Looking for any opinions on this one. I have a student with quite a few hours and owns a Cessna 150. We are talking about getting the instrument commercial SEL all in one checkride. Here is what I was thinking for the process but am open to any suggestions. Scheduling about three hour blocks and working the first hours in the C150, completing commercial maneuvers. From what I have read the only part of the initial commercial checkride that needs to be completed in a complex airplane are the landings.

After working on the commercial maneuvers, I am looking to spend the next 1.5 hour as an instrument lesson in a complex instrument approved airplane and then finally completing the flight with commercial landings in the complex airplane.

I am worried about the learning curve but am confident this could work. At least give it a shot. If anyone has input, I am open to suggestions, hence the reason for the forum.

 

Seems kind of demanding both on the teacher and the student, but it depends on the aptitude of the student mostly. 3 hours is a long lesson. I would only if your student is already very capable and it's more of a polishing session than anything else. In that case, make him pay for the RG the whole time and cut the 150 bit out. It's too much trouble to land, park, preflight an old airplane and then get up for the second half of the lesson. If it's about money, he is saving money already by cramming two tests into one. Personally I wouldn't do it that way, but there's no rule against it. I would have him train for both but on different days, and have the checkrides at different times, or better yet just do them one by one in short succession.

 

As said before, 3 hours of flight training is a long time. I've had students that get fried after an hour or hour and 1/2. Since the student owns his/her own plane, show him the maneuvers and tell him to practice them solo.

I would recommend BAI and commercial landings in a complex before throwing him in the airplane for an instrument lesson. Without BAI and aircraft control, your student would be all over the place which will be frustrating for you and him/her. Landings will teach your student about aircraft decent profiles which will help during instrument approaches.

What you suggest is doable but it requires your student to be able to learn and perform under a huge workload.

Is the Cessna 150 an instrument airplane? If it is - do the instrument checkride on the 150 and do training on the RG for commerical landings.

 

I did my Comm.-Inst. in one checkride in a 172RG, although 90% of my training was in the 152. I agree with the other poster that using two aircraft on the check is not needed, though I have seen it done that way. Just need to make sure to polish the commercial maneuvers in the complex aircraft before the check.
Zach

 

Just make sure to run this idea past your particular FSDO. STL will not allow you to take a checkride in two different planes just to get the commercial done.

I just love it when a FSDO just makes up rules.

 

Not true bud. I had a student at 3SQ that did most of his comm in a 172. They went out for about .4 in a 182RG to knock out the performance maneuvers and it was done.

They didn't want you doing CFI stuff in a multi.

 

You had a student out at 3K6? Was it one of Tornado Joe's? I didn't even know 3K6 existed! Thought it was just a patch of concrete to simulate an airport at the end of the VOR-A

Do you like fishsticks?

 

Unless the guy is Chuck Yeager, I wouldn't try it. With two airplanes (preflight, Mx review) and all the admin required for two checkrides it would be a VERY long day.

 

x 2. Do you have an examiner yet? Our local DPE (we only have one) will not combine checkrides.

 

Just my $.02, but I think the previous posters are right on the money about the learning curve required and the challenges this type of fast-track training presents.

It will be imperative that you design a syllabus that allows your student to grasp the underlying fundamentals without having to struggle with more complex technology.

I think the only practical way to do this is to get instrument proficient and checkride ready in the 150 first. Then you can master the commercial maneuvers in the complex aircraft and transition the instrument skills. Trying to learn instrument techniques from scratch and commercial maneuvers at once will likely make it much more difficult to focus.

I think the amount of flight time that you are suggesting per day is probably inappropriate for the average student. After an hour and a half to two hours of new content, a normal student's ability to learn is exhausted; flying beyond a student's saturation point could hinder and undermine the useful learning from the entire lesson.

Just my opinion; take it for what it's worth...I'm not the most experienced instructor in the world.