Two more flights and the check ride is on the Horizon

This week I presented one ground brief on high altitude operations and flew a couple of flights. Both flights went well and I started playing the role of CFI again for the first part of the flights. I hadn't instructed in a while and I was suprised how smooth it went and how much I've improved since the early dual flights. It's a big help having taught a manuever/concept in the classroom before teaching it in the air.

The second half of my flights were just maneuver proficiency and my lazy eights and chandelles are starting to get more consistent. I actually nailed a lazy eight on my first attempt (but the subsequent attempts dropped off in quality). So still some more refinement required. Another interesting excercise was a lesson in teaching slips. The excercise starts with having a student apply full rudder in one direction and then keeping wings level with opposite aileron. Then repeat in the other direction, then back and forth until the direction change is smooth. The next excercise is to "draw" a square with the nose by using full rudder/opposite aileron/elevator to draw a square in the sky. Once the square is mastered, try a circle or diamond. Then continuing with the slip exercises, doing a side and forward slip while mainting a constant airspeed and ground track.

We talked about setting a date for the checkride and I'm in the process of estimating what amount of study time I'll need to be ready for the oral part of the exam. There are approximately 70+ subjects as outlined in the PTS and I'm thinking I'll need four weeks or so to prepare.

Training Update

Two more flights in the logbook (#19 and #20) and one flight was spent mostly on lazy 8's and the second flight was 100% pattern work doing power off 180's, short field landings, no flap landings, etc. Also presented a ground brief on airspace.

I spent most of the weekend creating outlines for the PTS task areas that I don't yet have ground briefs for. This at least gives me some bullet points to talk about if I'm asked to present something during the oral exam and I don't have an an actual brief written. My plan is to have a brief for all the PTS tasks, but some of them like pre-flight and taxiing are self explanatory. All in all I have 62 docs written (either full briefs or outlines).

A Productive Training Week

I had the last week off from work so my plan was to dedicate 3-4 hours per day for flight training. Whether I was doing actual training or studying/preparing ground briefs I was able to stick to that goal. This week consisted of three flights, two ground sessions, taking the CFI written exam and a bunch of hours in the library. The flying is coming together and I'm getting close to getting lazy 8's down. The performance of the other maneuvers are pretty good with refinement needed here and there.

The next few weeks of training will focus on refining the maneuvers to a commercial level and getting my ground teaching skills/knowledge up to a level where I can pass the practical exam.

It seems like I've been training for the CFI certificate for a long time but looking back at my logbook, I've gotten a lot accomplished since August. Here's a breakdown:

18 flights (including spin training) - 25.5 hours
35 ground briefs written and presented
FOI/CFI written exams passed
Countless hours in the library