CFI Initial Study Help?

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spacecadet2399@reddit

What do you mean by "FOI material"? The only thing you really need for that is the Aviation Instructor's Handbook. You should be reading through that cover to cover at least twice. That is probably 80% of the new stuff you'll be asked on your oral exam, and I'm always shocked at how many CFI candidates have never even looked at it. The vast majority of my oral exam was lifted straight out of the book, almost verbatim.

The other 20% is going to be split between endorsements and the lessons you'll be asked to teach, which the ACS will guide you on. Like every other checkride, make sure you know the CFI ACS front to back. A lot of it *should* be things you already know, although you obviously want to review them to make sure you can answer any questions about them at an instructor level. But you're going to need to teach at least one lesson as well, so you'll want to pay really close attention to that task because it will be totally new to you.

Make sure you are well familiar with AC 61-65. K seems to be the latest version at this point, but that could change I guess.

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spacecadet2399@reddit

What do you mean by "FOI material"? The only thing you really need for that is the Aviation Instructor's Handbook. You should be reading through that cover to cover at least twice. That is probably 90% of the new stuff you'll be asked on your oral exam, and I'm always shocked at how many CFI candidates have never even looked at it.

The other 10% is going to be the lessons you'll be asked to teach, which the ACS will guide you on. Like every other checkride, make sure you know the CFI ACS front to back. A lot of it *should* be things you already know, although you obviously want to review them to make sure you can answer any questions about them at an instructor level. But you're going to need to teach at least one lesson as well, so you'll want to pay really close attention to that task because it will be totally new to you.

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Alternative_Sale7459@reddit

I think where you’re coming from is the “where the hell do I start” part of CFI training. I did initial 2 years ago and II this January, almost all self study. I used most of u/txaggiemike advice from his previous copypasta and then bought backseat pilot lesson plans and began teaching them out loud. Anything I didn’t understand fully (be honest with yourself, don’t just glaze over it) I went to the FAA resources (or YouTube and then circled back to ground it in FAA sources) to figure out. I also modified the backseat pilot plans to my personal flow - the order things came naturally to me and examples that I came up with. Removed fluff etc.

For the FOIs specifically, I took the advice of others and baked them into my teaching of other lessons (make up stories or examples of a problem or unique pilot situation or how you had a hard time to learn X and that was because of primacy or whatever). HOPEFULLY you won’t have to rote teach the FOIs but it seems like there are some flight schools and DPEs that get off on memorizing stupid FOI acronyms.

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M3blockchain@reddit

In addition to the great advice in this thread, practice teaching. Teach grounds and fly right seat with friend or family and talk them through exactly what you are doing and teach them.

I got into a slight rut after just reading all the books and watching the videos, starting to actually teach really helped me.

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TxAggieMike@reddit

Another good resource to have is [VSL.aero ACE Guide](https://vslaviation.myshopify.com)

It has all of the FAA resources compiled into a single document. And the ACS’s are hyperlinked like crazy to supporting documents.

So worth the cost

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ltcterry@reddit

FOI comes out of the Aviation Instructor Handbook. This book is about 100 pages long. And covers Area of Operations 1 - Fundamentals of Instruction - in the ACS. Just the first four pages if I remember right. It's important stuff: 1) it's new and not about airplanes, 2) it gets its own written test, and 3) is discussed on the oral.

Todd Shellnutt's YouTube channel has "Eight Weeks to CFI" as a play list. It's based on the recent PTS instead of the current ACS, but at worst things have moved a page or two. You'll get it sorted. Todd's videos are a great start.

I suggest you Get the ACS printed with nice covers and a spiral binding. Ditto for the Private and Commercial ACS documents. Get a spiral binding put on the AIH. Watch the videos. Take notes in the CFI ACS and AIH. Cross reference.

Get the "study by certificate" list for the FAR/AIM. Mark up the suggested topics for Instructor. Though this is not FOI at this point, but being an instructor.

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TxAggieMike@reddit

My oral exam was all scenario based.

I was asked to teach the required items and some maneuvers. Periodically, FOI based questions were interwoven.

Flight was me flying and demonstrating while narrating. Then the DPE wanted to fly while I coached doing or improving a maneuver.

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TxAggieMike@reddit

CFI Preparation (Reddit)

#Prepration for the CFI Practical Exam (short notes)

Here is the quick notes from the class I teach in the DFW area.

**Read the ACS cover to cover**. The front section has many answers to common questions on how the exam will happen.
**Review the ACS Area of Operation 1 for the specifics of the FOI’s you need to know cold**. These are the main items within each FOI you are responsible for. Use this info as you do #3
**Read the Aviation Instructors Handbook for the detail knowledge of the FOI’s**. Take notes, highlight, underline, etc. of the important knowledge nuggets associated with the items the ACS is calling out.
**Watch the SethLakeDPE & Todd Shellnutt YT Videos on the FOIs**. Those is some of the best out there. Todd also introduces “cheat code” mnemonics to help you recall the information.
**FOI Task E and F are mandatory items, but so is one other**. Which other is the choice of the examiner, so know them all. As you continue prep for exam, continuously review so all of the FOI’s are properly coded into memory.
**Lesson Summaries**. You will be asked to teach the examiner on lessons in the remaining areas of operations. The simplest way to prepare is to take the very detailed lessons from Back Seat Pilot or similar and create 1-3 page summaries of each one of the topics in the ACS. Also look at Arlynn McMahon’s “Teach Like You Fly” books.
Again, you need a teaching summary of each topic so you’re prepared when the examiner picks a random item and says, teach me this.
Those lesson summaries follow the guidance in the AIH (page 1 of your summary should mirror the who what when how details the AIH points out) and covers the specific items pointed out by the ACS for that subject.
**Endorsements**: First, explain a summary of §61.51 and the why/what of logbooks. Second, you will *“build a private pilot”* explain your steps/sequence and what endorsements are used when. This is done from zero time, to solo, to XC training, to check ride prep, and finally endorsing for the practical exam. Make sure to use the FAR number references *(such as §61.39(a)(6)(i))*, not the AC 61-65Knumbering of A1.
**Crossover endorsements**: You will also be asked to handle a scenario such as a high time commercial helicopter pilot wanting a commercial fixed wing addition to his certificate. And that this fellow has zero time in fixed wing. Here you start with explaining how you apply §61.63(b) to start, the. Then tell the examiner what is needed to prepare him for the practical test (break down the aeronautical experience time, giving the pilot credit for his time in helicopters). Solo time is part of this, so how do you solve that? §61.31(d)(2) is the answer because he isn’t a student pilot.
**Pair up with a good CFI Mentor.**. Doing this prep alone is too big of a task. Pairing with a good mentor reduces the stress, keeps you on track, and makes it more fun.

All of the above should get you pointed in the proper direction.

Share any questions you have and we can help.

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rFlyingTower@reddit

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

Hey everyone,

Starting to dig into my CFI initial and looking for some direction from people who've been through it. I've started going through the FOI material and it's definitely new and a bit confusing but that's expected since it's totally different from anything else I've studied. What resources or study materials did you find most helpful getting through it? Also curious what your oral was like and what areas the DPE really pushed on, and how the flight portion of the checkride went. Just want to get a good overall picture of everything that's covered and what I should be focused on. Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

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