From The CFI #1: Whose Job Is It, Anyhow?
A friend of mine called the other night. She’s a designated pilot examiner and we’ve known each other for almost 30 years. She had the usual list of complaints about the inadequacies of the current...
View ArticleFrom the CFI #2: A New Way to Train
A lot of folks have been saying that the training system is broken. It is and it has been for several years. The advent of technically advanced aircraft has just made that breakdown more apparent....
View ArticleFrom the CFI #3: Practice Does Not Make Perfect
You’ve heard it since you were a little kid — we all have. The old saw “practice makes perfect” has been drummed into us by mothers, piano teachers and just about anyone else who was trying to teach...
View ArticleFrom the CFI #4: Some Advice on Movin’ On Up!
Because of the nature of my job, I receive a lot of emails and phone calls from pilots wondering how best to prepare themselves for advanced training. This applies to any advanced training (beyond the...
View ArticleFrom the CFI #5: How to Pass Any Checkride … The First Time!
No one wants to fail when taking an exam, least of all a checkride for a pilot certificate. But there are some easy-to-learn ways of making sure that you pass your test on the first try, including how...
View ArticleFrom The CFI #6: Examiners Are Human, Too!
After my last column on how to pass a checkride, one of you wrote in and asked for a column on how pilot examiners are chosen by the FAA and what kind of training and experience is required to be a...
View ArticleFrom The CFI #7: Scenario-Based Training
In a previous column I called for the need to change the way we train pilots and I suggested that scenario-based training (SBT) would be a way to meet the needs of the growing numbers of pilots who...
View ArticleFrom The CFI #8: Musings of an Old CFI
If you’ve read my previous columns, you know that I have advocated changing the way we train new pilots. The old, maneuvers-based training is no longer meeting the challenge of today’s technically...
View ArticleFrom The CFI #9: Mentor, Mentor, Who Has The Mentor?
As I mentioned in my last column, the best way to really learn your craft in aviation, the best way to become a better pilot — while not having to make the same mistakes others have already made — is...
View ArticleFrom the CFI #10: What Type Are You?
With the coming of the very light jets (VLJs), I’ve had many folks ask me just what jet type-rating training is like. Although it’s hard to evaluate the programs currently under development, there is...
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