I just finished going through the process to become an assistant chief instructor under part 141 (although the final paperwork for the school won't be approved for a week or two), so I thought I'd share my impressions of the process here.
Despite the overall 141 certification process being pretty complex, the approval process for the chief and assistant chief instructors was fairly straightforward, which was a bit of a surprise.
After filling out a single sheet of paperwork for the FSDO (essentially flight times, including the amount of time spent acting specifically as a CFII), an appointment was made for our assigned POI to come out and administer the knowledge test that the FAR's require.
I spent a lot of time studying the nuances of 141 in preperation for the meeting (mostly trying to memorize the exact breakdowns of flight time required for each rating), only to be told two days before the meeting that the entire thing was going to be "open book".
Despite the amount of studying I had done, I was nervous going into the meeting, since I had no idea what to really expect.
The knowledge test (done as an oral examination) was pretty simple. After filling out the 8710 , I was asked to describe the levels of learning (which I promptly brain-dumped and had to look up), and then the exam branched into general knowledge questions about part 61 and 91, some aeromedical factors, and a few basic questions about part 141 recordkeeping and requirements. After about 45 minutes or so, the POI decided he'd seen enough, and approved the knowledge portion.
Due to some scheduling issues, the flight test for the chief instructor and myself happened today, and we ended up having to meet the POI at another airport (bringing a 172 and Arrow with us) due to something with the FSDO's having a severly restricted travel budget.
Since no one wanted to fly in 100 degree heat, we started pretty early and there were actually two FSDO inspectors present, which meant that we could each be evaluated on one airplane, come back, switch airplanes, repeat the process ,and be done much sooner than with only one FSDO inspector.
The 172 flight was used to evaluate the private and instrument skills, and consisted of steep turns, ground reference maneuvers, a simulated engine failure, ILS approach, and soft field takeoff/short field landing. Overall, the flight took about 1.0, and aside from landing about 100ft past my aiming point on the landing (I blame a thermal), it was pretty much flawless.
The Arrow flight was for the commercial tasks, and was just a normal takeoff, a couple of commercial maneuvers and a short field landing, which took about the same time as the 172 flight. Other than managing to mis-identify my rollout point on one of the steep turns and forgetting that I needed to pull the handle to open the door from the inside (I'm used to 172's where there isn't a seperate door handle), that flight went smoothly and I was back on the ground about an hour later.
After the second flights were done, we met with the POI to finish up some paperwork, and 30 minutes later, I was taking off to bring the airplane back home.
Throughout the entire process, our POI has been incredibly helpful, and he's demonstrated that despite all the assorted FSDO horror stories out there, there are some superb individuals working for the FAA in the field.
Despite the overall 141 certification process being pretty complex, the approval process for the chief and assistant chief instructors was fairly straightforward, which was a bit of a surprise.
After filling out a single sheet of paperwork for the FSDO (essentially flight times, including the amount of time spent acting specifically as a CFII), an appointment was made for our assigned POI to come out and administer the knowledge test that the FAR's require.
I spent a lot of time studying the nuances of 141 in preperation for the meeting (mostly trying to memorize the exact breakdowns of flight time required for each rating), only to be told two days before the meeting that the entire thing was going to be "open book".
Despite the amount of studying I had done, I was nervous going into the meeting, since I had no idea what to really expect.The knowledge test (done as an oral examination) was pretty simple. After filling out the 8710 , I was asked to describe the levels of learning (which I promptly brain-dumped and had to look up), and then the exam branched into general knowledge questions about part 61 and 91, some aeromedical factors, and a few basic questions about part 141 recordkeeping and requirements. After about 45 minutes or so, the POI decided he'd seen enough, and approved the knowledge portion.
Due to some scheduling issues, the flight test for the chief instructor and myself happened today, and we ended up having to meet the POI at another airport (bringing a 172 and Arrow with us) due to something with the FSDO's having a severly restricted travel budget.
Since no one wanted to fly in 100 degree heat, we started pretty early and there were actually two FSDO inspectors present, which meant that we could each be evaluated on one airplane, come back, switch airplanes, repeat the process ,and be done much sooner than with only one FSDO inspector.
The 172 flight was used to evaluate the private and instrument skills, and consisted of steep turns, ground reference maneuvers, a simulated engine failure, ILS approach, and soft field takeoff/short field landing. Overall, the flight took about 1.0, and aside from landing about 100ft past my aiming point on the landing (I blame a thermal), it was pretty much flawless.
The Arrow flight was for the commercial tasks, and was just a normal takeoff, a couple of commercial maneuvers and a short field landing, which took about the same time as the 172 flight. Other than managing to mis-identify my rollout point on one of the steep turns and forgetting that I needed to pull the handle to open the door from the inside (I'm used to 172's where there isn't a seperate door handle), that flight went smoothly and I was back on the ground about an hour later.
After the second flights were done, we met with the POI to finish up some paperwork, and 30 minutes later, I was taking off to bring the airplane back home.
Throughout the entire process, our POI has been incredibly helpful, and he's demonstrated that despite all the assorted FSDO horror stories out there, there are some superb individuals working for the FAA in the field.
