Originally Posted by
viper548
It's been a while since I did my CFI training, but it seemed to me like the flying portion was learning to fly from the right seat, which aside from the first hour or two could be done solo. Then a few hours learning to critique the CFI. In my opinion the CFI was 90% self study, 10% flying.
I’m sorry but that reads like nails on a chalkboard to me.
I think the instructor is hugely important in CFI.
You need to be very proficient in all your groundschool and you need a good instructor to connect all the little dots that you have missed or weren’t taught during your own training.
As far as flying you need to learn to walk, talk and chew gum at the same time.
What is your MOST important job as an instructor?
To provide a safe environment for the student to practice and learn.
In order for that you’ll need to be responsible for the area you’re practicing over, airspace, maintaining VFR conditions, look-out for traffic and all this
while you are demonstrating and explaining maneuvers.
For your checkride you have two possibilities: an examiner that glances over things as he doesn’t know little airplanes from a hole in the ground or somebody who’s got half a million hours in GA and will take you to the nuts and bolts of everything.
I’ve gotten every single initial CFI student of mine on emergency landings, cloud clearance and attempting a take off on one magneto. That’s a clean kill for an examiner, any of them.
And that is after I tell them about it and warn them about it.
There’s no substitute for experience and the only way to get experience is to practice with somebody who knows what they’re looking for.
....teaching yourself....(shivers)
, find yourself an instructor that you are comfortable with.
Take him or her out to lunch and take some time to find out if their skill set meets your needs.