Checkride prep
I love it when a plan comes together. I had a three-day window in July to complete my checkride. Every other day the 182RG was booked, which meant if I missed my window I couldn't go until the middle of August.
Amazingly, it looks like I'll hit that window, weather permitting, as I'm scheduled for the ride on July 20th.
The last two weeks have been spent going over the FOI, reviewing ground stuff, polishing maneuvers in the air and getting my logbook endorsements in shape. It's been hectic, but it's almost over.
I have two more flights scheduled to keep polishing and I'll be studying my butt off this weekend. Beyond that, I'm just trying to stay calm.
A startlingly high number of CFI candidates fail the practical test the first time around. I've read about first-time failure rates as high as 80 to 90 percent, which seems absurd. Numbers like that don't do much for my confidence, but they also take away some of the pressure, so I guess it's a wash.
Test stuff aside, it's a weird feeling to know that I'll soon be out of formal training mode and into official teaching mode.
I started working on my instrument rating a year ago and although I took my time, I was still in training mode until the checkride in late January. I took a short break but was done with the commercial by early April and started the CFI ground school on May 1.
I've flown 43 hours in the past 10 weeks, and about 36 of those hours have been in the right seat. Of that, a little less than half has been actual training and the rest positioning the airplane back and forth and flying with friends or as a safety pilot.
Basically, since I started working on the CFI I've flown from the right seat, even if I was just going up on a sightseeing flight with friends. Every minute over there helps and it took about 10 hours before I started feeling comfortable flying from the right side. Now it's starting to feel natural to be over there.
I know I'll feel a little weird flying left seat again but I'm looking forward to it.
So what's the CFI taken so far?
Flight instruction: 16 hours
Ground instruction: 43 hours
Lesson plan preparation: 100 hours (34 lesson plans, average 3-hours each)
So, that works out to an average of 2.2 hours per day, every day, for 70 straight days. Not counting time spent driving to and from the airport (42 hours), pre- and post-flight briefings (8 hours), study time (lots) and general screwing around.
All told, I make it a total of about 210 hours, or an average of three-hours a day, every day, for 70 days in a row.
It's possible to do it faster, for certain, but 10 weeks is pretty darn quick. And I can attest that it's been a difficult 10 weeks.
I'm ready for a break, although I'm also eager to get started on the CFI-I so I can teach instrument students as well.
Pretty soon I'll be signing my name in other people's logbooks and those people are going to be taking their family and friends flying.
It's a sobering thought.
Amazingly, it looks like I'll hit that window, weather permitting, as I'm scheduled for the ride on July 20th.
The last two weeks have been spent going over the FOI, reviewing ground stuff, polishing maneuvers in the air and getting my logbook endorsements in shape. It's been hectic, but it's almost over.
I have two more flights scheduled to keep polishing and I'll be studying my butt off this weekend. Beyond that, I'm just trying to stay calm.
A startlingly high number of CFI candidates fail the practical test the first time around. I've read about first-time failure rates as high as 80 to 90 percent, which seems absurd. Numbers like that don't do much for my confidence, but they also take away some of the pressure, so I guess it's a wash.
Test stuff aside, it's a weird feeling to know that I'll soon be out of formal training mode and into official teaching mode.
I started working on my instrument rating a year ago and although I took my time, I was still in training mode until the checkride in late January. I took a short break but was done with the commercial by early April and started the CFI ground school on May 1.
I've flown 43 hours in the past 10 weeks, and about 36 of those hours have been in the right seat. Of that, a little less than half has been actual training and the rest positioning the airplane back and forth and flying with friends or as a safety pilot.
Basically, since I started working on the CFI I've flown from the right seat, even if I was just going up on a sightseeing flight with friends. Every minute over there helps and it took about 10 hours before I started feeling comfortable flying from the right side. Now it's starting to feel natural to be over there.
I know I'll feel a little weird flying left seat again but I'm looking forward to it.
So what's the CFI taken so far?
Flight instruction: 16 hours
Ground instruction: 43 hours
Lesson plan preparation: 100 hours (34 lesson plans, average 3-hours each)
So, that works out to an average of 2.2 hours per day, every day, for 70 straight days. Not counting time spent driving to and from the airport (42 hours), pre- and post-flight briefings (8 hours), study time (lots) and general screwing around.
All told, I make it a total of about 210 hours, or an average of three-hours a day, every day, for 70 days in a row.
It's possible to do it faster, for certain, but 10 weeks is pretty darn quick. And I can attest that it's been a difficult 10 weeks.
I'm ready for a break, although I'm also eager to get started on the CFI-I so I can teach instrument students as well.
Pretty soon I'll be signing my name in other people's logbooks and those people are going to be taking their family and friends flying.
It's a sobering thought.
posted by Will at 4:47 PM
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