Had my CFII checkride last week. It was by far the easiest ride I've ever taken. I had been preparing and training for the ride since April. Had all my lesson plans just in case I had to give a lesson. The oral was very short. Spent a few minutes making sure all the paperwork was correct. DE asked a few questions about my flying history (when I started flying, where, who I took my previous rides with, what types of a/c I've flown, when I started instructing and where, etc). Finally, DE asked the following questions:
- what are the IR requirements?
- what are the instrument currency requirements?
- when do you need to take an IPC?
- when is an alternare required (what is the 1-2-3- rule)?
- lost comm procedures, what do you do?
- total electrical failure, what do you do?
Then DE started talking about the importance of using checklists, the importance of stage checks, the importance of having a syllabus and to document all the training done along the way. We went off on a couple of tangents and started talking about primary private pilot students.
Being that I hadn't instructed for many years, he gave me some advice about setting limitations on students when signing them off for any type of solo flight. DE stated that he advises instructors to never sign off a student pilot for solo touch and go or for solo night flight. I agreed with him about the solo night flight limitation but not the solo touch and go limitation. He then went into more depth about why he feels the way he does. Mainly, it was a safety issue with him.
I'm assuming he's been burned pretty badly by student pilots in the past. Also, setting limitations on when the student pilot can fly (meaning if the student hasn't flown at all for a week, he should not be allowed to solo again until the student flys with you again) etc. He stated that it's important to set limitations on the student pilot in regards to what type of weather they can fly in when solo. Setting limitations on what a/c they can solo in (ie they move from a 152 to a 172, you've signed them off for solo in the 152 already, then you sign them off for solo in the 172, they are not allowed to go back to the 152 and be able to solo in that).
Thus, he was doing most of the talking and I was doing most of the nodding. The oral portion lasted for about an hour. He told me what we were gonna do and what approaches we were gonna shoot once we got up there. Told me to go out to the a/c and that he'd meet me out there. As I'm doing a quick preflight, he hopped in the airplane and started doing some paperwork (later on after the ride was over, I figured out he was filling out my temp cert at this time). The flying portion was 1.2 and it went like this:
- did a runup, I noticed the amp meter wasn't working but didn' say anything
- normal takeoff (under the hood at 500 feet)
- intercepted and tracked radials to VOR, then flew direct to VOR
- was given holding instructions (I copy them down, draw it out and tell him the type of entry, he was happy with my answer)
- set up for ILS approach, shot approach and went missed
- on the way back to the departure airport we did partial panel work, timed turns, unusual attitudes
- shot VOR-A approach full panel
- was coming in real fast and he stressed the importance of having the a/c configured before the FAF, he landed the a/c
He taxied the a/c in and shut it down. Told me to meet him inside. Once inside, he immediately handed me my temp and congratulated me (this is when I figuerd out that he had filled out the temp during the perflight). He mentioned the fact that if this was an actual IFR flight, he may have not departed due to the fact that the ammeter was working properly during the runup. I told him that I was aware of it as well and apologized that I didn't say anything. I told him that if it was IFR I wouldn't have departed either. He then went into a brief explanation about how much it sucks to lose all your comms and navs if you're in IMC. We both agreed that it would not be fun.
He gave me his card and off I went. The ride was a lot less painless than I thought it would be.
Oddly enough I did a lot of NDB work prior to the ride (NDB approaches, NDB holds, both partial panel and full). However, NDBs were never mentioned during the ride. I'm glad it's over.
Now I have my CFII and my CFI was reinstated as well. I learned my lesson the hard way, never let your CFI expire!!
- what are the IR requirements?
- what are the instrument currency requirements?
- when do you need to take an IPC?
- when is an alternare required (what is the 1-2-3- rule)?
- lost comm procedures, what do you do?
- total electrical failure, what do you do?
Then DE started talking about the importance of using checklists, the importance of stage checks, the importance of having a syllabus and to document all the training done along the way. We went off on a couple of tangents and started talking about primary private pilot students.
Being that I hadn't instructed for many years, he gave me some advice about setting limitations on students when signing them off for any type of solo flight. DE stated that he advises instructors to never sign off a student pilot for solo touch and go or for solo night flight. I agreed with him about the solo night flight limitation but not the solo touch and go limitation. He then went into more depth about why he feels the way he does. Mainly, it was a safety issue with him.
I'm assuming he's been burned pretty badly by student pilots in the past. Also, setting limitations on when the student pilot can fly (meaning if the student hasn't flown at all for a week, he should not be allowed to solo again until the student flys with you again) etc. He stated that it's important to set limitations on the student pilot in regards to what type of weather they can fly in when solo. Setting limitations on what a/c they can solo in (ie they move from a 152 to a 172, you've signed them off for solo in the 152 already, then you sign them off for solo in the 172, they are not allowed to go back to the 152 and be able to solo in that).
Thus, he was doing most of the talking and I was doing most of the nodding. The oral portion lasted for about an hour. He told me what we were gonna do and what approaches we were gonna shoot once we got up there. Told me to go out to the a/c and that he'd meet me out there. As I'm doing a quick preflight, he hopped in the airplane and started doing some paperwork (later on after the ride was over, I figured out he was filling out my temp cert at this time). The flying portion was 1.2 and it went like this:
- did a runup, I noticed the amp meter wasn't working but didn' say anything
- normal takeoff (under the hood at 500 feet)
- intercepted and tracked radials to VOR, then flew direct to VOR
- was given holding instructions (I copy them down, draw it out and tell him the type of entry, he was happy with my answer)
- set up for ILS approach, shot approach and went missed
- on the way back to the departure airport we did partial panel work, timed turns, unusual attitudes
- shot VOR-A approach full panel
- was coming in real fast and he stressed the importance of having the a/c configured before the FAF, he landed the a/c
He taxied the a/c in and shut it down. Told me to meet him inside. Once inside, he immediately handed me my temp and congratulated me (this is when I figuerd out that he had filled out the temp during the perflight). He mentioned the fact that if this was an actual IFR flight, he may have not departed due to the fact that the ammeter was working properly during the runup. I told him that I was aware of it as well and apologized that I didn't say anything. I told him that if it was IFR I wouldn't have departed either. He then went into a brief explanation about how much it sucks to lose all your comms and navs if you're in IMC. We both agreed that it would not be fun.
He gave me his card and off I went. The ride was a lot less painless than I thought it would be.
Oddly enough I did a lot of NDB work prior to the ride (NDB approaches, NDB holds, both partial panel and full). However, NDBs were never mentioned during the ride. I'm glad it's over.
Now I have my CFII and my CFI was reinstated as well. I learned my lesson the hard way, never let your CFI expire!!