CFI Ride Tips
06-28-2010, 05:07 PM
#11
Does NOT get weekends off
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: ERJ - 145
Posts: 1,631
Originally Posted by Grumble
As far as the oral goes... I did mine at the MCO FSDO, notorious for 6+ hour orals. We were done in under two. When all was said and done I asked why I had heard all the horror stories for mind numbing oral exams. The inspectors basic explination is that most CFI applicants are hair triggered to give lengthy technical answer, which just digs their own grave. Pretend like you're talking to a 5th grader. When they ask "what is a stall" answer with "the point at which the wings stops producing enough lift." If you get into boundary layer seperation, critical AOA, etc you open yourself up to follow on questions. Bottom line, your answer should be very basic, and not create any other questions, but at the same time give a complete answer. When you're driving around town, ask yourself questions you think they may ask in the oral, and then answer them. Then go back and think about your answer. Are there more questions that could be asked from my answer? "What is p-factor?" The left turning tendancy created from the decending blade creating more lift than the acending blade. Asked and answered... if he wants to go further then yeah, you'll have to explain why, through AOA, etc., but the bottom line is you gave an answer anyone would understand.
I was ready to launch into a 30 minute lesson from there and he said, and I quote "Great, Systems is done, lets move on to Aerodynamics."
While that may seem "Sweet, just make it short" you need to make sure you shorten it PROPERLY - learn how to find all the important nuggets of information and get to the CORE concepts. I have a CFI candidate now who is having difficulty in that area and we are working on it...
06-29-2010, 05:30 AM
#12
Flying Farmer
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: Turbo-props' and John Deere's
Posts: 3,160
Something to mentioned about the Aircraft logs, is go ahead and Tab the important events like the 100hr etc... So when they open them up, they can go straight to them, and they won't start fishing around for other items.
I personally didn't tab my FAR/AIM, I used highlighter to quickly reference within a page what was important. I used different colors for different ratings. You should be familiar enough with the FAR/AIM by now that you can quickly find the page you need.
Other than that, keep the answers short, don't make anything up, and take your time
I personally didn't tab my FAR/AIM, I used highlighter to quickly reference within a page what was important. I used different colors for different ratings. You should be familiar enough with the FAR/AIM by now that you can quickly find the page you need.
Other than that, keep the answers short, don't make anything up, and take your time
06-30-2010, 07:42 AM
#13
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Apr 2007
Position: Dream within a dream
Posts: 1,306
Thanks guys - this is helping a ton 
I'm doing mine with the Dallas FSDO...anybody have any area-specific recommendations?
I'm finishing my lesson plans up this week and should have 3-4 weeks to study for the checkride...should be more than enough time to review everything
I'm doing mine with the Dallas FSDO...anybody have any area-specific recommendations?
I'm finishing my lesson plans up this week and should have 3-4 weeks to study for the checkride...should be more than enough time to review everything
07-06-2010, 05:11 PM
#14
On Reserve
Joined APC: May 2010
Position: CFI
Posts: 19
I agree with all the above points! Great point on the "keep it short" technique. I'll expand on that though. You do need to be a little careful by differentiating between answering a question and teaching. Any commercial checkride type questions I would answer as concisely as I can. Just make sure you know if you're being asked to test your raw technical knowledge, or if you are supposed to treat the examiner as a student. You've probably been critiqued during your CFI training for not starting primitive enough on certain questions. Know what I mean?
As for my ride: Took it with the FAA. 2 examiners (one was new to the district and needed to go through "training"...which means a nightmare for me). The oral was about 4 hours...maybe not even that long, but that is what I expected. Did a surprising amount of FOI-many scenarios regarding different types of students, their actions, and what to do with them (ex: short tempered impatient students, cocky students who are much older than you with more "life experience", students who lose their cool during stall training, etc...). We went over aerodynamics quite a bit as well (how the elevator and trim tabs work, newtonian lift concept, bernoulli lift, etc). Remember with mx logs to show ALL logs (like the prop. log). Nothing else stuck out to me. There was the obvious stuff like endorsements. Remember this isn't really a commercial checkride. Hopefully all the raw technical gory stuff stuck with you. This is a "teacher's" test, and that's how the FAA seemed to conduct it. Big emphasis on your teaching approach and teaching things in different ways. Not too many questions like "at what voltage does the overvoltage relay kick in?"
One last thing I'll add. We both know how crazy it can get when you are teaching landings...radios, traffic, talking, doing...it can be hectic and for a primary student it can be insane. If you really teach everything in one circuit around the pattern your mouth will never stop moving which is overwhelming for a student. Normally I would make several circuits adding a little each time. During my passenger brief with the examiners I told them this and warned them that "for today's checkride, there may be times when I will talk very fast and may not stop talking, but I have to do this to get it all in". I said in real life I would "----". They both seemed to like how I prepped them for that. Just some pointers!! Good luck!
As for my ride: Took it with the FAA. 2 examiners (one was new to the district and needed to go through "training"...which means a nightmare for me). The oral was about 4 hours...maybe not even that long, but that is what I expected. Did a surprising amount of FOI-many scenarios regarding different types of students, their actions, and what to do with them (ex: short tempered impatient students, cocky students who are much older than you with more "life experience", students who lose their cool during stall training, etc...). We went over aerodynamics quite a bit as well (how the elevator and trim tabs work, newtonian lift concept, bernoulli lift, etc). Remember with mx logs to show ALL logs (like the prop. log). Nothing else stuck out to me. There was the obvious stuff like endorsements. Remember this isn't really a commercial checkride. Hopefully all the raw technical gory stuff stuck with you. This is a "teacher's" test, and that's how the FAA seemed to conduct it. Big emphasis on your teaching approach and teaching things in different ways. Not too many questions like "at what voltage does the overvoltage relay kick in?"
One last thing I'll add. We both know how crazy it can get when you are teaching landings...radios, traffic, talking, doing...it can be hectic and for a primary student it can be insane. If you really teach everything in one circuit around the pattern your mouth will never stop moving which is overwhelming for a student. Normally I would make several circuits adding a little each time. During my passenger brief with the examiners I told them this and warned them that "for today's checkride, there may be times when I will talk very fast and may not stop talking, but I have to do this to get it all in". I said in real life I would "----". They both seemed to like how I prepped them for that. Just some pointers!! Good luck!
07-06-2010, 10:52 PM
#15
Line Holder
Joined APC: Jan 2008
Posts: 58
Good info by everyone else, but I would add one hige thing: Attitude. Come in too cocky and they will cut you down, know a few people who didn'g pass because of that. (Of course not in their minds..)
The FOI was huge in mine, he even briefed when we started that it was perfectly acceptable to look up the answers to the more techinical stuff in whatever matierals I brought along, but he insisted that the FOI stuff be from memory. Plus that is what the checkride starts with and kinda sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Also, teaching the ground lesson: I had the techinical jargon all ready to go, but he wanted to make sure i could actaully convey the same meaning to a "non-aviation" person. I would explain something, and he would say "Alright now tell it to the soccer mom...." So make sure you can relate your lessons to everyday, non-aviation things that most Americans most likely have experienced. Spent about five hours on the ground.
Flight was about hour and a half, pretty straight forward - chances are you already know the techincal stuff, just make sure you know things like the correct way to enter a traffic pattern, I guess that is a big one they look for, at least here in MSP...
Going into it, worst day of my life. After passing, probably the proudest moment of my aviation career, right up there with first solo.
The FOI was huge in mine, he even briefed when we started that it was perfectly acceptable to look up the answers to the more techinical stuff in whatever matierals I brought along, but he insisted that the FOI stuff be from memory. Plus that is what the checkride starts with and kinda sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Also, teaching the ground lesson: I had the techinical jargon all ready to go, but he wanted to make sure i could actaully convey the same meaning to a "non-aviation" person. I would explain something, and he would say "Alright now tell it to the soccer mom...." So make sure you can relate your lessons to everyday, non-aviation things that most Americans most likely have experienced. Spent about five hours on the ground.
Flight was about hour and a half, pretty straight forward - chances are you already know the techincal stuff, just make sure you know things like the correct way to enter a traffic pattern, I guess that is a big one they look for, at least here in MSP...
Going into it, worst day of my life. After passing, probably the proudest moment of my aviation career, right up there with first solo.
07-21-2010, 04:08 PM
#20
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2008
Position: USAF
Posts: 1,398
Originally Posted by Grumble
I almost got nailed because he didn't throw the prop full forward until the turn from base to final.
If it's an SA thing from the examiner's perspective... I understand... but really... base, final, downwind... does it really matter for the prop as long as the aircraft is slow enough not to overspeed?
Why don't the examiners focus on more important things for ERAU CFIs.... like not flying a 9 mile pattern...
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