CFI ASEL Practical Test

Completed the CFI ASEL practical test successfully on 8 Sep 2016.
The ground portion of the practical

was pretty grueling. I spent long hours in self-study, as well as significant hours doing ground training
with the flight instructors from Middle River Aviation. Logged 18.3 hours of flight training in
preparation for the CFI practical. I felt well prepared for the ride, but it was still very challenging.
What I have learned preparing for this certification is:
-You don't have to be perfect, but you do have to know what perfect is.
-You need teaching repetitions- I got some great opportunities to teach a commercial student at MRA
under the supervision of one of their senior CFIs. I did several hours of lesson planned ground
instruction and got to do two 1.5 hour flights in the right seat, student in the left seat and CFI
observing and critiquing from the back seat. No substitute for this kind of real world CFI train-up.
-I have to continue to improve my skills and knowledge continually going forward. It is pretty
humbling to be solidly prepared for the practical and have the Pilot Examiner ask you about things
that you don't know in depth, or can't recall exactly.
-Use and refer to every resource you can during the practical test. The DPE told me weeks ahead that
I could bring any resource I wanted, and use it during the practical. I did. I could not have passed
without having references to double check myself.
-The CFI practical is comprehensive- There is so much material in just the 14 CFR 61 and 91, not to
mention all the FAA manuals and the AIM, that you can't know it all. But, my DPE made me show him
dozens of things in the FAR/AIM, the AFH, the Insructor's Handbook, charts, POH etc. through asking
scenario based questions. You don't have to know it all cold, but you should know where to find it.
-If you don't know something; say you don't know. I learned this a long time ago in the military from
instructor pilots and instrument examiners; but it applies to the civilian world too. You are far better
off saying you don't know, than trying to cobble together an answer that is almost always incorrect.
Remember, you are not expected to know every answer to every question, but you have to
demonstrate instructional competency throughout the practical.
-There was a very strong emphasis on safety, risk management, ADM, collision avoidance and what
used to be the special emphasis areas of the Private Pilot PTS. The point the examiner was driving
home, is that as an instructor you have to be procedurally and safety "brutal" with your students. I
used the airport diagram, wrote down and read back every clearance we received- how often do you
write down your taxi clearances? I used the aircraft checklist throughout the flight- for every takeoff
and landing and every simulated emergency procedure. I don't believe there is an FAA check airman
or DPE out there that will pass you on this practical if you don't demonstrate checklist and procedure
discipline.
-There was quite a lot of ground covered on CFI professionalism and responsibilities including how to
verify English language proficiency, IACRA mis-steps and mistakes, some endorsement questions for
both student pilots and applicants with more advanced certificates and ratings- though nothing about
instrument ratings. We also spent some time on how to find the most current version of various CFRs
and ACs. I brought a laptop computer with me and used it several times to locate items on FAA.gov
that the DPE asked about. And yes, I had to use an E6B flight computer for a couple of questions too.
-The DPE also emphasized performance planning and weight and balance. He had me complete a
scenario based weight and balance along with performance chart interpretation for a flight to a short
runway, hot and high airfield. This scenario included having to make the pressure altitude correction
for a given altimeter setting. (Yeah I knew how to do that, but only because I had recently prepared a
lesson plan on the topic of performance planning) Anyway, this is not something your average
weekend pilot is probably doing before takeoff. Not complaining, just pointing out the depth of
knowledge that the DPE is looking for to complete this certificate.
-The flight portion of the practical was for me; easier than the ground part. The DPE followed the
random sampling of maneuvers as expressed in the CFI PTS- i.e. he chose one or two maneuvers from
each of the areas of operation, and had me either demonstrate them to him, or talk him through them
while he flew. We did both commercial and private ground reference and performance maneuvers, and
he had me under the hood for 5-8 minutes demonstrating and talking through some basic instrument
tasks.
-The flight portion moved quickly. I was somewhat prepared for this from doing the commercial
practical test with the same DPE, but this flight was fast and furious. He briefed me on the first three
maneuvers we were going to do while at the hold short line. (Soft Field takeoff, back around for a
forward slip to a spot landing, followed by a touch and go with departure to the North for S-Turns
across a road.) After that it was one maneuver after another. The flight portion finished with a short
field landing, again to a point designated by the examiner- I want you to put the main landing gear
down on the runway designation numbers.
-I am looking forward to logging my first hour of "dual given", but I am very sure I will spend way
more time preparing for it, than I do conducting it.
H Brandenburg

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Completed the CFI ASEL practical test successfully on 8 Sep 2016.

The ground portion of the practical

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