5 hours on the oral. It may sound crazy but I had a great time. It was a long but a good day. He was a really nice guy and PHX's CFI instructor prepped me very well. I still keep in touch with that examiner.
 
I had Garner in Tampa-Peter O' Knight. 3 hours oral, most of which was spot on with the gouge I had. And he still busted me, I about wanted to rip his mustache right off of his face.
 
where are you doing the cfi school? I did mine in atl, so i can help you if you are going there. As everyone else has said, study, study, study, sleep, study in your sleep, study! My CFI group had 4 in it. We met each morning at 8am, stayed normally until 8 or later at night. When I got to the apt, i ate supper, then back to studying until bedtime. In that time frame, we studied by ourselves, taught amongst ourselves, and I still did not feel prepared. Don't study a particular gouge for this checkride, as the dpe you are originally scheduled with can change at the last minute. I found out the night before my checkride at about 8pm who my ride was with. I felt so not ready for the checkride, but passed with Garner on my first attempt. When he started the oral, I realized how much I did know, but still felt like on more than one occassion I had busted. And learn the FOI stuff! Some dpe's don't ask but a few foi ?'s, other's ask a lot. Oh, and btw, you can end up at a FSDO in fl for this checkride. It is rare, but has been known to happen. A friend of mine (instructor with atp and colgan pilot) ended up getting the FSDO for his initial. Any questions, feel free to ask openly or pm.
 
where are you doing the cfi school? I did mine in atl, so i can help you if you are going there. As everyone else has said, study, study, study, sleep, study in your sleep, study! My CFI group had 4 in it. We met each morning at 8am, stayed normally until 8 or later at night. When I got to the apt, i ate supper, then back to studying until bedtime. In that time frame, we studied by ourselves, taught amongst ourselves, and I still did not feel prepared. Don't study a particular gouge for this checkride, as the dpe you are originally scheduled with can change at the last minute. I found out the night before my checkride at about 8pm who my ride was with. I felt so not ready for the checkride, but passed with Garner on my first attempt. When he started the oral, I realized how much I did know, but still felt like on more than one occassion I had busted. And learn the FOI stuff! Some dpe's don't ask but a few foi ?'s, other's ask a lot. Oh, and btw, you can end up at a FSDO in fl for this checkride. It is rare, but has been known to happen. A friend of mine (instructor with atp and colgan pilot) ended up getting the FSDO for his initial. Any questions, feel free to ask openly or pm.

Hey there, I'm doing my training at the DAB, as far as the check ride is concerned it won't be done with the FSDO office, which I'm some what happy about, as far as i know i'm doing my check ride with Pete, don't know if that will change or not. But yea i've been studying non-stop, and we have 6 guys in our group, all of them are really chill, and we all seem to study together pretty well, which makes everything a heck a lot easier.

But yea hopefully i will get my initial done in the early parts of next week, before Hurricane Ike comes around.

Ill keep you guys updated.
 
Tell Uncle Pete that Paul said to be nice and you will pass! Seriously Pete never failed a single one of my 20+ students I sent to him. Great guy and I did my MEI with him. I thought it was really easy but I was way OVER prepared as well.
 
Tell Uncle Pete that Paul said to be nice and you will pass! Seriously Pete never failed a single one of my 20+ students I sent to him. Great guy and I did my MEI with him. I thought it was really easy but I was way OVER prepared as well.


Yeah, Pete is a great guy who loves what he does. Although I did not get a chance to fly with him, from what I observed he makes sure his checkrides were thourough. I miss the donuts every Friday!:nana2:
 
Tell Uncle Pete that Paul said to be nice and you will pass! Seriously Pete never failed a single one of my 20+ students I sent to him. Great guy and I did my MEI with him. I thought it was really easy but I was way OVER prepared as well.

haha will do paul. But yea I've done all my checkrides except for my private with Uncle Pete, great guy and knows how do his job.

But yea thanks for the words of confidence.

I'll let you guys know how everything goes.
 
If you have Bill Lewis for your ride in Vegas don't worry about studying. If you have a pulse that guy will pass you.

Not too familiar with the DAB stuff though, so I guess that tid bit doesn't really help.
 
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