Starting my CFI
 

Well everyone, the day is here and after much consideration with and great support of family, I will be doing my CFI rating.. I have already prepped for the FIA, AGI and FOI written tests so its just a matter of doing them. I will be heading back to my old school in Central FL to do the rating. I will be using the Arrow, same as for the Commercial. I am looking forward to it.

Im not sure how long it may take me.. I will be doing it full time and I estimate 4-6 weeks

I will say in a year I have come a long way and whatever the future holds, I will have done a fair amount.

Any input is greatly appreciated and experiences of the guys who been there and did their CFI right after getting their commercial ticket..

I know there are many not so good sides but keep it to a limit please folks.. ;)

Hey stealth! I'm in the same boat. Congratulations!!! Good luck on the ride ahead. Oh, and remember to STEP ON THE BALL for your spin training :rolleyes:

Congrats on starting your CFI. Once your finished, and start teaching for the first few hundred hours, thats when you will really start to learn everything you thought you knew.

I did my CFI immediately after my commercial, and it worked just fine. I would suggest doing it right after, as you already proficient in the commercial maneuvers, now its just doing them from the right seat. If you are trying to save money, you can do a majority of the training flights in a primary trainer (152 or Warrior).

My suggestion would to spend some quality time on your lesson plans, this can really help CFI students to understand the material. However, you don't necessarily need to make them all from scratch, unless you have A LOT of time on your hands. There are plenty of lesson plans out there. Find a format that works for you, and you can use them as a basis for creating your own. Good luck!

Congrats stealth!


atp

Thanks for the replies everyone.. LOL Oh Im looking forward to the spin/recovery training..

Thats a good tip TI 3VOM.. About doing much of my training flights in a C172.. as compared to the Arrow which is more expensive.. I may opt to doing the maneuvers on the Arrow since my budget allows that.... And i have allocated for 15 hours max of dual flying I may need..

Also those lesson plans, will be where I need to work alot on..

Average time and overall cost estimate for the CFI rating if I may ask ? Hoping to get mine done in $4k .. As for time frame, Im giving myself 2 months but I wont mind getting it done in less time.. Say 4-5 weeks max..

So once I get the written done, studied for the Oral, fly the maneuvers, I mn ot sure whats next to complete ( lesson plans)..

Cheers everyone and thank you for all the input !!!!

I did my commercial in Nov last year and you're right, I was told about doing it right after.. I got much of my Multi Done , just waiting to do check ride and then I decided to do my CFI

Are you doing your training 141 or 61? For our 141, it requires 25hrs of flight training and 25 hrs of ground minimum. Minimum cost with 20hrs in the 152 and 5 hrs 172rg quote is just over $6,000 at my school. If you are able to do it 61, you can cut down the hours if you are proficient.

Since you have already been studying for the written, take those first to get them out of the way. Then work on the lesson plans. They can take a LONG time, if you personalize them and not just use pre made ones. Your CFI and examiners can tell quickly if you are using a lesson plan that you did not make, or at the very least look well over. Check with your CFI on his expectation for lesson plans. Most instructors, at least the ones in my school, require a full binder of lesson plans on every subject and maneuver in the PTS for an initial CFI student. I think its just over 50 subjects, and at 3-5 pages a piece, can take a while.

You can either do all the lesson plans at once, or work on them as you complete the ground training. You should be going over every subject area in the PTS, so you can prepare a few lesson plans at a time, then use those for the ground lesson. Again, check with your instructor to see what he thinks.

My instructor told me its about 12-15 hours max will be needed so I believe it is Part 61..

As for the lesson plans, I have copied pre-made ones but I plan to review them and understand the content of all of them and then modify them accordingly. Sounds good ?

My CFI has told me to get them in a binder .. He showed me en example of his binder with all his lesson plans..

Hard part is trying to find a job instructing once you have it done. It's a good experience and you learn a lot. Good luck

Congrats Stealth. I hope it goes as smoothly as possible. I am also planning on jumping right in once I get the commercial. The goal is by the end of the year. Do you know where you will be instructing or are you willing to be flexible? I have heard that teaching at a university although gets you a steady number of students and at times a good salary, you fly less hours per month than you would at a small FBO...Do you know which you prefer? Also do you have your multi engine rating and if not how are you planning on obtaining it?