Question about CFI initial checkride

[Bamaaviator]

Should be getting closer to scheduling my cfi ride soon. Been reading the CFI PTS and am confused about the part where it talks about 'instructional knowledge' for each task. Besides section IV, task A, Preflight maneuver lesson, does this mean that you have to give sort of a 'mini lesson' for each task, or just be able to explain the subjects very in depth using instructional aids, reference materials, dry erase board to explain and 'teach' the examiner?

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

Yes.

That means you may be called upon to do any of those. They are testing the depth of your knowledge but the ultimate goal is to determine whether you have both the knowledge to teach it and the ability to teach it.

For example, on my CFI ride, the last thing we did was a scenario. The examiner told me he was a 12 hour student who was close to solo. He was going to do a traffic pattern and landing and I was his instructor.

 

[bike21]

Yep, be ready to go well beyond rote - you'll need to show a solid understanding of any subject asked. If you don't know admit it and look it up, don't make stuff up whatever you do.

 

[Bamaaviator]

Ok, so besides the preflight maneuver lesson, he/she can ask to give another lesson on any task(s) at his or her discretion, correct? If they do, do they give you some time to prepare and get set up (dry erase board descriptions, references ready, etc)? Or do they just want you to start teaching it from the get go?

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

it has been a while but, typically, it's going to be one full ground "lesson." The "instructional knowledge" on the other tasks are going to be more simulated student-instructor give and take.

That's the main difference between the CFI ground and the others - the form of the question and answer. On a private checkride, you might be asked how maneuvering speed varies with weight to see if you know it is less than published at less than max gross. You say it goes down with weight and shut up.

As a CFI applicant, you might be asked, "I know maneuvering speed goes down with weight but I dont understand why. Can you explain it to me?" Your initial answer may find a student who really doesn't understand and you need to find a way to get it across.

Are you working with a CFI on this? If not you should be. Getting into the CFI mindset is the most difficult part of the process. My CFI said this to me about the CFI ride:" "You are a commercial pilot. We know you know how to fly. But do you know how to teach?" It applies just as much to the ground portion.

 

[Bamaaviator]

Ok I see. That's what I was interpreting about the part of "instructional knowledge" with all other tasks beside preflight maneuver lesson.

And yes, I'm working with a cfi. Several in fact. I swap back and forth between 3 depending on who's available. They're all very busy, so they're availability isn't great. Between ground lessons it's very hard to hear back from them via text or email as they stay very busy. I do ground with them about twice a week. I also work a part time job and have a family too so that's another factor.

We should be doing checkride prep in about 2-3 weeks and haven't had the chance to ask my instructors about that yet, so I logged on here to get a quick response from somebody, since I was curious about it. But thanks for the reply, it confirmed what I was thinking.

 

[coks]

I'm also prepping for my CFI ride and my biggest advice is to teach all the technical subject areas and flight maneuvers to someone. It helps so much going through and teaching a lesson like you will on your ride, try to teach to a CFI so they can ask you questions much like your examiner will on your ride.

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

I'm also prepping for my CFI ride and my biggest advice is to teach all the technical subject areas and flight maneuvers to someone. It helps so much going through and teaching a lesson like you will on your ride, try to teach to a CFI so they can ask you questions much like your examiner will on your ride.

On the same line of thought, it's not a bad idea to teach a willing non-pilot a technical subject area appropriate to a new student, so they can ask you the kind of questions real students will. If you can make them understand, you are probably on the right track.

 

[Bamaaviator]

Definitely agree, I've had the opportunity to teach a private student (supervised by a CFI) a couple of times and it was great experience. I've already taught most of the technical subject areas that a cfi applicant is required to have training on. Going to start checkride prep pretty soon and teaching maneuvers as well.

 

[WS]

From the front of the PTS:

The term “instructional knowledge” means the instructor applicant is capable of using the appropriate reference to provide the “application or correlative level of knowledge” of a subject matter topic, procedure, or maneuver. It also means that the flight instructor applicant’s discussions, explanations, and descriptions should follow the recommended teaching procedures and techniques explained in FAA-H-8083-9, Aviation Instructor’s Handbook.

If you haven't seen that statement, make sure you go through all the stuff in the front of the PTS.

Try to get into the mindset of the scenario that you are given. If it sounds like a full on ground briefing would be appropriate, don't be afraid to ask the examiner for some time to prepare and come up with a quick lesson plan, don't let them rush you. Other times it may be something more along the lines of simply answering a student's questions after a flight or perhaps a pre-flight briefing.

A full on lesson plan may not always be appropriate, but always try to keep in mind that paragraph that I posted above. Don't try to reinvent the wheel with anything, and don't be afraid to pull out your books and utilize the diagrams in there rather than draw your own on a whiteboard. When formulating a response, always try to keep the in mind the basic ideas of the Instructor's Handbook. For example, set up your answer with the building blocks of learning, find out what they already know and build on it without giving them information that they may not need at that particular stage of their training.