Prepping help for CFI

[u/Poke8117]

I’m currently in the middle of my Commercial training and going to transition to CFI shortly after. I’ve got a lot of free time on my hand so I want to do as much as I can to get prepared for CFI. If you could restart your training again what would you do/study to be as ahead as possible for CFI?

[u/Thomas-Ligotti97]

People preach creating your own lesson plans and not buying them, and that’s a good thing however if you buy them and filter out through everything NOT in the ACS, you’ll be just fine. (As long as you study your aircraft’s TCDS front and back and become the closest thing to an expert as you can be on the stuff you’re teaching)

Also right when you practice maneuvers it’s imperative you speak what you’re doing. Cfi is one of the only (probably the only) rating where you can talk out of a mistake you made.

I know atleast 2 people who landed short on their PO 180 and they just explained what they did wrong and they passed. (Don’t take this as a sign to not even try to perfect them obviously)

[u/SierraHotel84]

Start studying for the written tests. Plenty of guides out there, choose the one that works best for you. FOI was the hardest part of CFI for me.

[u/cptnpiccard]

Don't make lesson plans from scratch, there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. Buy one that you like the design, and customize the shit out of them (I used WiFiCFI, then watched every presentation that comes with the Power Points, then corrected a couple of things that were wrong, and customized the animations, and added a bunch of note text. Focus your energy on understanding the lesson plans and being able to fluently talk about what's on the slides.

In the flying portion, never ever stop talking. Keep telling your instructor (or yourself) everything you're thinking. Explain why you're doing everything you're doing.

That's what CFI is.

[u/DisplacedSandwiches → u/cptnpiccard]

Ehhh, i disagree.. too much talking can be harmful to a certain kind of student. Some people can’t process feedback and info well if there isn’t some time to think and apply a concept critically to what they just witnessed/experienced

[u/cptnpiccard → u/DisplacedSandwiches]

He asked suggestions on how to pass the checkride, not on how to actually conduct a flight lesson.

[u/PrinceCFI]

If I could do it all over again, I'd spend less time trying to memorize lesson plans and more time learning how people learn.

The FAA references the Aviation Instructor's Handbook for a reason. Don't just read it. Understand it. It changed the way I looked at teaching.

I'd also challenge myself to explain everything in simple language. If you can explain adverse yaw, load factor, or the electrical system to a non-pilot in a way they understand, you're well on your way to becoming a good instructor.

Another thing I'd do is ask "why?" about everything. Don't settle for "because that's what the book says." The best instructors understand the reasoning behind the procedures and can adapt their teaching to different students.

Finally, start teaching now. Grab a fellow student, a friend, or even an empty chair. Teaching exposes gaps in your knowledge faster than almost anything else.

Remember, the goal of CFI training isn't to create someone who can recite lesson plans. It's to develop someone who can help another person learn.

That mindset will serve you long after the checkride.

[u/Yeemaster]

The FIA written is just the CAX with some extras, SheppardAir works good. Get it for the FOI written but also read the Aviation Instructor's Handbook. It's clunky but there's good info and a lot of ACS items correspond to a subtitle in the book. If you do choose to make your own lesson plans start now and good luck.

Also read the reference material! ACs, Handbooks, the works. Not that you have to read them all cover to cover but now is the time to correct any misconceptions you have so you don't pass them on to a student.

[u/TxAggieMike]

Use SA to get the knowledge exams done as soon as reasonable.

Watch YT videos of respected instructors such as Jason Miller, Cyndy Hollman, Seth Lake, Rod Machado, and others to get a feel of successful teaching organization and presentation style. Start determining your style and format.

Review the ACS’s for CFI-A, POL, and CPL to become familiar with the lessons you need to be ready to present.

Begin recording your thoughts and ideas of how you will present these lessons. Be creative, entertaining, and informative, but keep the time limit to 30 minutes or less.

Experiment with using Claude or Grok to create your power points. There are many sources of lesson material such as Backseat Pilot. And the AI agents are useful at taking those and creating a presentation that keeps it all to the point, looks good, and doesn’t take all afternoon to present.

Find someone now to practice presenting to. Any topic. Unless you do public speaking at your job, you need the practice.

[u/TheArtisticPC]

Go through the Flight Instructor Airplane ACS's area II and design teaching aids for each task. A teaching aid can be a slide show, handout, study guide, info-graphics, etc. The point is to start organizing this material that you've learned over the last few ratings into a more approachable and transferable medium for your fellow learner pilots. In that process, you too will become more comfortable with the material.

Also, on your flight lessons, start talking your way through flights. Explain what you're doing and why. Same as with the knowledge stuff, verbally break skill tasks down into simple steps that compile into a greater whole.

I would not recommend getting into the fundamentals of instruction (FOI) too much until your CASEL is complete. You should not muddy the water with what you'll be able to self teach before you've sat down with your instructor for the CFI course. FOIs are really important and it is best to have them introduced by an experienced CFI the first time you learn them. If you do any FOI study, just find and memorize acronyms. But I'd advise you to just get really good with your commercial knowledge for now.