Amit,
I just got my CFI, CFII at AF (SMO) yesterday. Let me tell you what I think of their program. For the most part it was a good program. You are in there for 30 consecutive days. You can do their CFI course with a CFII option. If you chose the CFII option, they can auto graduate you through a checkride you do in house as they are approved to do this by the FAA. The positive about this is that you don't have to do an actual checkride with an examiner for your CFII, you do it with an authorized instructor. I felt that checkride wasn't as stressful. You get 4 hours with an instructor everyday during which time all the instructor does is sit in the back and watch you teach different lesson plan and critque how good or bad you lesson was. I was very disappointed with this method. Ground instruction was minimal as best. As far as the flying, you are not assigned one specific instructor, you will fly with different instructors. They will each tell you to do things differently, there is no standard, which makes it very difficult for the CFI candidate to figure out what way is the correct way. They never stressed the importance of knowing word for word what you need to say during each maneuver and they don't give you any printed material that has this information on it. They will MAKE you buy four binders that contain genaral information as well as information for each maneuver and it will break down each maneuver step by step but it will not tell you what you need to SAY during each maneuver. This in my opinion is the most important part of performing the maneuvers for the examiner during the checkride, so if you chose to go to AF or any where else, make sure you get this part down. The lesson plan format they teach you to prepare is, in my opinion, excellent and the best I've seen around. When the course is over, you will have a complete binder full of lesson plans for every subject in the PTS. I feel this was very valuable. If you are self motivated and are willing to put in the work for 30 days straight, then I feel you can benefit from this program, but understand you will have to learn a lot of material on your own. As fa as the examiners, the one I got, I felt was very fair and genuinely wanted me to pass. The cost of the checkride for the initial CFI is now up to $600.00 and thats not part of the cost for the course. At the end of the day, I don't regret taking this course. I was able to get my CFI and CFII at the same time and I got to meet several good guy that were in my class and I know we will be keeping in touch. We helped each other along the way and I feel none of us could have gotten through the course alone, plus it's a great way to network as they all start to move forward with their careers.
Hope this information helps you make up your mind and good luck to you.
