instructor rating time!

dakovich

Well-Known Member
finally ready to get rolling on my CFI, CFI-I, and MEI ratings and was looking for some advice from all the CFI's out there. first off, i'll be attending my local FBO, and really want to try to keep the costs down if possible. as for the rest of my concerns and questions for those who have gone through it:

-61 vs. 141: which is cheaper, also pro.'s and con.'s of either or

-whats the deal with combining CFI & CFI-I? for instance American Flyers offers a 30 day combo course, are both being taught together or one after the other?

-is there a cheap way to fullfil requirments of the MEI by taking CFI-I in a multi? i've heard that somewhere

-and lastly, what cost saving techniques have people done to save money during their instructor training?

thanks for any replies
 
The best advice I can give you is go to the CFI PTS and look up what books they reference. Then go buy those books and study them. They are written by the FAA and if you learn from those books you can't go wrong. Any doubts by the DE, you can just tell him where you got it from and end of discussion. Thats what I did. One of the books was called Instructors handbook I think. DOn't worry, they are all less than 20 bucks each. YOu'll save a lot by doing self study on that stuff.
 
Dakovich,

What happened with Pan Am academy down in FL? How was that whole experience for you?

Tim
 
i left Panam around novemeber and came back home to Buffalo to finish up my training. i did pretty well there and really enjoyed the people i was flying with, but i had my reasons for leaving. either way, i'm ready to finish up after siting dormant for a couple months, really can't wait to get back in the plane. i already have a bunch of books for the CFI rating from when i had to buy books while at Panam, and i've been reading them. right now though i'm about to start flying and some ground school work.
 
Dak, I'd look at some accelerated courses somewhere so you can get done quickly and start instructing. I took the cfii and mei in a twin as the same checkride. Worked out well for me.
 
The 30 day program at AF is both the I and II together and I believe you knock out the IGI too, but I am not positive. I do know that the program is like boot camp. 30 days of straight learning.

I will be doing the program at AF in Chicago, sometime about May/June time.
 
Any idea on the total number of flight hours you end up with, and how much it costs?

Just curious...
 
Do yourself a favor, do what you should have done, (and all of "their" past and present customers should have done!) GO TO ATP. Save a ton of money and finish fast, minus all the B.S. It will save you ten fold. From a FORMER.
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I'd recommend All ATPS for fast, inexpensive CFI training.

I'd recommend 141 (or not a mom-n-pop 61 school) for the CFI courses because CFI is the toughest license to get. You need structure and a professional instructor who specializes in CFIs to do this one.
 
The cheapest way is to study on your own. I passed my CFI on my first attempt with just under 255 hours in my logbook, so you don't need much more flying. The CFI is No harder to fly than the commercial, just talk about whats going on. make sure and study your @SS off! My oral was around 6 hours long, this is what most people bust, so study study study. I'd go part 61 if you have any sort of study habits, much cheaper, and you can do it as fast as 141.
 
thanx for all the advice! i'd consider going to ATP and knocking things out hyper-fast but the FBO guy a little south of here said if i take my CFI through MEI with him he'd hire me on as an instructor(just about only multi trainer up around me). thats the owner who offered that to me. i think i'm going to go part 61 and really study like nuts. i also ended up scoring a job at the FBO in Buffalo that runs most of the oporations for the Buff/Niagara airport, i'll be contracting out to UPS to load the containers on the Airbus and '57 they fly into Buffalo. the FBO guy said if i end up working as a CFI for them later that they use their CFI's as the co-pilot for their charter King Air! pretty excited, so wish me luck and thanx again for the advice!
 
I'll be going to ATP, not for my CFI though. They will get my money for my ME and MEI. American Flyers will be seeing me for the CFI academy and hopefully a job after that.

Only time will tell.
 
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