Subieguy14

I found a flight school that is helping pay for my CFI and I am going to end up instructing for them.

I need help studying i guess? I am not really sure how... I understand there needs to be lesson plans and etc. but I also have the Flight instructor PTS.

I know i need a lesson plan for all the PTS areas and tasks, but I'm stumped on how i should be memorizing stuff.... For instance, if i make a lesson plan on weather..... METAR, TAF, etc.... do i HAVE to know everything about those? or do i memorize key points and go through the lesson plans like a guide as im teaching the Inspector?

My instructor (who was an amazing one) always went through the PTS and ACS line by line with me until i knew every line of info and could explain and piece together answers for the area asked.... but with the CFI checkride, Instead of memorizing everything i have to make lesson plans? or do i memorize everything along with making lesson plans....

Just really stuck and im doing this by myself at the moment since the chief instructor at the flight school is really busy(he has 18 students.... which is why they need more CFIs).

Pony Express

Everyone is different, but my approach when I was working on my CFI was to simply view the lesson plans as a framework for each lesson. I'd go by the recommended publications at the top of each section on the ACS- for example if I'm writing a lesson plan for high altitude flying and it said refer to the PHAK- I'd read through the chapter in there and take notes on the general content. I’d also put in some notes of things I found myself having to repeatedly look up if it was kind of obscure- “gee, is a funnel cloud coded in a metar as fu or fc.”

Writing the lesson plan was a really valuable way to dust the cobwebs off and bone up on my knowledge, but for me they didn’t read like a novel does. Just bullet points or “refer to ac 61-xxx” etc. I always thought of them as things to read the night before giving a lesson as opposed to a script.

My recommendation would be to try out a few different types of lesson plans and try actually teaching from them. Teach a few lessons to someone-anyone and see how much content you need in front of you and how much you can go by memory. Also good practice in laying out basic lesson plan structure. Remember from a students perspective the “how does x y and z work” is important but the “why do I need to know this” is critical as well.

For both my CFI and CFII checkrides the examiner let me review my lesson plans for a few minutes before giving each “lesson.”

Good luck and have fun! Studying for my CFI was “the most fun I never want to have again.” Now after a few years and somewhere around 1500 dual given I find myself only rarely accessing lesson plans, however if I had a wider diversity of students that wouldn’t be the case

Pony Express

Here's one of the drafts I dug up for a lesson on flight controls. The formatting got a bit chopped up but you get the gist. Certain ground lessons will have more content- airspace and weather lessons were much longer/ more descriptive because there are so many moving parts and a lot of it is completely uncharted territory for new students. The flight maneuver lesson plans tend to have a lot less- for example in teaching steep turns I'd brush on the aerodynamic forces (overbanking tendency, adverse yaw, etc) and just as important as that is when it happens, what we do as pilots to maintain positive control.

Hope this helps.
__________________________________________________ ____

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Airplane Flight Controls

OBJECTIVE: Develop Pilots knowledge of and ability to explain airplane flight controls

ELEMENTS:
1. Primary Flight Controls

• Elevator-pitch-lateral axis. Backpressure on yoke or stick
o “up elevator” increases downward force on the stabilizer and rotation around the CG
o Stabilators and T-Tails
o Cables and pulleys
• Aileron-bank-longitudinal axis. Rotation of yoke or left-right stick movement
o Discuss adverse yaw
o Discuss differential ailerons
o Cables, pulleys, bellcranks, push-pull rods
• Rudder-yaw-vertical axis. Rudder pedals
o Bungee connected to push-pull rods

V-tail
Spoilerons
Flaperons

2. Secondary Flight Controls
o Flaps: High lift devices. Increase both lift and induced drag
o Plain
o Split
o Slotted-increase coefficient of lift greatly. Ducts air over flap surface accelerates boundary layer and delays airflow separation
o Fowler-move rearwards and downwards
o We use a fowler-type slotted flap
o Leading edge devices:
o Fixed slot: directs airflow to the upper wing surface-delays stall
o Moveable slat: allows air to flow over the top of the wing delays separation dynamic or pilot controlled
o Leading edge flaps: Changes camber of wings
o Spoilers: Upper surface of wing- spoil smooth airflow, reducing lift and increasing drag

3. Trim Controls
o Trim tabs: can be installed on any primary flight control
o Tab moves opposite of desired control surface movement
o Balance tabs: small tab at trailing edge of control surface move opposite the direction of the control surface to aid the pilot like power steering
o Antiservo tabs: balance tabs that operate in the same direction of movement to decrease sensitivity
o Ground adjustable tabs: on rear of rudder

SCHEDULE:

EQUIPMENT:


ACTIONS: INSTRUCTOR ACTIONS STUDENT ACTIONS
PRE-FLIGHT
DISCUSSION Brief lesson & learning objectives
Ask/answer questions
Outline flight session
Teach lesson
Evaluate: Quiz Re-state learning objectives
Resolve questions
Listen/take notes
Resolve questions
Answer review/Evaluation Questions
Re-state Flight Session
IN-FLIGHT

Yoda2

Recommend doing the FOI and the knowledge tests first, then work on your lesson plans.

Subieguy14

Already got my foi, fia and fii out of the way.... back in may when i was at ATP... got the foi done a day late though so they yanked me out of the cfi program..... rip me.

runakatuna

Prepping for the CFI exam really depends on the examiner you get. The examiner I got assigned is big on letting you reference your lessons, or any other resource during the oral which I think is very practical. At the same time, there are a lot of examiners that are the opposite. They are usually okay with scheduling a ground phase check to get to know them and their examination style. I did this and he had me teach Logbook Entries and Certificate Endorsements. Afterward I knew exactly how he would be conducting the test and it was pretty helpful.

It is definitely a good idea to have a complete set of lessons but it doesn't make a lot of sense to memorize everything. I recommend you take a look at the lesson plans available for purchase like "The Backseat Pilot." His lessons are very thorough and cover every area of operation/task in the CFI PTS. This saved me a TON of time and was worth every penny. That being said, it's important to review each lesson and become familiar with the layout/organization in addition to modifying to your teaching style.

I also went through every item in the PTS and tried to find a training aid for elements listed in each task. For example, have examples of an MEL, AD, special flight permit, etc for Airworthiness Requirements (III. Task E. 1-5).

Hope this helps. CFI is a lot of work but you will make it!

Flaps8posrate

The oral revolves more around the FOI than it does teaching. Yes, you will have to spend time teaching a lesson or two during the oral. Best to have a lesson for all of what PTS requires, but you can spend way too much time putting all the details in writing.
You will get to talk to the examiner a day or two beforehand and they will tell you at that time what they will expect from you for teaching lessons.
For your flight, from the right seat, you will have to talk through what you are demonstrating, if you screw up a maneuver, use it as a teaching moment about common errors that are made and how to correct for them.
Most of the lesson plans that you prepare will never be used after your checkride, but the process of creating them and practice teaching from them is fundamental in teaching you about your new profession.
Most schools have their own syllabus for you to use.
I found that student pilots are great to use for practice teaching, as you have to practice to be effective. Try to teach each lesson at least twice. If no students are available, use your girlfriend or any friend!! You’ll find that each time you teach it, you’ll modify it and re-write part of it.
Feel free to PM if you’d like..

TurboWill

Good luck (taken voice)

Subieguy14

Working on my FOI and endorsement workbook a DPE gave me.... just going through stuff right now.... reading all the checkride write ups... some give me hope.

SunnyFL

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Gui...+cfi+checkride

I found that book right there super helpful with the FOI and the first Area of Operation on Flight Controls etc. I used purchased lesson plans and then after going through those I went through and made home made ones.

It really does depend on the examiner. My examiner allowed me a few minutes before each lesson to go through my lesson plan and get prepared. I would teach and if I forgot something I would skip over and continue. After I finished teaching my lesson I would skim through my notes I had set aside and go over what I skipped.

It is a ton of information but if I could give advice it would be this. Know the FOI's and be able to give real practical examples, preferably from personal experiences. When it comes to teaching you have to get in the mindset you are teaching someone who has zero clue what you are saying. Easier said then done with the examiner being in front of you, but if you can have that mindset you will be good. Just study study study!

Also don't buy into the hype that it is impossible to pass the initial first try. I was able to do so. It is by no means a walk in the park but if you study and work your butt off it is 100% do able to pass it first go! Good Luck!