Pageh1CFIWantabe

Pageh1 CFI Wantabe
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With comments…
CFI Training
I then did the second half of my initial instrument training, along with the 250NM IFR X/C, in a twin. I wanted to have the basics of instrument flight down pat in the C-172 before I started worrying about dragging along a dead engine or the higher speeds involved with a twin. When I took my instrument check-ride I had 26.6tt in the Travel-Air.

I'm now about to take the single-engine Commercial check-ride by flying a C-172 for the flight maneuvers and then flying the twin to demonstrate complex aircraft operations and the short/soft landings. Once I have demonstrated the requirements for the SE Commercial, we'll then go fly the ME Commercial add-on. I'll live with my FBO's insurance restriction for solo flight in the twin until 350tt/25me, which I should be over by the end of January as a CFI.

For all you low-timers looking at getting your ratings and going on in aviation. Study well, read the AIM, and REALLY read the FAR's! Find a good part-61 CFII/MEI and put together a training plan to make your aspirations become reality while you save money. If you get the multi-engine training done while your still training or building hours towards the instrument or commercial, your almost doing it at half price over waiting until your already a commercial pilot. Don't waste time in an Arrow or C-172RG! Read 61.63(c), 61.65, and 61.129 letter-by-letter along with the PTS for each rating. Make each hour in the air count towards a requirement for a rating (or two or three). Please don't take this as an endorsement for taking shortcuts or lowering the quality of your training. You'll have to study right, fly right, and then pass the written and practical test just like everyone else. A "pinked" check-ride won't be the best thing to discuss during a future job interview.

The CFI Checkride
A question: What would be wrong with facing up to the examiner and having him give you a run-down on what he expects you the teach? Then, using that as a basis, do your teaching before you even get into the airplane. That is the way I teach. Also, the way I believe you should teach as well.

The cockpit is a terrible classroom either for instruction or demonstration. I will spend nearly as much time on the ground going over what we will be doing, anticipating areas of difficulties, why we are at a particular altitude, what my initial expectations are, why what we are doing is an ingredient important enough to master, how mastery is demonstrated, etc. There are few maneuvers or procedures that cannot be walked through or illustrated on the ground.

I emphasize fundamentals such as how the yoke is touched, how the throttle is moved, rudder use, trimming for minimum pilot input knowing where you are and where to go if...The basics are still Stick and Rudder.

FAA Comment:
Good thought process, and I expect you'll get different answers from different examiners. When you come to me - an FAA inspector - for a practical test, you must already KNOW what to teach and how to teach it. It's all there in the Practical Test Standards. I will give you all pertinent details based on the rating for which you are applying. By asking me to give you the rundown on what I expect you to teach me, my "curiosity" might be aroused: are you THOROUGHLY familiar with the PTS? Have you ADEQUATELY been prepared? Are you QUALIFIED to be here in front of me? You really don't want an inspector's "curiosity" to be aroused. I might then put myself in the position of a student pilot, on who knows nothing. Nothing.

My advice to each of you trying to get a flight instructor certificate? Take command of the lesson right from the start. Treat the examiner EXACTLY like you will treat a student. EXACTLY! Be as gruff or smooth as you need to be, as basic or advanced. Watch EVERYTHING the examiner is doing - feet, hands, eyes, fingers - and remember, what you are seeing might be an act or it might not. But it doesn't matter. Your job is to teach and evaluate. Do that and you will be successful. Don't assume and don't ask, "What would you like me to teach you?" You will get all the information you need before the practical test starts. Examiners have wide latitude during the practical test; as long as the maneuver/situation relates directly and clearly to one of the items in the PTS, it's probably OK. It is important to remember that. Don't fight the system; take command and SHOW that command. That's what I want to see.

Allow me to approach that from a different perspective. Considering that you're in the airplane, you have presumably already demonstrated to the examiner your ability to teach. You did that on the ground. One of the most significant issues and daunting challenges confronting new CFI applicants is teaching a complicated maneuver properly demonstrating WHILE FLYING THE AIRPLANE within prescribed standards. It's my experience that most failures after the ground part result from failure to fly. Maybe that's why you were asked to do all the flying. When I do a CFI practical test, I do very little flying, unless I want to show the applicant how bad I am. And remember, I'm LOOKING for something if I do!

Remember, you GOTTA have an airworthy airplane. That little piece of paper is one item required to demonstrate airworthiness. So is some kind of placard indicating fuel type. I've failed applicants and grounded airplanes (well, not ME, exactly; my airworthiness inspector counterparts) for that reason. And remember, as soon as the practical test with an FAA inspector starts, there are only 3 possible results: successful completion, unsuccessful competition, and voluntary termination, usually by the applicant, but not always.

The best teachers seem to be able to demonstrate only as much as necessary to introduce the basics of the skill or subject to the student. Then, after that, the teacher will then proceed immediately to nudge the student into applying the new knowledge or skill in an appropriate context. This way, the student has to think about the information or perform the skill in "real life". This reinforces and cements the learning in the students mind, particularly if mistakes are made (mistakes are a critical component of learning something). Jim Wilkinson, FAA

Another comment:
I am in unqualified agreement with this teaching philosophy, and have used it for all my many years in this business. The most important time in the teaching cycle as it pertains to flying is the time between flights, when the student actually puts together the pieces of the puzzle he/she was dealing with under the stress of flying the airplane. I have always believed, and taught prospective CFI's as well, that it is here, during these periods of reflection, that one really learns to fly an airplane.

Along the same lines, the time spent with the student before and after the flight are paramount in proper teaching philosophy. To simply climb into the airplane with the student and begin teaching as you taxi to the active is not conducive to a good learning curve.

In sum, I've found the best teachers introduce subjects in manageable, learnable pieces (perhaps quizzing the student meanwhile) and then later put them together at the end with the student. This requires not only that the teacher have mastery of the overall task or subject, but also of each individual component that makes up a task or subject. Most crucially, they also understand completely how each of these contributes to that task or subject.

Anyway, after many years in the learning business, those are a couple of the qualities I've found to be important in good teachers. There's no pat answer, IMO, to what you're asking. Teaching is a lot more complicated than it sounds, and doing it effectively requires a lot of skill and talent.

For example, we're typically taught crosswind landings in this way. A good CFI will introduce slips to the student early on and then later require the student to reuse the slip skill when doing crosswind landings. (s)he won't introduce the slip at the same time as the crosswind landing; rather, (s)he'll ensure the slipping skill is in place first before putting it into "real world" use in the crosswind landing. Same thing with slow flight, airspeed control, rudder usage and so on. Each of these is introduced and learned individually, and then required to be put to use in the process of learning the overall larger skill of executing a crosswind landing.
Dudley

Another comment
My biggest piece of advice for this one: tell him *why* you have to do a specific task. For example: why we slow to departure speed first on a take-off stall, why we do our clearing turns to the left first, why we want to enter turns around a point on downwind. Just tell him why we do things! If a student knows why he/she has to do something, they will be able to make the decision as to when it needs to be done.

It's considered by many flight instructors to be harder to "teach" an examiner than it is to actually teach a student. There is no way to separate the fact that you as the applicant are fully aware that the examiner already knows what you are attempting to explain, and is grading you on your presentation. In other words, with the student it's real, and with the examiner, it's a presentation. With a student, you have already observed his/her personality. If you're any good at all, you are at least partially aware of the individual student's knowledge levels and have placed that information into your mental projection of how you plan to deal with this particular student. With an examiner, this pre-instruction data base is missing. As a good instructor, you would talk to, and get to know, the student a bit before starting formal instruction. This gives you an entry point, a place from which you can begin

That being said, the best approach to a CFI flight check is always the prepared approach. Examiners are already aware of the problem I have just described. They have it in reverse playing the role of someone who doesn't know what they are doing. It's hard for them as well. My experience through the years in both seats has been that examiners like complete honesty and a straight forward approach to the problem. One common mistake that applicants make is to become placid and apologetic with the examiner.

Don't do that! Listen to the examiner closely. View him/her as you would view a new student and make the same observations you would have made with a student. Be observant, and take the role the examiner gives you seriously. A quick way to impress an examiner on a CFI ride is for the applicant to demonstrate how serious he/she is about the instructions being given by the examiner. When you are asked to teach something to the examiner, make a serious transition into the role and present your information in a professional yet friendly manner. The secret is being prepared. If you make a mistake, and you probably will at some point, recognize it as soon as possible and state the error in precise terms to the examiner. Most examiners will agree that it is actually better to have an applicant make an error and see how he/she handles it, than to have the applicant do everything right.

My CFI always sounds kind of like this: "...Ok, now you do it. Your airplane. Ok, that was good. All right, now, do it again, but this time I want to see X, Y and Z at the same time. Your airplane. Ok, good, but <explanation of what I did right and what I did wrong>". And so on...

Another strategy is presenting the student with a slightly different (but related) scenario or task than a previous one just explained. The teacher's task then may be to ask the student a related (but different) question about it, or ask that it be done in some applied way with a new twist to it, leading to the new topic. This forces the student to use the original information as a tool to solve a new problem, reinforcing the retention of that subject in the process of introducing another.

If I've explained it right, they'll understand most of what's going on, but question the new thing I threw in there. Then, after all the pieces are explained, I give them and example of the overall topic (linkage) and the punchline and they understand the whole thing (I really don't know if that's effective teaching method for them or not, but it sure works wonders for me.)

This brings up another (what I think is a) quality of a good teacher - the ability to break down the teaching task into learnable modules or building blocks. Most crucially, the teacher understands intimately how the building blocks are related to one another and to the overall skill or subject, because (s)he is going to put them all together at the end with the student's assistance in order to teach the overall skill!

Question
1. For a test to be considered comprehensive, it would …?

2. How would you use an oral quiz during a lesson?

3. If you wish to made an impression on a student, what law of learning should be used?

4. When a group session has covered the subject completely, what should the instructor do?

5. What is a learning plateau?

6. What is considered the best motivational means available to the instructor?

7. What is the defense mechanism of flight used for?

8. What do we call the learning that takes place that is not part of the lesson.

Answer
1. Check samples of everything being tested.

2. The oral quiz is a means of getting student participation.

3. The Law of Intensity means that the student will be more apt to remember the event

4. After a group session, the instructor should give a summary of what was covered.

5. A learning plateau is a situation where the learning rate temporally levels off. It is normal and to be expected.
6.The probability of achievement and/or rewards is the best motivator.

7. The desire to escape a particular situation can result in flight.

8. Incidental learning takes place during every lesson, even though it is not being

Question
1. What defense does a student likely use when his difficulty is weakness in fundamental knowledge?

2. What is the use of excuses to explain inadequate performance by a student called?

3. What is the reason for instructional building blocks by instructors?

4. A student who relates incoming information to previous knowledge is called…?

5. What is the transfer means called that allows a student to relate rectangular patterns to traffic patterns?

6. What is the transfer means called where one performance interferes with learning another performance?

7. When one thing learned overshadows other learning , it is called…?

8. Why should instruction expose the relationships between perceptions as they occur?

9. Why should a student practice what has been taught?

10. What is the purpose of giving a student problem solving situations?

Answer

1. Resignation

2. Excuses are a form of rationalization.

3. Building blocks help insure proper habits and correct techniques.

4. The process of relating new information into old information is called recoding.

5. Positive transfer occurs when training is correlated to real time flying.

6. This is called negative transfer. May occur in use of throttle if boating is involved.

7. This is called interference. The importance of learning correctly from the beginning prevents this.

8. Instructional use of relationships speeds the learning process.

9. The use of exercise reinforces instruction that is directed towards a goal.

10. Problem solving by a student exercises the verbal and conceptual knowledge acquired.

CFI PTS
CFI applicants must exhibit instructional knowledge of task elements through descriptions, explanations, simulations and common errors.

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