Alchemy
Well-Known Member
I took my Initial CFI checkride at a Local FSDO today, here's a synopsis:
Oral
I met with the examiner at about 0825 and the oral ended at 1200. The first 35 minutes of that was just going over my endorsements, written tests, and 8710's. The Inspector was friendly and courteous. The first topic we hit was the FOI. Nothing too complicated, just basic, simple questions like "name four principles of learning", "describe the characteristics of learning", "name some barriers to effective communication", etc. There were a few deeper questions, like "in your opinion, what makes a good CFI?", but not many.After the FOI info, we discussed hypoxia, hyperventilation, CO2 poisoning, and motion sickness. Next came Student pilot endorsements ("show me all the endorsements you would give a student before you let them solo."). I whipped out AC61-65D and explained the endorsments on the back of the student pilot certificate and we moved onto the FAR's. He asked what FAR 1, 43, 61, 67, and 91 covered. Then he opened part 61 and started asking some random questoins, for instance:
How long is a temporary pilot certificate good for?
How old do you have to be to become a student pilot? Private Pilot? Commercial Pilot?
Can a private pilot operate an aircraft in furtherance of a business?
How long is a flight instructor certificate good for? How do you renew it?
Then came some questions out of part 91. Won't bore you with the details of this one, but it was nothing tricky. After that, we looked at a sectional and I answered about 30-40 questions about airspace and landmarks on the sectoinal. Intereestingly, I was asked about the national wildlife refuge rule (2000 AGL or higher). A lot of people seem to get asked this question on their CFI checkride, and the inspector also wanted to know if this rule is a FAR (it isn't).
At this point I was asked about lesson plans and then had to teach 3 lessons: "How an Airplane Flies for a 5 hour student pilot", "Unusual Attitudes", and "Lazy Eights". I was given 5-10 minutes to look over my lesson plan and forumlate a plan of action before each lesson, then I used a dry erase board to draw and lecture about each topic. This went well for the most part, and we took a break for lunch. I was told that we'd reached the end of the oral, and to do a weight and balance before we met again after lunch.
After lunch, we reviewed the weight and balance and walked out to the airplane. I spent over 3 hours washing and degreasing this 182RG to make sure it was in pristine shape, and it got very little attention from the mx personell. I cannot emphasize enough how much of a difference a clean airplane (and a good personal appearance, wear a tie) can make. During the preflight, the inspector asked me what all the antennaes did. I momentarily confused the NAV and COM antennaes, but I corrected myself after the inspector asked "are you sure?".He also asked me what the fuel vent was, how much horespower the engine had, how the flaps work, how the landing gear works, what kind of engine it has, how much oil should it have, how much fuel does it hold, what kind and how many fuel pumps does it have, what kind of anti-ice equipment does it have, which instruments were vacuum driven and which instruments were pitot static driven. Only question about the plane I didn't know was that it had a reflector tube on the wingtip to show the pilot when the strobes were working (didn't know what this tube did).
Flight
Pretty straightforward. I was told not to teach anything unless asked to. I started the airplane as I normally would, reading the checklists aloud. I did have a few flub ups here (was about to call ground before clearance and but the inspector said "are you sure it's ground now?"). Also, I had left the transponder on from the previous flight so it was squawking when I turned the avionics on. The inspector turned this off for me. On our way to the runway, I taught basic taxiing technique. The inspector constantly criticized me for taxiing too fast, but I was trying to keep it to as slow a pace as practical without burning the brakes. I did a runup, and turned on my transponder at the conclusion of the runup as I always do. Again, I was corrected and told not to turn on the xponder till cleared for takeoff. I took his advice and we executed a normmal takeoff.
Now we headed east of the Class B to practice Slow Flight, Power off Stalls, Power on Stalls, Cross Controlled Stalls, Lazy Eights, Chandelles, and steep turns. I taught all of these maneuvers as I performed them. Then he pulled the power on me. I pitched for best glide, turned towards a field, executed my flow check, then flipped to the checklist. We recovered at 1500 agl, then flew to a nearby uncontrolled field. I flew over midfield 500ft above the pattern, entered a downwind on a 45 degree angle, and setup for a normal landing. This went fine, so we took off again and I taught a soft field landing followed by a soft field takeoff. After that, I taught a soft field landing, was told to aim for the second set of aiming points on the runway, and touched down right between them....only downside is that the landing was waaay too firm, but that's typical for a short field in a 182. At this point I we headed back to FSDO, shot an ILS on the way back in ("just for fun" he said) and parked the airplane. On shutdown he told me I had performed satisfactorily and that I would do fine as an instructor.
Feels great to have this out of the way, looking forward to my first student.
Oral
I met with the examiner at about 0825 and the oral ended at 1200. The first 35 minutes of that was just going over my endorsements, written tests, and 8710's. The Inspector was friendly and courteous. The first topic we hit was the FOI. Nothing too complicated, just basic, simple questions like "name four principles of learning", "describe the characteristics of learning", "name some barriers to effective communication", etc. There were a few deeper questions, like "in your opinion, what makes a good CFI?", but not many.After the FOI info, we discussed hypoxia, hyperventilation, CO2 poisoning, and motion sickness. Next came Student pilot endorsements ("show me all the endorsements you would give a student before you let them solo."). I whipped out AC61-65D and explained the endorsments on the back of the student pilot certificate and we moved onto the FAR's. He asked what FAR 1, 43, 61, 67, and 91 covered. Then he opened part 61 and started asking some random questoins, for instance:
How long is a temporary pilot certificate good for?
How old do you have to be to become a student pilot? Private Pilot? Commercial Pilot?
Can a private pilot operate an aircraft in furtherance of a business?
How long is a flight instructor certificate good for? How do you renew it?
Then came some questions out of part 91. Won't bore you with the details of this one, but it was nothing tricky. After that, we looked at a sectional and I answered about 30-40 questions about airspace and landmarks on the sectoinal. Intereestingly, I was asked about the national wildlife refuge rule (2000 AGL or higher). A lot of people seem to get asked this question on their CFI checkride, and the inspector also wanted to know if this rule is a FAR (it isn't).
At this point I was asked about lesson plans and then had to teach 3 lessons: "How an Airplane Flies for a 5 hour student pilot", "Unusual Attitudes", and "Lazy Eights". I was given 5-10 minutes to look over my lesson plan and forumlate a plan of action before each lesson, then I used a dry erase board to draw and lecture about each topic. This went well for the most part, and we took a break for lunch. I was told that we'd reached the end of the oral, and to do a weight and balance before we met again after lunch.
After lunch, we reviewed the weight and balance and walked out to the airplane. I spent over 3 hours washing and degreasing this 182RG to make sure it was in pristine shape, and it got very little attention from the mx personell. I cannot emphasize enough how much of a difference a clean airplane (and a good personal appearance, wear a tie) can make. During the preflight, the inspector asked me what all the antennaes did. I momentarily confused the NAV and COM antennaes, but I corrected myself after the inspector asked "are you sure?".He also asked me what the fuel vent was, how much horespower the engine had, how the flaps work, how the landing gear works, what kind of engine it has, how much oil should it have, how much fuel does it hold, what kind and how many fuel pumps does it have, what kind of anti-ice equipment does it have, which instruments were vacuum driven and which instruments were pitot static driven. Only question about the plane I didn't know was that it had a reflector tube on the wingtip to show the pilot when the strobes were working (didn't know what this tube did).
Flight
Pretty straightforward. I was told not to teach anything unless asked to. I started the airplane as I normally would, reading the checklists aloud. I did have a few flub ups here (was about to call ground before clearance and but the inspector said "are you sure it's ground now?"). Also, I had left the transponder on from the previous flight so it was squawking when I turned the avionics on. The inspector turned this off for me. On our way to the runway, I taught basic taxiing technique. The inspector constantly criticized me for taxiing too fast, but I was trying to keep it to as slow a pace as practical without burning the brakes. I did a runup, and turned on my transponder at the conclusion of the runup as I always do. Again, I was corrected and told not to turn on the xponder till cleared for takeoff. I took his advice and we executed a normmal takeoff.
Now we headed east of the Class B to practice Slow Flight, Power off Stalls, Power on Stalls, Cross Controlled Stalls, Lazy Eights, Chandelles, and steep turns. I taught all of these maneuvers as I performed them. Then he pulled the power on me. I pitched for best glide, turned towards a field, executed my flow check, then flipped to the checklist. We recovered at 1500 agl, then flew to a nearby uncontrolled field. I flew over midfield 500ft above the pattern, entered a downwind on a 45 degree angle, and setup for a normal landing. This went fine, so we took off again and I taught a soft field landing followed by a soft field takeoff. After that, I taught a soft field landing, was told to aim for the second set of aiming points on the runway, and touched down right between them....only downside is that the landing was waaay too firm, but that's typical for a short field in a 182. At this point I we headed back to FSDO, shot an ILS on the way back in ("just for fun" he said) and parked the airplane. On shutdown he told me I had performed satisfactorily and that I would do fine as an instructor.
Feels great to have this out of the way, looking forward to my first student.
