You might be a CFI if...

when you can spot a good/bad landing from the downwind

when the airplane is stalled, and you let it stay there for a while before you recover

when the controllers call you by name

when the controllers start yelling at your student, and you hear the relief in their voice when you let them know you're on board

when you can draw all the approach charts to all airports within 30nm

when you're turning base, and you're looking at the tire in your 172, and you can tell that the student needs to add power, because he's a wee bit low and a wee bit slow

the idea of an actual single engine landing in a multi really doesn't bother you that much

you haven't done a full preflight in weeks/months

an E6-B is easier to use than a CX-2

If you have to fly by yourself one day, you go for the right seat. You then decide to sit in the left seat, because you need to maintain your left seat currency...

...you hope nobody saw the left seat landing you just did.

You take a non-student flying, and it feels weird because you think you should be explaining something
 
when you're turning base, and you're looking at the tire in your 172, and you can tell that the student needs to add power, because he's a wee bit low and a wee bit slow

Ok, that one really did make me laugh. Because it's true.
.....when driving in the car, you say clear left and clear right before pulling out into an intersection.
or call it out for your friends when they are driving.

My wife and I used to drive a semi truck as team drivers. If we were both up front (as we often were in town, looking for the shipper/receiver), we'd call clear right for each other. Visibility out the front in those things is great. Past 90 degrees, it sucks.
 
A couple from today...

...when you've been doing nothing but cross country flights for the last 3 weeks, and take a call for your student with the local approach control, and they welcome you back and ask where you had disappeared to.

...when you subconsciously try to will your student to start turns in the pattern by leaning into the direction of the turns.

...you know its true when your students start looking for your leans.

...when you see an ERJ-170 on a 5 mile final, and know that if you demonstrate a power-off 180, you can beat them in, and not have to fly a super long downwind (over a massive lake).

...when people start complaining about these small airplanes (while pointing to a 172), all you can think of is that they would be singing a different tune if they were stuck in a Katana all day long!

...when one of the local tower controllers wants you and your student to do the figure eight patterns around multiple runways, so you can give him a report about the new PAPI Lights.

...you know the solutions to every corn maze within 30 miles of your home airport, and have yet to visit one in person.
 
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You might be a CFI if you're witnessing this landing with your student and you're yelling at him "right rudder, right rudder".............
 
You might be a CFI if you could feel your student ruining a perfect approach as they pull back too quickly and skyrocket back into the sky....then you just tense up and wait for the hard landing.
 
All these things are so so so true!!!! :eek::bang::fury:

And then that fleeting moment where something changes in their thought process and they do something well that you used to nag them about all the time!! :)
 
You might be a CFI if you could feel your student ruining a perfect approach as they pull back too quickly and skyrocket back into the sky....then you just tense up and wait for the hard landing.
All day errrday
 
If you have ever "Instructor tells/instructor does" a +- 20 feet steep turn, listened to ATIS, contacted approach, and put in the squawk code all before rolling out on heading at the end of the second turn....

Maybe it was kinda mean, but it was fun.
 
Never thought of that. Good idea.

Agreed. I usually record GPS track on my tablet as it's useful in showing consistency/inconsistency with traffic patterns and ground reference maneuvers to the student, so I usually pull that up after the flight and count the red lines to make sure I have the number of landings correct. But will keep this OBS idea in my tool kit.
 
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