CFI Initial

sf03

New Member
getting ready to take my cfi initial check ride in the next few weeks. I already have a job lined up and they are hoping I can start ASAP so i would like to pass this on the first try. If anyone can give any advice on what to specifically study for the oral exam I would appreciate it. also if anyone has experience with the charlotte FSDO and what i should expect that would be awesome!
 
I'm about to start CFI in the next couple of weeks. How was your experience and how long did you prepare? I'm pretty nervous about it for some reason. Lot's of info!
 
getting ready to take my cfi initial check ride in the next few weeks. I already have a job lined up and they are hoping I can start ASAP so i would like to pass this on the first try. If anyone can give any advice on what to specifically study for the oral exam I would appreciate it. also if anyone has experience with the charlotte FSDO and what i should expect that would be awesome!
If its anything like my CFI and CFII were I'd suggest going over the special emphasis areas in the PTS and finding where each of them can be found in other FAA publications. The examiner I went with wanted word for word descriptions of them out of the book. Other than that I would just make sure to be on point with the other required areas in the PTS for the oral portion. Just remember, your instructor wouldn't sign you off unless he was confident in your ability to pass. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes!
 
yeah I've been going through the PTS and doing that its hard to feel like i haven't missed something ya know? scheduled for next weds. will let you know how it goes! thanks! USN88 i switched flight schools after getting my commercial so I've been preparing for about 3 weeks so far getting used to the new school and new airplane. and getting used to flying from the right seat is hard at first but after 5 or so hours i felt just as comfortable as in the left.
 
Study EVERYTHING, no joke you need to know as much as possible before your ride. idk if you have enough time, but it would be a good idea to take the PTS and break down every area, make lesson plans for everything or at least have notes about it. In your CFI ride you are allowed to use resources. Of course you can't look up every answer but if you get stumped and your DE isnt too hard on you, you can look it up.

Most of all be CONFIDENT in your teaching abilities. Stand your ground on what you know. The DE is going to test you in ways you havent been tested before and he/she is gonna push your buttons and take you to the breaking point (at least mine did) Just be confident in what you know. You have made it this far, you know your stuff, now its time to just teach it.
 
The CFI Initial can be very different in different places with different examiners. So, if you want to target the most likely hot spots, your.e best bet is to find a couple people who took a test with that particular examiner and pick their brains.

Also, ask the examiner. Ask if there is anything in particular they would like you to prepare. Ask if they would like to identify the maneuver lesson you will be expected to teach. If you do get some insight like that, come "extra prepared" for that maneuver. Just a suggestion, being able to show a PowerPoint presentation that you created on the maneuver or subject would leave a good impression.

I see a lot of people come in for the test with notebooks they have created. A notebook filled with applicable ACs. Another notebook filled with lesson plans. Also, a marked up, dog eared, FAR/AIM book. Those aren't required, but because so many people do it, it sets a level of expectation in the examiner's mind.

Just an an example of the kind of PTS questions an examiner might ask; what are the five kinds of stalls in the CFI PTS? (Two proficiency and three demonstration.)

Beyond that, be calm, be professional, be friendly, be sincere, and just be yourself.

I wish you the very best of luck in your efforts.
 
Thank you all so much for your help. I took the oral exam today and passed! letter of discontinuance for the flight due to weather. My examiner was very nice, told me everything he was going to go over, plan of action, etc. and that he wanted me to be relaxed. We started out with FOI stuff, laws/ characteristics of learning, what it means to be a professional, effective communication and barriers to effective communication. Talked a lot about logbooks/ endorsements, different kinds of endorsements I can give and where to find them (AC 61-65E). He spent a long time talking about airworthiness, went through all the maintenance logs and pointed out all required inspections and talked about when they are due, what AD's are, the different kinds and how to tell if they have been complied with or not. Next was inoperative equipment. Probably spend almost an hour on this talking about required equipment, where to find it, etc. If something is broken how can we determine whether or not we can legally fly with it INOP, and what steps to take if we can/ or cannot. ( Disable it and placard it INOP/ Write it up in the discrepancy log. Since our airplane does not have an MEL where can we find this information out? I did not know and he pointed me to the Single engine master MEL on the FAA website. Then it was on to weight and balance, this went on a little longer then I expected but was okay. I had to teach him short field takeoffs. This went well, he had me go into a little more detail on using the performance charts to calculate takeoff roll/ clear 50 foot obstacle and then talk about how to teach the student how to use things outside the airplane ( runway markings etc) to measure how far along you are. Ex: if we get to the beginning of the second stripe after the 1000 footers we know we have traveled 1200 feet and should be rotating, if we are not at rotation speed by then ABORT! I probably should have included that anyway but teaching the lesson to him made me more nervous then the rest so i made a few silly mistakes. I feel like Im leaving stuff out but my brain is fried. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I'm glad to have it behind me. Thank you all again for your input, it helps a lot. Advice to anyone else getting ready for this check ride: prepare thoroughly. Mark every section in your FARAIM so you can find it quickly, mark the aircraft logbooks and your own logbook, and know whats in the PTS. Ill post again after the flight
 
If its anything like my CFI and CFII were I'd suggest going over the special emphasis areas in the PTS and finding where each of them can be found in other FAA publications. The examiner I went with wanted word for word descriptions of them out of the book. Other than that I would just make sure to be on point with the other required areas in the PTS for the oral portion. Just remember, your instructor wouldn't sign you off unless he was confident in your ability to pass. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes!
FOI bonus question. What level of learning is demonstrated when memorizing FAA definitions?

:D
 
Thank you all so much for your help. I took the oral exam today and passed! letter of discontinuance for the flight due to weather. My examiner was very nice, told me everything he was going to go over, plan of action, etc. and that he wanted me to be relaxed. We started out with FOI stuff, laws/ characteristics of learning, what it means to be a professional, effective communication and barriers to effective communication. Talked a lot about logbooks/ endorsements, different kinds of endorsements I can give and where to find them (AC 61-65E). He spent a long time talking about airworthiness, went through all the maintenance logs and pointed out all required inspections and talked about when they are due, what AD's are, the different kinds and how to tell if they have been complied with or not. Next was inoperative equipment. Probably spend almost an hour on this talking about required equipment, where to find it, etc. If something is broken how can we determine whether or not we can legally fly with it INOP, and what steps to take if we can/ or cannot. ( Disable it and placard it INOP/ Write it up in the discrepancy log. Since our airplane does not have an MEL where can we find this information out? I did not know and he pointed me to the Single engine master MEL on the FAA website. Then it was on to weight and balance, this went on a little longer then I expected but was okay. I had to teach him short field takeoffs. This went well, he had me go into a little more detail on using the performance charts to calculate takeoff roll/ clear 50 foot obstacle and then talk about how to teach the student how to use things outside the airplane ( runway markings etc) to measure how far along you are. Ex: if we get to the beginning of the second stripe after the 1000 footers we know we have traveled 1200 feet and should be rotating, if we are not at rotation speed by then ABORT! I probably should have included that anyway but teaching the lesson to him made me more nervous then the rest so i made a few silly mistakes. I feel like Im leaving stuff out but my brain is fried. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I'm glad to have it behind me. Thank you all again for your input, it helps a lot. Advice to anyone else getting ready for this check ride: prepare thoroughly. Mark every section in your FARAIM so you can find it quickly, mark the aircraft logbooks and your own logbook, and know whats in the PTS. Ill post again after the flight
Sounds like a job well done!
 
Well, finally did the flight yesterday and passed! It was not as bad as I thought it would be, and my examiner was great. We started out with the detailed preflight, then he taxied us out and had me tell him if he was doing anything wrong which he didn't. He had me teach him a short field takeoff which went fine. We went out to do maneuvers after that, first was slow flight, transitioning into a power off stall. He was impressed with my recovery and we talked a little more about spin awareness, etc and accelerated stalls, cross controlled stalls... that stuff. Then we climbed up to 5,000 and he had me teach him a steep spiral. Hardest part of that was the fact that he wanted me to see his point which is very difficult from the right seat.:eek: Then i had to teach him turns around a point which i kind of messed up the explanation a little bit, confusing it with eights on pylons but i just explained to him what I should have said. He had me do a few eights on pylons and then told me to head back to the airport. pulled the engine on me during the climb and the emergency approach went fine. back to the airport and first was a short field landing, probably the best one I've ever done. then a soft field landing which i messed up pretty bad. It was pretty windy and i don't know if any of you have flown a cutlass but i find it to be all over the place once you get into ground effect. I thought i might have busted it right there but he was like okay what could you have done better, or to smooth that out a little bit? ( add some power) Then he said he was going to fly a power off 180 and i was supposed to tell him what he did wrong or well. He turned base early and ended up floating past his point. I explained that and he was like good, now you do one. I was going to come up short so I went around and he said to try it again and just get as close as possible to the point. Touched down within 200 feet and that was it. Feels great to be done with it!
 
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