adding the CFII to your CFI
 

What is involved with adding the CFII to your initial CFI rating? Don't need specific FAR citations, but generaly how does it differ from your initial CFI other than the written test? Thanks everyone, appreciate your help as always!

All you do is shoot a few approaches under the hood from the right seat and explain what you're doing. Then the examiner will shoot one or two and you will have to catch his mistakes. The oral is cake as long as you study. All in all the II ride is the easiest checkride I have ever taken with the exception of my MEI. My last II student took 4hrs of instruction to pass his ride. The tough one is done man.

Not to be "that guy" but get a copy of the PTS it is all in there. Generally though it is a much easier checkride. If you already have your CFI you won't have to worry about the FOI portion of the oral or teaching a maneuver lesson although I ended up teaching unusual attitudes in the oral so be careful but guaranteed the FOI will not be included. Make sure to take the 50 question FII written and not the 20 question AIF "added rating" written. I can't speak for your area but most examiners in this area realize you already have your instrument rating and are just looking that you can teach. Plus you can choose the examiner you go with so you don't have to go through the FSDO to schedule. Good luck and I'm sure you will do fine.

I almost forgot, the aircraft you fly does not have to be complex but you could use a complex if you wanted to.

I can say it was by far the easiest check-ride I ever took. I waited until my CFI was about to expire, and just did the CFI-I add-on to renew the original ticket. If you can fly IFR, in IMC comfortably, this should be fairly easy. Get the 3 hrs of prep for the checkride, and brush up on all the FAR/AIM exerpts.

depends on your receny of experience..
 

Myself, I took a little over 5 hours of dual to get ready for the checkride. Easiest checkride I have ever done. I found the checkride was extremely simple exactly what others are saying here. In my days of instructing I have signed off two CFII canidates, one who flew between 4 and 6 hours..with no ground instruction whatsoever (i knew he knew his stuff - he was a fellow flight instructor) and the other CFII sign off I have given was one of the more challenging instrcuting gigs Ive done in a while. The cfii prospect hadn't flown IFR since his instrument rating 3 or 4 years before that so it was basically starting all over on his instrument ticket again but including making sure he was able to teach the material as well.

All in all if you do a lot of studying on your own, Instrument oral exam guide, AOPA air safety foundation interactice courses and practice teaching one of your friends who is working on an instrument rating in a sim or something you should well prepare yourself.

You can definately expect to fly less than 10 hours if you are proficient, but with that said, that does not mean it may not take you until 15 to 20...its all about proficiency and knowledge here.

Just because the FARs say you can get a private at 35 hours 141 doesnt mean anything...most of mine are taking 50-60.
Just because the FARs state 3 hours in the preceding 90 days for the CFII doesn't mean it might take you close to ten. if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Flylow.....budget

Concur. Easiest ride I have ever taken. However, the ground portion was ugly!! Study your weather and know AIM, Chapter 5 cold. Total ride from start up to shutdown was 1.2.

My ride was 3 approaches, one for me and two for the DPE, who I had taken almost all my rides with. The weather was a bit wild, something like 20-25 kt tailwinds on the ILS, but that made it more fun. The ground is definitely the hardest part of a pretty standard ride. My DPE was really big on knowing the instruments inside and out, so I had to explain them and the errors associated like I was explaining them to the student. That's the toughest part, especially if you don't have much experience instructing.

AIM? whats that
 

Agree. ground was the most difficult. I taught flight instruments as well. Don't forget chapter 1 in the AIM - Air Navigation.

I just got my II yesterday, and yeah, I'd have to agree with what everyone else has said, easiest ride I've done. About a 2.5 hour oral and a 1.1 hour flight.

I'm not sure how everyone else's ride was... but my DE was very scenario based. He wanted me to come up with situations to "test his knowledge" on as many systems/elements at once. That was the hardest part of the ride, just trying to come up with them on the spot.

My II was cake along with the MEI. II was about a 0.8 oral and 1.5 flight. DE flew most of the time with me just coaching him along on holds/arcs/approaches.