AirTalk.org

Cecil Chapman · Guest

I'm getting close to booking my checkride and after I poke around in the
Arrow III (if it will manage to stay out of maintenance <g>) my CFI tells me
once I show him the complex stuff is looking good that we'll set the date.

Here's my question:

Okay,,,, here I am getting close for that 'super-duper-of-all-checkrides';
the CFI and I don't feel like some 'Zen Master of Aviation'. How 'wise'
should I be feeling? I guess I'm just starting to feel the pressure of
knowing that the 'ride' likely won't be very far away.

My CFII has never had an initial CFI candidate fail their checkride, so I
would assume if HE has lots of confidence in me that I should have a similar
abundance of assurance.

I know many things, but I don't feel like I'm 'THE' source for all aviation
knowledge <g>. For the CFI's out there; how confident were you when you did
your initial CFI 'ride'?

I guess this is one of those times when I wish I had the 30 plus years of
flying experience that my instructor has. ;0)

Don't even know for sure what I'm asking of you,,,, maybe y'all can help me
figure it out ? ;0)

--
--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil E. Chapman
CP-ASEL-IA

Student - C.F.I.

Check out my personal flying adventures from my first flight to the
checkride AND the continuing adventures beyond!
Complete with pictures and text at: www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -

Margy · Guest

Cecil,

You know the answer here! If you felt like you were the 'Zen Master of
Aviation' you'd just be some cocky SOB and not know anything. You will
learn much from your first 10 or 20 students and hopefully you will be
able to learn something from student 150 or so. My primary instructor
is an old freight dog and has been teaching forever, but I was still
able to help him learn to teach (I'm a teacher by profession). You
never stop learning if you're lucky.

Have a great checkride!

Margy

Cecil Chapman wrote:

Bob Gardner · Guest

I agree with Margy wholeheartedly. My first student was a young lady who now
flies for United...and we can now look back and laugh at how little I knew
then compared to what I know now. Get the ticket in your pocket, acknowledge
(to yourself) that you do not know it all, and you will get better with
every student.

Just reading your posts in preparation for the checkride makes me think that
you are much, much better prepared than I was at the same time in my career.

Bob Gardner

"Margy" <Margy (AT) toad (DOT) net> wrote

Jim Burns · Guest

Ha!! Cecil, my friend, you just admitted one of the most important things
about being a CFI!! You DON"T know everything, nor does anybody! Smile

As
long as you always remember that, you'll be a great CFI. The mere fact that
you feel the way you do indicates that you care about being able to supply
your students with the correct answers, just remember that you don't have to
KNOW the answers, but be willing to find the answers. Learning with and
along side your students will be some of the most memorable and enjoyable
lessons.

Jim

"Cecil Chapman" <bayareapilot (AT) sbcglobal (DOT) net> wrote

Robert Chambers · Guest

Cecil Chapman wrote:

Robert M. Gary · Guest

For the knowledge part of the CFI checkride, its all about memory. I
made up hundreds of flashcards about everything from private PTS
standards (what altitude must ground reference maneuvers be flow at,
what are the tolerances) to all the FOI stuff. Its just about
memorizing a bunch of stuff. BTW: more than one CFI has failed their
initial checkride on the first question. Some FSDOs start out asking
about ELT battery replacement requirements. If you fail that, they send
you home. It's probably more of a stupid way to making sure you are
taking the checkride seriously.

-Robert

Robert M. Gary · Guest

BTW: Once you are a CFI don't feel like you have to have all the
answers. There is nothing wrong with saying "I'm not sure but I'll find
the answer".

-Robert

Guest

Cecil,
Isn't the saying appropriate for a CFI that goes something like this.
You will specialize in knowing more and more about less and less until you
know absolutely everything about nothing? The more I 'know' about flying
the more uncertain I become about its certainty.

There are very few absolute truths and a very few apply to flying. Suggest
that you alway leave some wiggle room in what you say. Avoid words like
"always", "never", "perfect", "round", "straight" and 'certain'. Always
teach as though you expect your pupil to exceed what you have accomplished.
Even Fosett will become a historical "has been'.

Day by day you hope that one of your students have an 'a ha' experience from
what you have taught. In the classroom children would often praise some
part of a math lesson. My response was, come back in two years and let me
know if it made a difference.

Keep track of your students I my last years of teaching I asked all my
students to write themselves a letter about what they hoped to become and do
in a certain time period after leaving my classroom. I kept the letters and
mailed them on the appropriate year to the designated address. Resuts were,
a mixture of joy, sadness, hope and disappointment. I wish I had done it
with my flying students. Consider this as something you will do with
your students. Get letters from your successes and failures because you
will get both and learn from both.

Last year I put a stack of my web site CDs on top of my car and drove off.
A few day later there was a knock on the door and a young man introduced
himself as a former classroom student of mine that I had taken for an
airplane ride. We was an airline pilot on a non-scheduled airline. A
neighorbor of his had found the CDs and since they were about flying they
took them to him. He lives less than a mile from my home. You never know
just in what way a reward will come to a teacher.

As with most teaching, your rewards will come mostly after you're gone.

Gene

Guest

Cecil,

Isn't the saying appropriate for a CFI that goes something like this. "You
will specialize in knowing more and more about less and less until you know
absolutely everything about nothing? The more I 'know' about flying the more
uncertain I become about its certainty.

There are very few absolute truths and a very few apply to flying. Suggest
that you always leave some wiggle room in what you say. Avoid words like
"always", "never", "perfect", "round", "straight", 'level" and 'certain'.
Always teach as though you expect your pupil to exceed what you have
accomplished. Even Fosett will become a historical "has been'.

Day by day you hope that one of your students have an 'a ha' experience from
what you have taught. In the classroom children would often praise some part
of a math lesson. My response was, come back in two years and let me know if
it made a difference.

Keep track of your students I my last years of teaching I asked all my
students to write themselves a letter about what they hoped to become and do
in a certain time period after leaving my classroom. I kept the letters and
mailed them on the appropriate year to the designated address. Resuts were,
a mixture of joy, sadness, hope and disappointment. I wish I had done it
with my flying students. Consider this as something you will do with your
students. Get letters from your successes and failures because you will get
both and learn from both.

Last year I put a stack of my web site CDs on top of my car and drove off.

A few day later there was a knock on the door and a young man introduced
himself as a former classroom student of mine that I had taken for an
airplane ride. We was an airline pilot on a non-scheduled airline. A
neighbor of his had found the CDs and since they were about flying they took
them to him. He lives less than a mile from my home. You never know just in
what way a reward will come to a teacher.

As with most teaching, your rewards will come mostly after you're gone.

Gene

"Cecil Chapman" <bayareapilot (AT) sbcglobal (DOT) net> wrote