Photon

Hey guys

As I'm approaching the end of my commercial course (my FAA checkride for the commercial course is coming up, and I'll be starting with my initial instructor license after I complete it), I was wondering if you guys had any good tips and hints as to what books are a really good read, and/or any web pages, or basically anything you guys would really recommend as a mandatory read/resource for both my instructor rating training, and the job that (hopefully) comes afterwards.

Yes. The instructor gig is a stepping stone for me, as it is for 99% of the CFIs I guess, but I'm not going to be the instructor with a foot out the door in any respect. I'm not looking for a job here in the US, so I'm going to stay here for a year in any case, building hours, and while I'm here I want to be(come) the best instructor that I can be.

I really love seeing people succeed, and helping people achieve their goals, so in many respects I really look forward to my time as a flight instructor. I've been tutoring people since I had my private pilots license, and I really enjoy it so far (ask me again in 3 months and I might have another view, but I sincerely hope not).

Onto the topic at hand. At the moment I have the Jeppesen flight instructor handbook, the FAA aviation instructor book, and the cfi oral study guide. That should probably(?) be sufficient for learning the required material for the oral exam etc, but what I want is the material that will put me above just a generic instructor.
I've been looking at the faasafety.gov page, and they have this instructor seminar being held at regular intervals, "be the best instructor you can be" kind of thing, I'll be sure to visit that one, but other than that I'm not sure what I should look for in respects to other really good reads or helpful websites.
Hope to be hearing from you guys, I'm sure a lot of you have some good experiences

- Photon

ILS37R

The North Florida FSDO CFIs with ESP seminar is excellent--definitely catch it if you have the opportunity.

If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, you should probably pick up the seminal "Stick and Rudder," which, in addition to being an excellent book about flying, is also a great example of how to take high-level aviation topics and present them in a way that's simple and easy-to-understand.

As for other books, read everything you can. A big part of being a top-notch instructor is having a wealth of knowledge to draw upon for your lessons. While sometimes a bit morbid, reading NTSB accident reports can also be very informative.

That said, your absolute best resource is going to be other instructors. Learn from them what is and is not effective, things to look out for, stories you can use to enhance your lessons and how to deal with the inevitable frustrating situations.

If you know a CFI that will let you do so, teach a couple ground lessons to actual students with their CFI supervising.

Cubdriver

Photon, it may be a good idea to observe an experienced instructor in your school delivering a few lessons to students first from the back seat. In classrooms such as those found at public high schools and grade schools, it standard practice for new teachers to observe classrooms to see how older teachers operate. It's a way to adopt style more than anything. CFIs already know a lot about flying but may not know how to work with slow students or demanding situations. Books really won't help you need to observe this.

For books you have a list that sounds good but make the distinction that as an instructor you are an authority on flying and are responsible for backing up everything you say with FAA books and citations. Not that you plan to get challenged all the time but the more you reference FAA materials the more solid your footing is in teaching. I am aware some FAA materials on flying are ambigious or incomplete, but as instructors we must use them for reference. Jeppeson, ASA, King, Sporty's and other publishers produce materials that are fine as textbooks but are not acceptable as reference.

For online resources I could do better probably, but I use FAAsafety and AOPA for daily updates and studentpilot.com, jetcareers and AOPA for their online forums. I think a person can overload in terms of sources if not careful, so I prefer the flight training forum at APC to keep it simple, and research things on my own for the most part. It's a matter of taste and preference. When you really need an interpretation of a concept you can call the resident instructor at AOPA but I happen to have a bunch of advanced pilots and engineers to talk to.

Cubdriver

[repeat post]

HoboPilot

We're using the Airplane Flying Handbook, and the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge very heavily for my CFI course. They're pretty good references for bulinding a base of information for lesson plans. Also look at Advisory Circulars on more detailed areas, like spins and icing so you can get a little more in depth with your students.

Good luck on your cfi. I'm having a blast so far doing my cfi training and am really enjoy sitting next to the Warrior's door on hot summer days.

Photon

thanks for all the advice so far
The way we do it at my school, at least for the most part, is that after the CPL rating, most of the instructor students will sit in the study lounge and do free tutoring. In that way learning how to teach people, and you can, as you guys said, also watch other instructors do oral in that same room.
It's just generally known that anyone with 4 silver stripes (cpl rated) will do free tutoring at any time, so people just walk over to you and ask if you can tutor him on this and that.
Wonder when the next cfi seminar will be here in central/northern Florida though, nothing on the schedule that I can see

FlyerJosh

Photon,

Knowledge is only a very small portion of what makes an excellent instructor. You'll find this to be the truth when you first start teaching- I learned more about aviation in my first 100 hrs of instruction than I did in 4 years of learning to fly in a collegiate flight training program.

Above what you know and your own personal aviation abilities, your passion for flying and teaching is what will make you a wonderful instructor. The most important thing is to be fair and remember that the progress of your student is more important than your own career. You have a duty to provide the best instruction you can, and when you do move on, you still need to do what you can to ensure that your students have a smooth (and cheap) transition to another instructor.

Take a moment to sit down and think about your training and personal experiences with your own instructors. Write them down on paper- what you liked about each instructor and what you didn't like. One of the best ways to improve yourself is to emulate the people that you admire and respect.

Rogue

from a paying cash as I go student's perspective -

spend your student's money wisely.

In other words, don't go over the same subject we covered last lesson, or better yet give me a quiz at the beginning of the lesson to see what I got down and what I need to work on. For example my instructor knowing that I've been an auto repair technician for 16 years spent very little time on stuff like engine design, performance and so forth because it would have been redundant to the 9th degree. He simply asked me a few questions like "what is detonation" and when I gave him an answer above and beyond what any pilot needs to know we moved on to another subject. good luck

Pilotpip

Don't be the authority on everything. Be willing to accept that you can't possibly know everything. If somebody asks a question you can't answer, don't blow it off, follow up and find out with definitive answers from official sources. This will make you a better instructor and a much more credible one.

You're going to really stink at it for a while. After you've flown with a few students and gained some different experiences and encountered a few challenges you'll start to get good. I look back and I am constantly astounded at how much better I was at it after a year than I was after a month. It really is a steep learning curve.

Photon

thanks for all the advice so far guys
I'll try to take it all to heart and see where it goes after I actually start with it