Studying for the CFI practical

Max1594

Max1594

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone,

I'm going to be taking the CFI practical either the end of this week or sometime next week depending on the weather. I've been studying for some time now for it, but was wondering: Is there anything that caught any of you by surprise on your practical? Was there anything that looking back you would have studied harder or studied differently? I realize it's a broad question, but with such a large range of topics to study I thought I'd pose the question.
 
Make sure you know every minute detail about your lesson plan and don't cut corners. That's what tripped me up on my practical.
 
I did mine a long time ago. There are always gotchas like having an expired PTS. Paperwork not ready etc. I failed mine on the maneuvers. The last one. But hey regardless of my opinion that it was fair. I got the ride done the next day.

I think the oral portion of a CFI rating would be quite difficult for me now. Since I only fly professionally and I no longer teach only keep my CFI active as a backup. Now I would have to study the minutia of VFR flying and basic aerodynamics something good to keep in mind but not a subject I spend a great deal of time with as all of my flying is IFR.

I'm assuming you have all that stuff down. I'd say try and relax. Work on a personable teaching moment with your examiner and be sure to check all of your paperwork. Including if your PTS is expired. Also you may fail this one. It happens, retake the ride and get it done.
 
Im sure every ride is different but my examiner was very thorough on the endorsements and FARs. Have AC 61-65 printed off and highlight the areas that are applicable to the certificate you are going for. The ASA oral prep helped me alot too. Also know the Special Emphasis Areas of the PTS. I never felt like I was ready but somehow made it through. Good luck
 
I don't know if you have taken your ride yet or not. But I have a write up (PDF format) typed, if you'd like a copy. It will obviously be somewhat different from your checkride but it might give you and idea of what to expect. If you're interested just shoot me an email (cpoersc@gmail.com).
 
Don't be afraid to ask for some time to prepare if they have you teach something that you don't have a lesson plan for.

When I did mine, I got some questions asking if I could/should teach initial applicants or perhaps give a BFR in an aircraft that I had no experience in (I think he specifically asked about a Mooney), as well as how I would format the training for a PPL student if I was operating part 61 with no guidance from a flight school. He just wanted to see if I had some plan to make sure that all of the required material was introduced in a fashion that followed the FOI guidance. I told him I would use a commercially available syllabus (Jepp) in the absence of a TCO or syllabus from a flight school.

Make sure you know the additional category/class stuff well, for example PPL Helo guy wants PPL Airplane, or MEL Airplane PPL wants to get SEL. Had to walk him through the process for that stuff, and write out applicable endorsements.

Can't think of much else at the moment, it's been a little while.
 
Oh, and right of the bat, he had me prove to him that I met all of the requirements and had all of the necessary paperwork to be issued a CFI. He had me show him the requirements in the regs, then had to prove to him that I met all of them. Was a little different than other checkrides, because I had to walk him through each endorsement etc. that was required and then show him that it was indeed correct and actually in my logbook and why it was there. I would imagine that some people would fail a CFI checkride due to not having the correct endorsements from their instructor.
 
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