syllabus

[Josh]

Anyone have a good syllabus they use?

I'm looking at the Jeppesen stuff, that was pretty much followed for my private. And I'm looking over the order my CFI wrote out by hand. Just neither of them seem to really make sense/work to my way of thinking I guess.

What I'm thinking is just a simple listing of topics, sort of in order.

Pre-solo
Post-solo/x-country
Review

Those are the 3 main things as I see it. Any help here from you already CFIs out there? Pre-solo can just go right off the FARs, but I'd rather teach what everyone has seen work, rather than just the minimum.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

The Jepp syllabus you already know is similar to most of the others. There may be minor variations, but the ones from Sporty's, Gleim, Cessna, etc (all of which are used in 141 programs) use a "walk before you run" progression that places tasks in more or less their building block order while still making sure that all tasks required for each stage are covered. And the stages themselves roughly equate to the Pre-solo, Post-solo/x-country, and Review phases that you are looking for.

So I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for, unless you're looking for essentially the same thing in a task list format rather than with all the "review this and that" extras. If that's the case, I have two suggestions.

One is John Price's "Training History" Excel form that you can download at http://home.att.net/~jm.price/instructor.htm . The other is my own version of a private pilot syllabus, which you can get at http://midlifeflight.tripod.com/cfi_stuff/ (excuse the pop-ups; it's not my regular web site). I don't know about John's, but mine is based on my "reworking" of a group of commercial ones all the others into a format that made sense to me. (BTW, the Training Record spreadsheet is a take-off of the training folders offered by Jepp and ASA. )

 

[Josh]

Thanks. Kinda what I'm looking for. More because the commercial ones out there don't seem to always work. Looking at them, you kinda say to yourself, this should go first, then this, not that, then those, etc. So I figured someone had done up what you have there.

My thinking really, is the FAA provides zilch basically in the way of how to set up the training. Sure, there is a PTS that says what the end result needs to be. But after all that book of FOI stuff, you'd think there at least would be a recommended training example sorta thing. Gotta go between the FARs to see what pre-solo is require, and pre-endorsement for cc flights, etc. Seems they need to put out an AC that gives a "Here is the recommended FAA syllabus for private pilot". I mean, they have a few pages on smaller topics like wind shear, or whatever, yet no recommended guide. Seems it would be easier to standardize what is tought, if there was an easy list of things to teach. So if ya'll are making them of the PTS, then that works for me. I was just wondering if anyone had other ideas, as there is where I was heading, and didn't want to redo things a bunch of times. I'd like to get things as close to what I'll end up with the first shot, if possible.

Josh

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

[ QUOTE ]
Seems it would be easier to standardize what is thought, if there was an easy list of things to teach.

[/ QUOTE ]But, other than the FAR certificate requirements and the PTS, there isn't.

Outside those requirements and a general order, the specifics of what is taught may have to be very different.

What, and in what order CFI #1 teaches at a non-towered airport with a 3000' runway will be very different that what CFI #2 teaches at a busy Class C where "caution wake turbulence" is a phrase heard every day. .

How much time do =you= spend teaching about density altitude? Chances are that a student pilot in Colorado knows 10 times as much about it as a commercial applicant in most parts of the country.

Do you fly in a green area with lost of forest land? Those power line cut outs make great landmarks, don't they? Unfortunately, if you can actually see the power lines in an arid climate, chances are you're way too close to them.

Think about all of the education you have already been through. Think of the teachers that were really good - who created new ways to teach things and being a little bit outside the way everyone else did it. And then think about what you said again.

I like the present system. A set of general guidelines about what topics must be taught, an industry-developed general order in which to teach them, and individual decisions by instructors to make it make sense for their students and environment.

That's what teaching is all about. Standardization is for airplane parts.

 

[BoDEAN]

MidLifeFlyer:

How do you exactly use your spreadsheet?

I printed it out, it prints 2 pages (in landscape mode)


Do you print one out for each student, and keep adding to it?

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

[ QUOTE ]
MidLifeFlyer:

How do you exactly use your spreadsheet?

[/ QUOTE ]It's part of an overall system based on the spreadsheet and the 2-part individual lesson training record. I use the spreadsheet internally for tracking student progress and as sort of a "table of contents" to what can be found in the individual training records and/or student logbook. I don't use it like the Jepp and ASA folders, which are designed to be filled out by CFI and student after each flight as a record of each training session.

I rarely print it out. At the end of training, I save the spreadsheet as a pdf file, send a copy to the student in case she wants a copy and delete the Excel file.

Of course, that's only the way I use it and, since it mimics the Jepp and ASA folder concept, it could be used in other ways.

 

[BoDEAN]

Interesting

Right now we use the jepp sylabus for our students, and put each lesson sheet in their folder with notes on it.

Just wondering on how I can incorporate your spreadsheet into the process. I could keep a copy for each student on my pocketpc...and sync it at home every night, and update it after every lesson like I do the sylabus sheets............