Which is Harder? 121 Groundschool vs. CFI certificate

I know it's not what you asked, but my CFI certificate was WAY harder than my 135 school. And Amflight isn't exactly a slouch on training, it takes 6 solid weeks of training to go from start to even being qualified to fly the line, then another week or two of cross training.
 
CFI harder because you have to proof that you can transfer what you know to someone else. In 121 you only have to show that you understand the knowledge.

That being said, the two are very different learning environments.
 
Thanks for the responses! I was wondering because Im here studying for CFI and Im thinking to myself, man this is hard. I see that its all downhill somewhat after I get my cert.
 
I did my CFI and almost immediately went thru B1900D training. I found the 1900 training was much tougher than the CFI. It was at a MUCH faster pace and included a heck of a lot more new information than the CFI training did, as well as being harder to actually "fly" (ie sim).
 
Well, having just completed my first 121 ground school (I still have sim and IOE ahead of me :eek:) I'd have to put a vote in for 121. CFI requires more thorough knowledge which is tough, but its at your own pace. 121 requires you to learn so much in such a short amount of time, and also the pressure of having your career come to an end if you can't learn it in that timeframe is mentally challenging. I suppose you could say CFI training is like a headache that won't go away for weeks, but you are fairly confident that at some point you will make a full recovery and everything will be peachy. 121 training on the other hand is like a swift kick in the nutts. It hurts a lot more, and while you are going through it you'd kind of rather die and are thinking you just might. But if you can grin and bear it, its over with fairly quickly.
 
I'd have to say CFI was harder. If I HADN'T done my CFI, 121 would have been MUCH harder. I don't know about the other carriers, but at PCL there's a lot of self study. If you've already done your CFI (pay attention to this one, guys that say don't get it) you've already got those study habits down. I'll say it again for emphasis. Studying for the CFI ratings made 121 ground school easier. Now, if you take your dear sweet time and get your CFI over several months, then it might be different. If you do it like they do at schools like Skymates and ATP, then you're at an advantage, I think.

In the 121 environment, you're given all the tools you need to suceed. In the CFI environment, you have to make your own tools.
 
Looking back, the CFI portion of ATP's program is hard, but its only 2 weeks and of that its really only 1 week of hard studying. 121 ground school I thought was ten times harder. You're learning complicated systems on Turbine aircraft, no study guides made for you, no "gouge" like you get at the CFI program and you're not learning stuff you *should* already know. In addition to the systems, you're learning a whole new set of regs, operating procedures, flows, callouts, memory items etc. There is no comparison in my mind.

The CFI was tough, don't get me wrong, but I didn't kill myself over it. Just about everything you are required to know to pass the CFI is pretty much everything you should know as a Commercial pilot, minus the certification regs as it relates to endorsements etc. I think the CFI intial is the hardest checkride you'll take, for the fact that you are expected to perform at a CFI level, this includes being able to teach it. The sim ride I took on the B1900 was pretty straight forward and you knew what was coming.

Don't sweat the CFI though. Its easy to get swamped in the beginning because they present a ton of information and you feel like you don't know any of it, but you do. Its burried in your mind somewhere and once you start to get that part of the brain working again, you'll recall quite a bit. 121 ground school, thats something not to take lightly. You aren't a customer anymore, you're an employee. So they expect you to do well and they certainly don't give you any handouts. I actually had to keep rereading our CFM to understand some things.
 
Airdale said:
You're learning complicated systems on Turbine aircraft, no study guides made for you, no "gouge" like you get at the CFI program and you're not learning stuff you *should* already know.
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That's the problem I have with ATP's program. It's a gouge. I didn't have a gouge for my CFI, so it was prep for the worst and hope for the best. You shouldn't have study guides made for you, you should make them yourself so you learn the stuff. I also wouldn't necessarily say it's stuff you should already know. It's digging deeper in to the things you should already know so you can teach it to someone that's never heard of it before.
 
777forever said:
I see that its all downhill somewhat after I get my cert.
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Not at all, actually. Look at the responses you got--its 2 to 1 saying 121 school is harder.

CFI material is stuff you should be pretty familiar with by the time you get there in your training. There's nothing really new (aside from the FOI junk)--it's just learning how to communicate the knowledge that you already have. When you get to ground school for a turbine aircraft, it's going to be a whole lot of new material that you'll probably have no experience with whatsoever (especially if you're used to studying with pre-cooked gouges from a large, fast-paced flight school). Additionally, you have to learn whole new ways of flying the airplane, calculating performance, etc.

I'd say that for me, things got more difficult after you get your CFI and start teaching. All of a sudden, I had to worry about the dual responsibilities of helping students learn while keeping them safe. The level of responsibility you take on only increases as you move on to fly bigger planes.
 
zmiller4 said:
I'd say that for me, things got more difficult after you get your CFI and start teaching. All of a sudden, I had to worry about the dual responsibilities of helping students learn while keeping them safe. The level of responsibility you take on only increases as you move on to fly bigger planes.
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:yeahthat:
My 135 training at Airnet was the hardest training I've ever gone through.
Back when i went through it was a 60% pass rate.
 
CFI you can get a 'do over', bust 121 initial ground school as a new hire and you're out of a job.

The pressures are TOTALLY different.
 
CFI is a slow progression. It's the culmination of everything you've ever learned about flying combined with the daunting task of being able to teach it (correctly!). Your actual training and checkride may only consist of 2+ weeks (depending on where you do it) but the building blocks have been there since day numero uno.

121 is 'fire-hose'. Strap yourself in and hope you can find a way to make it through (not enjoy) the ride. It's great because if you're at that level for the right reasons you love having the learning curve skyrocket.

Two completely different scenarios. That being said I'd tend to think that CFI is quite a bit more complex and don't see how anyone wouldn't agree. The various factors involved with proving that you've got some semblance of a mastery of the art of taking someone with (worst case scenario) zero knowledge and zero real motivation and stearing them in the absolute right/correct (<-- CFI checkride) direction have to outweigh the factors involved in making it through 121 groundschool/sim PC on your own self-motivation.

If you like being good at what you do it's all the same but if you're asking the question to determine whether or not one is easier than the other then you've got problematic issues with your choice careerfield cause they're both going to be important in the longrun.
 
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