Jeremy's CPS CFI School Blog

[LoadMasterC141]

Today is day three of training.

After arriving Sunday, I met Michael and then headed over to the housing. It is a decent 2 bedroom duplex apartment about a minute away from CPS. There were three CFI students here before me and left plenty of Ramen! Cable and Wireless internet, plus a garage with door opener are nice.

The CPS facility is on the second floor of a Hawker Beechcraft FBO. There are offices and a few classrooms. Nothing major, but certainly adequate. You get to share all the amenities of a normal jet catered FBO; nice pilot lounge, coffee, hot chix on planes, etc etc....
Plus, you get to look down into a treasure chest of airplanes in the hangar! The FBO seems to be very busy with jet traffic as well.

Monday morning we jumped right into it. I'll be doing the regular CFI as the initial as the FSDO, like most, is not liking doing the others first. We went through the first four chapters of the FOI, spending the full day on really nailing that down. Monday night I wrote an essay on what I believed to be a professional CFI, feebly attempted to make a few lesson plans, and studied.

Tuesday, I taught Aero Medical factors and Visual Scanning. Michael taught Aerodynamics and Flight controls. I taught a walk-around.

Today, I am to teach the Aerodynamics and Flight Controls plus Weight and Balance(I think I got that one We will be pushing through the technical areas this week. I'll take the FOI this weekend and be ready for the CFI-A written next. My checkride is scheduled for the 12th.

As we go along, I am solidifying my knowledge in these areas, which is EXACTLY what I was hoping would happen. Ya know, you can read about something like Aerodynamics. You can watch Martha and John talk about it. Until you have had an active discussion with someone about it, it just never completely clicks. Unfortunately, I have never really had any serious ground instruction in previous training. It was pretty much all on my own, which is why I wanted to do these last licenses this way.

Things are going VERY well so far. Michael is a fantastic personable guy and, of course, extremely knowledgeable. I have learned so much already.

[LoadMasterC141]

Today I taught Aerodynamics. Then Michael went through Airspace, Navigation and Flight Planning, and FARs.

Tonight I am working on lesson plans for Night ops, High Altitude, and Navigation and Radar Operations. Also studying FAR and FOI stuff if I can. Hoping to be through the technical subject areas tomorrow and on to flight instruction planning.

[desertdog71]

I'm gonna try to make it up there in the next week for a visit with Mike, so maybe I will see you there.

[nkoenig]

Good Stuff. Glad to hear everything is going good. I hope to be going to CPS soon.

[fish1260]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

students here before me left plenty of ramen!

When Armen and I left there in February we left behind an entire untouched case of top ramen....

[LoadMasterC141]

Did you leave hot dogs and unopened cereal too? If so, THANKS!

There was 2 cases of Ramen too!

[fish1260]

I can't claim any responsibility for the hot dogs or cereal. It seemed like half of the meals I ate there were at Wallys!

[KC Jake]

Originally Posted by fish1260

I can't claim any responsibility for the hot dogs or cereal. It seemed like half of the meals I ate there were at Wallys!

If by "half", you actually mean "all of" then you would be correct. Except when we made Patrick eat Taco Bell in Tulsa.

[wildwezul1]

Originally Posted by KC Jake

If by "half", you actually mean "all of" then you would be correct. Except when we made Patrick eat Taco Bell in Tulsa.

mmmmm... Wally's. Good stuff.

Somehow I can't picture Patrick even IN a Taco Bell. Theres a good Mexican place down there off the river walk though.

[KC Jake]

Originally Posted by wildwezul1

mmmmm... Wally's. Good stuff.

Somehow I can't picture Patrick even IN a Taco Bell. Theres a good Mexican place down there off the river walk though.

Went there once too. But when it was 3 poor people to 1 not poor person, Taco Bell ruled the day. Mmmmm, cheap tacos made of mystery meat.

[LoadMasterC141]

Yeah Wally's was good stuff today.



Now stop hijacking my thread waiting for the weather to lift!

[KC Jake]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

Yeah Wally's was good stuff today.



Now stop hijacking my thread waiting for the weather to lift!

You're just mad because the waitress wants ME!

[LoadMasterC141]

You can have her I am married. You want her number? Maybe I should auction it off.

BACK ON TOPIC......

Today was a lazy day. It is my fault really. I overdid the studying last night and only got 5 hours of sleep. Then I drank 4 cups of coffee this morning. Me on coffee is never a good thing.

Anyway, I did manage to teach Weight and Balance, High Alt ops, and Night ops. I am not thrilled with my confidence level of teaching yet, but Michael says I am doing fine so I'll go with it.

Michael taught me how to basically plan the course for the average private pilot, which was very insightful. I learned to fly in a very nonstandard way so I think it really helped to see that.

Tonight I am just going to look at Navigation Equipment and Radar Services. I need to focus more on the FOI study too. Not gonna over do it tonight and get a solid nights' rest. Someone hide the coffee.

[PatrickCPS]

Ya how bout that trip to Taco Bell at RVS! Hey guys I wanted to go to the good place in River Walk but no one else did.....

Jeremy- Glad things are working out well for you here.

[MichaelCPS]

Originally Posted by PatrickCPS

Ya how bout that trip to Taco Bell at RVS! Hey guys I wanted to go to the good place in River Walk but no one else did.....

Jeremy- Glad things are working out well for you here.

If you guys want to talk about Taco Bell, start a CPS Taco Bell thread!

[PatrickCPS]

Originally Posted by MichaelCPS

If you guys want to talk about Taco Bell, start a CPS Taco Bell thread!

Maybe I will!

[LoadMasterC141]

Today Michael and I finished off the final ground lessons. I taught Navigation systems, he taught me endorsements. We went through aviation weather products. Finally we covered how to teach a student flight training. Monday we will get started with that.

I should end up with around 13 hours of flying he said. All of it will be in 1968 Arrow. For any that know me, I fell in love with a girl named Candy Cane and have spent about 80 hours with her previously.


I am a bit nervous about demonstrating all maneuvers in a complex, but at least I have quite a bit of time in this model!


Week one is in the history books! 0 flight time and about 40 hours of ground school!

I need to have the FOI, CFI-A, and AGI done by next Wednesday. I am going to take tonight off and turn in early, start studying like crazy to take the FOI on Sunday. Possibly, I'll be able to take the CFI-A and AGI too we shall see.

and THEN.......SPIN TRAINING SUNDAY!
I paid $350 to get a 2 hour ground course from a aerobatic instructor and about an hour in the air of a Super Decathlon. We'll do spins and some aerobatics too! I am really excited about this. I think the price may be a little high but it is with an airshow performing instructor who is also a DE.

[Captain_Bob]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

SPIN TRAINING SUNDAY!
I paid $350 to get a 2 hour ground course from a aerobatic instructor and about an hour in the air of a Super Decathlon. We'll do spins and some aerobatics too! I am really excited about this. I think the price may be a little high but it is with an airshow performing instructor who is also a DE.

That sir... sounds like a blast! Enjoy every second of that!

Keep up the good work and get them dadgum tests done!

Bob

PS: Take the FOI last... it's the easiest one, and it's really nice to relax on that test after taking the harder ones. IMHO

[Chewie von Nubbins]

Originally Posted by Captain_Bob

T

PS: Take the FOI last... it's the easiest one, and it's really nice to relax on that test after taking the harder ones. IMHO

I used this a bit to help the rote portion of learning the acronyms for the FOI for the oral. I got the CFI PTS pages marked with all of the acronyms by each item. Like, defense mechanisms - CPRDRFAR (CPR DR FAR), PPAR, REEPIR, etc.

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/flashcards/list/349281

As soon as the Inspector opened up his booklet to start asking me the FOI questions, I sat back in my chair an opened my PTS up to the page he was on and had the acronyms to help me a bit. He didn't have a problem with it at all. Now, if I would have written out a sentence by each item, he said that he would have a problem with that, but not the acronyms. It made my life much easier and only lasted a few minutes. He knew that I knew them and then got right into the meat and potatoes of the 'real' stuff. Hope this helps.

[LoadMasterC141]

Bob - That was a good idea. Unfortunately I did not think of it so I took the FOI this morning. 6 1/2 minutes after starting I had a 94. Kinda ticked I missed 3 questions because I had aced the last 5 practice exams but hey it is an A!

Then it was on to Spin Training!

We spent a good 2 to 2 1/2 on the ground. The instructor had a great powerpoint presentation with plenty of videos. I took alot of notes on that and we also covered the AC on the subject (61-67C). Then it was out to fly....

The weather was hit or miss, though FSS seemed to think it would be fine. With about 6-7k ceilings and rain here and there, we went out. I have to say, this is going to be my thing! I am in love with this type of flying for sure! From the minute we went upside down I was giddy. Unfortunately, the weather started to deteriorate as I thought it would so we had to head in faster than I wanted. I managed about 5-6 spins, an aileron roll, some upside down unusual attitudes, and slow flight.

On the way in, I asked the IP if he would be kind enough to run through a few maneuvers so I could get a quick video. He did a quick loop, a nice aileron roll, and a spin. The spin was fairly benign compared to what we had done. I think it had something to do with the WALL of rain in front of us....we needed to get in. Awesome of him to get those in for me though.


Max G loads on the meter today were about -.5 and +4.5.

The heck with CFI! Michael needs to give me my money back so I can put a down payment on a Super Decathlon.

Tonight, back to reality and hardcore studying for the CFI-A.

A few parting shots:

My Ride:


I'm goin spinnin nanny nanny boo boo!

[nkoenig]

Nice video..

Looks like Fun...

[PatrickCPS]

Glad you guys manged to get out and fly! Great video!

[LoadMasterC141]

Oops wrong post

[the_dmn8tr]

When you were at KCAC did you notice how the security was seriously lacking? OJC always seems like a really laid back airport. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days someone just drove on the runway to see how fast they could go. It reminds of the guy that robbed a bank a couple years back and ended up near the end of 18.

[KC Jake]

Originally Posted by the_dmn8tr

When you were at KCAC did you notice how the security was seriously lacking? OJC always seems like a really laid back airport. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days someone just drove on the runway to see how fast they could go. It reminds of the guy that robbed a bank a couple years back and ended up near the end of 18.

...before the police shot him to death. Most GA airports I've been to have pretty relaxed security unless the president is there.