Are you a commercial pilot with hundreds of hours logged-in flying in stunt shows across the country? Perhaps you’re having a blast and the money’s good, yet you feel something in your career is lacking. Or maybe you think you’re capable of something more challenging than just flying tourists in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon or the Niagara Falls. If these scenarios hit home, you may want to consider becoming a flight instructor and sharing your skills, knowledge and passion for flying with others.
Learning To Be A Good Teacher
While your commercial rating already attests to your excellent flying ability, the goal of the CFI training is to give you the tools you will need to be an effective teacher. The fact is that many people who are extremely accomplished at what they do find it almost impossible to teach their skills to others. In most cases, they simply lack the necessary verbal and motivational techniques to effectively communicate with their students.
The purpose of this training, therefore, is to introduce you to the world of teaching, particularly the critical fundamentals of flying an aircraft. It’s a skill that should not be taken lightly since a certified flight instructor is responsible for providing his or her students with a very unique form of education. And one never knows when his lessons might be relied upon in a life and death situation.
What You Will Need
Prequisites for CFI training include an FAA commercial pilot’s license and a current FAA medical certificate.
At the school, the CFI curriculum will usually include such subjects as fundamentals of instructing, preflight preparation, ground and airport operations, take offs and climbs, stalls and spins. Also in the lesson plan is training in psychology, common mistakes student make, slow flight maneuvers, basic instrument maneuvers, performance maneuvers, ground reference maneuvers, emergency operations, approaches and landings and post-landing procedures. The aircraft that are often used for such lessons include the Cessna 172, Piper Arrows and the Beechcraft Sierra.
Some schools may also recommend that their teaching students study a number of flight manuals for at home in order to be prepared to pass their own pre-admission exam.