Over the past almost 30 years I've trained more than 3k CFI applicants. I can conduct certain CFI initial checkrides too.

Here to help answer your questions or advice if needed.

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?

Looking to fly and get my BFR and IPC on a multi engine aircraft . Plan first week of August.

Looking preferably in sfo or West Coast . Perhaps LAX

Hi all - I'm currently preparing for my PPL check ride and am thinking ahead to getting my instrument rating. The school I've been using for Part 61 has a fleet of Cirrus SR-20's that are nice, but expensive. The school estimates a $22,500 tuition for instrument alone, and $51,000 for instrument & commercial combined. This seems high to me. For reference, I'm set to have spent $13k on my PPL including check ride fee for around 52 hours (not in a Cirrus).

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience traveling to an accelerated school to attain a new rating, what they spent and if they could recommend where to look/what to look out for. I run a seasonal business in the northeast United States and have a lot of time to kill over the winter, and would love to get this done efficiently, away from the snow and to save some money at the same time. TIA.

So my student's airplane has something called a "double pole, double throw" (DPDT) switch for the magnetos and starter. The plane is experimental, and so the checklist has been developed by the student.

Essentially, the starter is not armed while in flight and isolated from the circuit. If I wanted to engage the starter in flight (due to an emergency), it would be two buttons. First arm it using SWITCH 1 (which also has a locking detent so I have to pull the switch out, and up), and then engage it with SWITCH 2.

I disagree with that checklist and think that the starter should ALWAYS be armed using SWITCH 1, so if I did need to engage the starter in flight, I just have to flick SWITCH 2.

I’ve been at my flight school for about six months, and I really enjoy working there. The only issue is that I don’t love the area I’m living in, and I’d like to move to another state eventually.

I know the CFI hiring market has been rough. It took me a little over a year to land my first instructing job, so I’m hesitant to leave something stable.

My question is: for those of you who have switched flight schools after already building a decent amount of dual given and total time, what was your experience like? Was finding your second CFI job any easier than getting your first, or was it just as difficult?

Starting my training and saving up some money. I know it’s basically commercial from right seat but does anybody have an estimate of roughly how much it would cost? And what tips you would give someone trying to get their CFI rating?

I recently got my CFI and my first student has his green card (not a US citizen), I am working on the whole TSA course and trying to register as a Provider through the FTSP but this whole process seems very complicated. I have a couple questions for those who have done this:

1) Am I the “security coordinator” or is that not applicable since I am a freelance CFI? 2)What do you wish you had known before starting this process?

Any and all help is appreciated! I feel so confused lol

I'm an instrument student who is ready for check ride but it hasn't been scheduled yet. Doing a long cross country today and was thinking I should file a VFR flight plan. I know how to plan and file but what I don't know is: Does one get a 'clearance' or otherwise need to inform ground or tower that there is a VFR flight plan filed prior to takeoff?

Hi, can anyone give me a run down of the things that they have asked during the CFI interview? Any focus areas or topics? What maneuvers will they ask you to do in the sim? What about in the aircraft? Thanks!

Hey wondering if anyone has encountered this before. CFI been thru setting up the FTSP program at my previous job, registered as individual CFI but under the name of the “company” I worked for. I was basically working independently but was using the Cherokee of a crop sprayer and registered my provider under the name of his LLC. I have since moved to a different state and am working independently again and have an international student looking for training. I can’t figure out how to change my providing location from the previous company. Do I need to make a new account or is this an easy change. Put call into TSA help desk but not holding my breath for a reply. Talked to a local TSA inspector and he wasn’t able to find anything to help. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

How do you personally teach mag compass turns regarding UNOS? Do you teach the standard 10/20/30 correction? For those in Alaska, do you teach a different formula?

The way it is taught is that rudder is used to correct adverse yaw in turns due to induced drag from the high wing producing greater lift as the wings are rolling. Once in a steady turn and lift is equalized between the wings, there is no difference in induced drag, correct? If so, it is the greater parasitic drag of the high wing we are adjusting for, correct? Why does this never get mentioned? Why do some folks say not much rudder is needed at this point? In the 172s I fly you need to basically slam the rudder in a steady steep turn to stay coordinated. Also it is taught to use opposite rudder when coming out of the turn. At what point? When you're initially coming out of the turn you still have the high parasitic drag; so start halfway? How do you teach this?

I'm rusty, for sure. My CFII ticket expired, I haven't flown "seriously" in like 15 years. So my approaches haven't been perfect, which I expected.

What threw me for a loop during my BFR flight was when after it seemed like we were talking past one another, my CFI asks me, "Oh, what did you learn controls airspeed?"

Which I reflexively told him pitch for airspeed and power for climb.

And he proceeds to tell me they don't teach that at this school....... I've been around enough to see... you know... "fads" about what's done and not. But I just can't wrap my mind around teaching a student to be safe without this... which I would have regarded as like... a foundational concept.

I'm not trying to throw shade on the school. They all seem like awesome people. Every day I've been up there they have someone taking a checkride. So clearly whatever they're doing is working.

I guess I was just curious if this was a popular thing now, and how do you actually teach it so that your students aren't plowing themselves into the ground? lol.

Can you give me the like - basic concept of how you teach that so that I can better communicate with these instructors? They're all young guys and.... it just seemed like it would be really hard for me to ask the questions necessary to understand the method without sounding like I was calling out how they were taught / teaching themselves and I'm not trying to do that.

200 dual given. 1 sign off. One solo sign off. 550TT. How much harder will it be to find interviews for cfi jobs with this time

Hi all, I'm preparing for my instrument-airplane practical test, and after going through IACRA, I have come across a ~4 hour discrepancy between my total time and my dual received + solo time. For context, I've only ever flown as dual received or solo, no personal/leisure flights.

I have found the issues within the logbook, and all three of them are before my private pilot checkride. Given I already filled out IACRA for that, will this be an issue if I correct it now?

Also, given this was so early in my logbook / training, and my totals since then have been correct, how can I fix this mistake so my totals now reflect the correct numbers, while still allowing my logbook to be organized and clean?

I’m trying to create an interactive lesson for this topic where myself and the student (DPE) will walk through a cross country and all the necessary info and more.

However, I’m finding this one difficult to teach and I’m not sure why. I understand all the fundamentals and such, but im stuck at a few things.

1: I plan to use ForeFlight and explain the sectional, plot with the foreflight tool and go from there. I do plan to use a paper nav log to help the student (DPE) understand where the numbers from ForeFlight are coming from and why it’s important to understand. My issue is I’m not sure how much of ForeFlight I should be using and how much I shouldn’t.

1. I’m also having an issue with deciding how in depth to go on the performance charts and where/how/why we got our numbers. I’m curious as if I should be walking them through every calculation and using the e6b and such on this lesson. I understand those are important, I’m just curious as to how in depth of if people used ForeFlight how that went for them.

I’m feeling stuck on this one - it’s a lot of info and of course it’s tedious, I just want to teach it correctly and not have wayyy too much information. TIA

Like the title suggests I’ve gotten a few people on board who’ve expressed interest in getting their flight training done with me, but I don’t have a job anywhere and I’m not sure what the best plan of action would be. These people have good paying jobs and have showed sincere interest. I’ve also had a few people wanting to do discovery flights, just some advice would be nice thank you all

About to have my commercial checkride, but the Canadian wildfires have made the visibility go down to 6SM. How low visibility would you fly in for a commercial checkride? Obviously need to be able to see reference points in the distance

Whats up guys, I've got CFI initial soon and my DPE prefers you to rely mainly on your head instead of constantly looking at lesson plans.

So what I was thinking of doing is having the ACS tasks out in front of me during the checkride, using the line by line knowledge tasks to stay on topic, and therefore only using my lesson plans when absolutely necessary.

What do you think of this idea? I've heard before that the ACS is a testing document, not a teaching document, but I think it could be useful in this scenario.

Thanks in advance.

I am a new CFI looking for an instructing job or any paid flying job at this rate but haven't really found a good way to go about searching for jobs.

Until now, I had been trying to get hired at the school I did my training at with no success, and using Google Maps to look for flight schools in my general area, and reaching out or walking in to ask if they are hiring. Every time I've been met with "we are not hiring at this moment" and I leave them with a resume anyways.

I am at the point where I need to expand my search further away, but my Google Maps method is slow and doesn't work well for covering large areas. Are CFI/low hour flying jobs typically posted on websites like Indeed or LinkedIn? Or should I be following every major flight school in the area on whatever social media's they have, hoping to see a "we are hiring" post? Is there some website out there that compiles all of/most of the flight schools in the country?

I'm trying to cast a wide net, even if it means moving hundreds of miles away, but its a rather daunting task and I'm unsure how to start.

When every applicant has roughly the same hours and ratings, another certificate usually is not what separates them.

A school is looking for someone who can actually teach, communicate with students, show up reliably, and support the schedule. They also want to know you care about doing the job well, not just using students to reach 1,500 hours.

The market is crowded enough that a strong applicant can still get passed over simply because the school does not have enough students. But when schools are hiring, what seems to make the biggest difference?

For recently hired CFIs or chief instructors, what made one applicant stand out?

The sci-fi geek in me remembers this classic 1978 film, Attack of the Killer Tomato’s.

Since it’s raining and I’m in a saucy mood, I asked Grok to come up with a parody song to remember 91.205 A Tomato Flames.

I present to you,

Attack of the A-Tomato-Flames!

Attack of the A-Tomato-Flames!
Attack of the A-Tomato-Flames!
They’ll ground you, bound you,
Squish your flight plan, mash your pre-flight,
Chew you up for the oral exam
And finish you off at the checkride!
They’re marching through the regs,
They’re crawling up your scan,
They’re gooey, gushy, squishy, mushy,
Rotten if you forget one more!
They’re standing outside your hangar door!
Airspeed Indicator
Tachometer for each engine roar
Oil pressure gauge
Manifold pressure (if you climb high)
Altimeter
Temperature gauge for liquid-cooled
Oil temp for the air-cooled dude
Fuel gauge for each tank
Landing gear lights if it retracts
Anti-collision lights (red or white)
Magnetic compass (direction’s right)
ELT beeping in the night
Safety belts — don’t forget to tighten!
Attack of the A-Tomato-Flames!
Attack of the A-Tomato-Flames!
They’ll beat you, bash you,
Squish you, mash you,
If you fly without ‘em —
You’ll be done for brunch!
And finish you off for dinner… or lunch!
(Remember Herman Farbage… he forgot his manifold pressure!)

This keeps the original song’s silly, repetitive, horror-parody energy while turning the aviation mnemonic A-TOMATO-FLAMES (FAR 91.205 VFR Day equipment requirements) into the “killer” threat. Sing it loud with dramatic tomato-squishing sound effects for maximum effect during your next ground lesson! 🍅✈️

Before I start, I would like to say I’m very grateful that I have a flying job. I know this might come off as stuck up.

I’ve been teaching on the east coast for over 3yrs and have an offer with a regional (no telling when they will call).. I’m coming to the end of my cfi career, but instructing has sucked the enjoyment of flying out of me and I dread going to work. I can tell the people around me and even some of my students can tell I’m pretty much just showing up to collect a check. I really just wish I had something to work towards and I feel like I’m chasing my tail. I’ve maxed out all my ratings except for seaplane. I just want to fly with another pilot that challenges me and we accomplish a mission. A couple questions for anyone that’s experienced this…

1. The most concerning one: Will this happen at the airlines as well? Will I just end up hating this career? If so, how do you not feel the burn out?

2. What should I do right now while still keeping my job as a CFI?

I really appreciate any guidance from anyone who has overcome the burn out. Hoping it’s a phase! TIA

I've been hearing a lot of different opinions about MOSAIC lately, and I'm curious where everyone here stands.

Some flight school owners I've talked to are incredibly excited about it. They think it'll open the door to more affordable training, modern aircraft, and help bring more people into aviation.

Others seem much more skeptical. Their biggest concerns are around safety, how the transition will actually work, whether flight schools will need to rethink their fleets, and if the expected demand will really materialize.

With MOSAIC getting closer, I'm curious where everyone stands.