CFI Self Study

[JaceTheAce]

Can anyone here recommend a good self-study course for CFI that'll be easy on the wallet?

[aloft]

For the instructor ratings in particular, it seems the FAA wants to see you regurgitating their materials....

[JaceTheAce]

Originally Posted by aloft

For the instructor ratings in particular, it seems the FAA wants to see you regurgitating their materials....

Well of course.

[bdhill1979]

I have to second the FAA books, especially since the whole PTS is based on them.

I got the Jepp instructor DVD's and they were absolutely worthless, that time would be better spent reading the Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and the Airplane Flying Handbook, Aviation Instructors Handbook, and for God's sake don't overlook AC61.65E

[moxiepilot]

Weel, here's my take. When a student asks me what a good self study course is, most of them are saying, " I don't feel like reading all the material. What is a good DVD to watch?"

Honestly I'm not going to answer that question. The one I will is that in the PTS it lists all reference material. That is your cheap study course. As a CFI you need to seperate the wheat from the chaff, so let this be your first excercise in determining what is important and what is not.

If you have trouble, post again. I can be a little more helpful

[mhcasey]

Remember you have to teach the crap though. Go through each task of the PTS, read all the references, make your own notes, and be prepared to lecture from them.

Then go to CFI school and learn from an experienced instructor how to teach it well.

Remember, every task says "exhibits instructional knowledge of..." That means you can't just be like "yes that's a cold front," it's gotta be "that is a cold front and this weather is associated with it." Or, "This is a constant speed prop, this is why it's advantageous, and this is how it works." Seriously, practice teaching the material in front of a mirror or to a friend and you'll start to realize what I'm talking about (you'll probably throw down a lot of "ums" at first).

When you're making notes, always answer "What, how, and why?" That will get you started, and maybe in a few months you can be like me and have the groundschool finished, but can't fly for weeks due to daily thunderstorms in central Texas. Then you can spend all your time trying to figure out why the weather sucks so bad in Texas, and prepare yourself for any questions the examiner might ask regarding weather.

[JaceTheAce]

Good advice so far... what I really meant to ask was what self study guides are out there...not anything with content in it but advising what to study... or should I just go over every single FAA-issued aviation book I have?

[mhcasey]

Example:

Area of Operation II, Task B: Visual Scanning and Collision Avoidance.

References: Faa-H-8080-3, (Airplane Flying Handbook), FAA-H8083-25 (Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge), AC 90-48, AIM.

Pull out said references, find table of contents (or with the AC, just read the whole thing), read relevant material, and take notes on at least everything the PTS has listed. Aka, be prepared to teach:

1. Relationship between a pilot's physical condition and vision.
2. Environmental conditions that degrade vision.
3. Vestibular and visual illusions.
4...5...10...

Do this for every task in the PTS and you will be good to go. I would recommend doing Area of Operation 1 first (Fundamentals of Instructing). If you're anything like me, you will think it's the dumbest, most boring crap ever, and then start teaching and realize it was actually sort of helpful. This will also prep you for the FOI written.

Once you have a general idea of how to approach teaching, you'll be able to more effectively organize your notes and start making lesson plans if you so desire, though your school might want it a specific way.

Keep in mind, even though that's a heck of a lot of stuff to read about, it is the minimum required and for certain tasks, it might be benificial to use some other resources (Principles of Flight and Systems come to mind). It might not be a bad idea to tab your references as you go since inevitably you will not know something during the checkride and it will be advantageous to be able to reference it quickly.

Of course, this is all recomendations coming from a guy that has not yet taken his CFI checkride, but hey, I think it's worked pretty well for me thus far.

[Dugie8]

Originally Posted by mhcasey

Example:

Area of Operation II, Task B: Visual Scanning and Collision Avoidance.

References: Faa-H-8080-3, (Airplane Flying Handbook), FAA-H8083-25 (Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge), AC 90-48, AIM.

Pull out said references, find table of contents (or with the AC, just read the whole thing), read relevant material, and take notes on at least everything the PTS has listed. Aka, be prepared to teach:

1. Relationship between a pilot's physical condition and vision.
2. Environmental conditions that degrade vision.
3. Vestibular and visual illusions.
4...5...10...

Do this for every task in the PTS and you will be good to go. I would recommend doing Area of Operation 1 first (Fundamentals of Instructing). If you're anything like me, you will think it's the dumbest, most boring crap ever, and then start teaching and realize it was actually sort of helpful. This will also prep you for the FOI written.

Once you have a general idea of how to approach teaching, you'll be able to more effectively organize your notes and start making lesson plans if you so desire, though your school might want it a specific way.

Keep in mind, even though that's a heck of a lot of stuff to read about, it is the minimum required and for certain tasks, it might be benificial to use some other resources (Principles of Flight and Systems come to mind). It might not be a bad idea to tab your references as you go since inevitably you will not know something during the checkride and it will be advantageous to be able to reference it quickly.

Of course, this is all recomendations coming from a guy that has not yet taken his CFI checkride, but hey, I think it's worked pretty well for me thus far.

to an extent

The shear amount of information you are expected to know and have a "teaching knowledge of" is staggering. Trying to find some kind of self study course of "kit" is futile at best.

To survive as a new CFI and to pass the initial ride with MOST examiners, know these things (no paticular order of importance)

Basic aerodynamics (yes you will have to spit out some of the FAA's wisdom on this, but for the most part it is correct)
Endorsements, I cannot stress these enough, know them cold, have the AC, and know how to apply them, modify them, and when you can give them.
PTS standards. It may seem silly, but know all the different standards from Sport to ATP for manuevers and such.
Fundamentals of Instruction (FOI) this is one book the FAA did correctly. You will be amazed at how well the concepts work with almost anyone, and applying those concepts to how you create lesson plans and how you teach will make your job EASY!
Be able to talk and fly at the same time. Do not be afraid of making mistakes while teaching, use them to demonstrate how to correct and what the student should expect while doing the manuever. It doesn't do your student (or on your checkride) any good if you do a steep turn within 1 inch of altitude and .00001 knots of airspeed if you are concentrating so hard you can't teach the manuever while doing it.
Have limits, when do you take over contol, how far do you let the student/examiner make a mistake. Positive control of the airplane at all times, YOU are in charge.

Systems stuff, airspace, regs, are all things that are fairly constant, you should know them all by now and have a very good understanding of them.

[cfii2007]

I agree with the FAA publications. I've often referenced them in my lesson plans too.

[bdhill1979]

Originally Posted by JaceTheAce

Good advice so far... what I really meant to ask was what self study guides are out there...not anything with content in it but advising what to study... or should I just go over every single FAA-issued aviation book I have?

The only "guide" out there is the PTS, it tells you everything that you can be tested on and references where the info is found. There are "guides" out there, but they want few hundred $$$ to rehash the PTS, which is free. I cant think of a single question that I was asked on the CFI ride that couldnt be tied to a PTS item.

If you want all of the publications in one place get this CD:

www.summitaviation.com

It is like $80, but it has EVERYTHING the FAA has published and is fully searchable, copy and pasteable (lesson plans), and just easy to use.

It has made my life so much easier for studying and developing lesson plans.

[vheissu]

I see your from San Diego. You by chance doing your CFI at CRQ??

[E6BAV8R]

Originally Posted by bdhill1979

The only "guide" out there is the PTS, it tells you everything that you can be tested on and references where the info is found. There are "guides" out there, but they want few hundred $$$ to rehash the PTS, which is free. I cant think of a single question that I was asked on the CFI ride that couldnt be tied to a PTS item.

If you want all of the publications in one place get this CD:

www.summitaviation.com

It is like $80, but it has EVERYTHING the FAA has published and is fully searchable, copy and pasteable (lesson plans), and just easy to use.

It has made my life so much easier for studying and developing lesson plans.

I second that. If you don't want to spend virtually any money other than the books just go through the PTS and it will literally tell you everything you need to have knowledge of and be able to teach. From those items you can start reading about them in the various FAA books and then start saying it out loud to yourself because you will want to start hearing yourself talk because it is a lot different than going over in your mind than trying to dumb it down for a student or even trying to make sense of it when you are talking out loud.