Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) - What are you thinking? You want to climb aboard an aircraft with someone that is going to do his or her best to kill you? Are you crazy? .......It's really not that bad. I've had people ask me those very questions and I tell them....Yes I am crazy!

Teaching people how to fly is a very rewarding experience. It can however, be very frustrating and does require a tremendous amount of time. For every one hour of flight time in a day plan on doubling or tripling that for your total time at work. For example if I fly 4 hours, I usually put in 8 hours total. Much of this time is pre and post briefing sessions, preparing for your next student, etc.. Being a CFI should require a degree in psychology...you could really use it. Getting people to overcome their fears and handling stress can be taxing on the newly minted CFI. You'll learn to recognize certain signs of stress or anxiety your student is displaying and cope with them by changing your teaching sytle, technique or just by cutting the lesson short.

To become a CFI you will need to at least hold a Commercial Pilot Certificate with an Instrument Rating and have obtained a spin endorsement from an authorized instructor. You are required to pass two written exams and an intensive oral and practical exam. Not only must you fly the maneuvers well, you must be able to teach them while your doing it all from the right seat.

(Don't worry too much if your first couple landings from the right seat are rather abrupt....you'll get the hang of it once you develop the site picture.)

If you would like any additional information please send me an e-mail and I'll respond asap.

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