bevi

Good morning everyone, my name's Matthew, I'm new in the forum.
I'm looking for a good flight school to get my CFI and eventually CFII. The options I'm looking at are American Flyers CFI/CFII Academy and Flight Safety Academy's (VRB) CFI program. Does anyone know one these programs? Do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks a lot

Mat

theonlyski

I did the month long academy at American Flyers (Pompano) and I thought it was great. It sounds like a couple things have changed (probably for the better) but it still sounds like a great possibility. No clue on Flight Safety.

el_duderino

Leaning heavily on the CFI/CFII 30 day AF @ Pompano, maybe the Dec 27 class myself. So curious of inputs as well.

Ecotone

I went to Blue Line in Raleigh, NC for their 10-day CFI class and can only say good things about them. It is a bit more expensive than some of the competition but if you are on a tight schedule like I was, it is a great option. We all had our checkrides scheduled on day 1. Mine was on day 10 of the class so I really was done in 10 days, driving back home the next day with a CFI ticket. One of the guys in the class stayed for another 4/5 days and got done with CFII as well. Granted, they give you a good amount of stuff you need to prepare before coming but it certainly is achievable and realistic. Everyone in my class passed on their first attempt.

Macchi30

How much did it cost you including hotels? Right now I’m working on my CFI at my local school. It kind of sucks because I’m the only CFI student here, and my ground portion is the online King Schools course. I don’t know if I should just continue here or go to a factory

Knudiee

I’m in the same boat. I don’t know if those cram classes are any good, but I’m interested. If anything, I need a study buddy. Have you bought lesson plans or do you plan on making them?

flyingtheskies

I'm currently on the CFI program at Flight Safety. Pm with any questions.

Macchi30

I didn’t even know you could do that. But, another CFI at my school gave me his entire binder, and I just copied it. But yeah I don’t know if it would be worth it to go to a big school or just stay here. Staying here seems significantly cheaper

Ecotone

I booked an Airbnb a few miles from the airport. 10 days, was about $700. I believe they also provide shared housing for the duration of the class for $500. As far as the class, I believe they just increased their prices to $8000 for the CFI class. Check with them to be sure.

I hear ya. I started preparing with the King Schools course for CFI too and overall, I think it's a great way to get the ball rolling and get your mind in the right place. However, in the end what you need to work on is the CFI PTS, Area 1, 2, 3 and 4 for the oral. I certainly used some of my notes from the King course to build my outlines for each Task in the PTS but in the end, I would say King is insufficient. You're going to have to use the FAA books (PHAK, AFH, etc.), some advisory circulars (61-98D, 91-73B, 61-65H, etc.), FAR/AIM, etc. If you go with Blue Line, they will send you some study material you will need to complete before your arrival. It is essentially a series of questions on each task that forces you to look up the reference materials. Once you have that done, you will pretty much have all of your outlines done for Area 1 and 2... It is very efficient.

To be clear, the purpose of an accelerated course like the one proposed at Blue Line is not to teach you the material. As a commercial pilot, you should already have the knowledge so the goal is to help you organize the material in a way that makes teaching efficient. The whole point is to make you apply the Fundamentals of Instructing to the material. They're going to have you present each Task of Area 1 through 3 in front of the class at least once so by the end of the class if you study like they tell you and come prepared, I can say with confidence you will be ready for the checkride.

As a side note, I wouldn't exactly call Blue Line "a factory". They have 1 accelerated CFI class per month, so roughly 12 a year, with about 4 people attending in each. It is a family owned business, CFIs are well treated, pay is good, airplanes are top notch with some brand new 172s with all the bells and whistles (G1000 NXi). They also give you a good chunk of time for each lesson so you and your instructor don't feel rushed getting in and out. Give them a call or visit the school if you can.

PM me if you have any other questions. Happy to help.

Ecotone

Look up my reply above. This actually is not a "cram" class because the study work and preparation starts way ahead of the start date. Sure it is fast paced, but it's definitely manageable. Just to give you an idea, I started preparing for the class (FOI & FIA writtens, PTS outlines, etc.) about 2 months before the class. Granted, I work full time so I could only work evenings and some weekends but you get the idea. But then when I showed up to class, I pretty much had everything ready and it was just a matter of getting feedback from the instructors and other students, polishing my presentations and some of the content a bit, and then jumping in the airplane for the flying portion.

As far as the lesson plans, for what it's worth, I strongly encourage you to build your own outlines... Just follow the PTS and look up the reference material. This will help you tremendously for the test.