Helicopter Certified Flight Instructor Membership Summer 2016

Welcome back. Existing CFI members welcome. If you're brand new to helicopter all line ground school summer of 2016, I want to kind of give you the latest. I just did two commercial or two checkrides in the last few months. Did a commercial checkride with Gary Cleveland and a CFI checkride with Holly Gardell. So it's nice having two fresh checkrides that we just went through to kind of, you know, catch up on maybe what's changed and what's new. So we're going to cover some of those things, going to talk about the new changes to the site. We've been going through and reorganizing the private pilot section. You know, originally it was following the pts. We're now going through and making separate lessons and so far members are really liking that. So if you're working on your commercial, your cfi, you can still go back to the private section to easily find certain sections that you want to cover, you want to, you know, refresh your memory on. And we're just getting started with reorganizing the commercial section and we're going to be reorganizing this section as well, especially since I have some fresh thoughts on some different things with again, just going through CFI checkride. So first I want to talk about Holly Gardell from Colorado, works for a helicopter company in Colorado. And she contacted me, I think last fall or early winter about coming out here and doing a CFI with me in the instrum and she arrived last month and you know, I kind of pre warned her before she got here. I said do as much studying as you can before you get here. And she worked with a couple of CFIs that helped her practice. And she did study, she tried hard. She showed up and she was very, very knowledgeable when she got here and when she arrived. So that was awesome because she showed up ready to go, ready to learn, had a great attitude and she showed up on a Monday and then not the next Friday, but the following Friday, less than two weeks, she had her CFI and was on her way back home to Colorado. So that was pretty awesome. So we'll have some new content from the training with Holly. She did two videos on AIRSP airspace and then special use airspace and also did a lesson on slope landings that are here in the site as well. So those are really neat. We filmed some of that training while she was here. She was willing to get in front of the camera and she did an awesome job. So inside the CFI section now, we did film the full down Auto rotations. And we filmed some of the other maneuvers that we did as well. So as time goes by, I'll be getting more and more of that content up. I had a lot of flying I did in just a few months between those two checkrides and the R44 that we had here flying with another gentleman there. So I'm still catching up with video that I have on a hard drive. It just, you know, I still pretty much work alone, so it takes me time to edit this stuff and get it in. So I'm doing the best that I can to get you these presentations as soon as possible. So next I want to talk about paper charts versus iPad. You're going to need to check with individual examiners because I can tell you what happened with us. She had tried to get a local sectional that we would need for her checkride here in Indiana, and they were on backorder. She couldn't get one. Nobody local had one. So she made the attempt. And I called the examiner because the one that we had was going to expire the night before the checkride. So I just called him and said, hey, what do you want to do? We've tried to get the chart. They're on backorder. Nobody locally has it. We've called around, can we use the iPad foreflight and the iPad? And he said, that's fine. If she has updated foreflight and the chart's only expired one day, he. He said, I understand they're hard to get. So he still wanted to have the one that we had, but didn't require us to wait for a new sectional chart to show up. And I posted a video about this subject on Facebook and an examiner jumped on there and said, hey, in his area, it's up to the person taking the test. It's up to the applicant. If they want to use paper charts, they can. If they want to use an iPad, they can. And he said in his area, the examiner can't tell them any different. It's their choice. So check with your examiner in your area whether they want paper charts, foreflight, both. Find out the examiner that you're using, what is their preference. The next I want to talk about is the endorsement for lateral rotations. Many of you know that they put a change in the pts, that an examiner can just accept a endorsement from an instructor that that instructor has given the applicant the instruction in full down auto rotations. In our case, he wanted to do the auto rotations. We had all the endorsements ready. But once he looked at the logbook he said, you need to give her the endorsement that says you've given her the training. Even though he was going to do the full down with her, he still wanted the endorsement, stating that I had given her the training. So he sends me out and says, go find the endorsement on the FAA website. So I go to the FAA website and guess what? I could not find any verbiage on the FAA site for that specific endorsement. And the airport we were at, there was another examiner there. He jumped online, tried to find it too. And then we decided, you know, there isn't one. We could not find one. As of the making of this video, you know, there is not an endorsement. So we just made up our own endorsement. You know, as per the change in the pts, I've given Holly Gardell instruction, the fold down autos, blah blah blah. And when I went back into the other examiner that was administering the test, he goes, I said, well we couldn't find one online. He goes, oh, there isn't one. So he sent me on a goose chase knowing that I wasn't going to find it, read the one I had and said okay, well that's acceptable. So as of making this video, you make up your own endorsement stating you've given the applicant instruction in straight in and fold down 180 auto rotations. Next, what I want to hit is fundamentals of instruction on this checkride. I'm going to tell you that this examiner was really tough on the fois. He was not an easy examiner. He's somebody I've never used before. Interesting note. You know, a lot of, you know, I've been using the Same examiner for 15 years and with Gary I used an examiner I've never used before. With Holley I used an examiner I've never used before. And I kind of did that number one, because they were closer and available and it was less money for both those checkrides to travel closer. But I also wanted to use a couple different examiners so people can't say, well you've been using the same guy for 15 years. Everybody just passes because you guys are buddies. So it was interesting to go use two different examiners. And I can tell you that they still hit the same stuff. They didn't do a lot of things different. But on the CFI for Holly, this guy was tough. He was not easy on her at all. And I can tell you that they spent probably an hour and a half or two hours just on the fois. And he didn't seem like he wanted me in the Room I normally sit in with the checkrides that I do. And I've always been invited to sit in by every examiner, every test I've ever done. This guy did not invite me. Sent me on a goose chase. And then when I came back, he's like, okay, well, you know, we're going to get back to it. Kind of like, leave the room. I don't want you in here. So, you know, I went by the room a couple times while I was waiting, and I would go by and I'd see she was just sitting with her hands folded. And I thought, you know, why isn't this guy letting her get up and teach? You know, that's what we've been doing for two weeks is practice teaching, getting up on the board, writing stuff, being visual, and she just sitting there like this. And the looks on their faces, it looked, you know, pretty serious. So I was getting a little bit worried. And she got through it. But what he did with the fois, he gave her a lot of scenarios, which we know training is going to be going to scenario based. And that's what he did with the fois. And we talked about it later. He said, I don't want you just memorizing the fois, which is what we've all done in the past for the cfi. Everybody says, well, just memorize it to get through the checkride. Well, he hit the fois pretty hard and would give her scenarios. And I wasn't sitting there, so I can't give you an idea what they were. But he would talk about a student, maybe a particular problem, you know, and would give her scenarios and then want her to tell him where that comes from in the foi. So tip on the fois, I would say, you know, we've always known that that's a big part of the test, and that's where they're going to start out, is the fois. And the examiners I've used in the past, you know, they did that. FOI is the thing you hit and you got to get through the FOI before you can move on to the rest of the test. I do know one trick I can tell you on that. Quite a few years ago, I had a CFI applicant and somebody told us if you do the advanced Ground instructor rating before going for your cfi, that you don't have to do the fois on the CFI checkride. At that time with that examiner, that was acceptable. That one applicant didn't have to do the fois because he held the advanced ground instructor. So I don't know if that's still something you can do, but there's something you can look into if you want to try to avoid the FOI section on the CFI checkride again, clear it with the examiners you're going to be taking your checkride with. Next, I want to talk about the pts changing to the acs, the airman certification standards. As of the making of this video, Summer 2016. I just discussed this with one of the two examiners and at a recent meeting, a DPE meeting, he asked when is the ACS going to be available for helicopters? And they told him at this meeting that it's probably two years out on the acs, which seems like a long time when they're implementing it now on the fixed wing side of it. But what this examiner was told was we're implementing the fixed wing. We haven't even hardly thought about helicopters. So as of right now, we're still going to be with the pts. We're still going to refer to the pts until ACS goes live and they hand it out to us where we can see it and tell us we have to start using it. We're still going to be on the pts. So again, they're telling us about two years on that. What I can tell you about the acs, what I've read, I've read what's available online on the FAA website, which isn't a whole lot, and I went through the presentation that's on there and it sounds to me like they're going to take the pts, kind of reorganize it. So the structure of the PTS will still be part of it, but it's going to be moved around in a more sensible order and then they're going to, you know, put more scenario based stuff in there. And I guess the special emphasis areas that are right now in the beginning of the pts, they're going to move those throughout the new acs. So that's what I'm hearing and seeing right now as far as what the new ACS is going to tell and tell. And as soon as I learn some more, I will of course put out a video and add it to this section to let you know kind of what's happening. So I've kind of asked around, you know, if I could somehow get in early on this and kind of be like the go to guy on the acs. So we'll see what happens there. So next I want to talk about the overwhelming large amount of information that you may be Dealing with getting ready for your cfi. And I can tell you that back when I got started doing my cfi, I was working with another guy from the Chicago area, and we actually ended up going to California and doing our CFIs together. And we had. Literally, we had stacks, and we had, you know, printouts we could find from anybody. And we rounded up every single piece of information that we had. And of course, you know, so here it is stacked on the table, and we were doing some ground with one or two of the instructors. And then chief pilot came in one time where he only came, you know, came in, like, once every two weeks. And he came in to do an evaluation and sat down with us, and when he saw everything that we had, he said, you guys have way too much stuff. And, you know, we were a little bit offended because we spent all this time compiling these mounds of printouts and lesson plans and all this stuff. And this guy said, look, you guys need. At that time, it was the basic helicopter handbook. So that was a while ago, but, you know, now helicopter flying handbook is what you need to have. But anyway, he said, at that time, you know, basic helicopter handbook, Far aim manual, maybe the Jefferson manual, Aviation weather handbook, if you want. Aviation instructors handbook. He's like, guys, you got to narrow this stuff down. You don't want so many printouts. You don't want so much stuff. So I can tell you now, as a CFI for the last 15 years, this is usually the first thing when somebody contacts me about help with the CFI is they want to know. Kenny, I'm overwhelmed. I have all this stuff. And when I start asking people, they go, oh, yeah, I have this manual, and I have that, and I have this book that this guy wrote, and I have this. And I usually say, look, I'm not saying there's anything bad out there. I'm not telling you to not use anything. I'm telling you to try to trim it down. Try to have the basics. You do need a lesson plan library. And what I did back in the day, my infamous notebook, I did all my lesson plans right in my notebook. So I put all my notes in first as I was studying, then my commercial notes, and I put all my lesson plans in a library, all compact down into one book. When Holly showed up, she had a few lesson plans but didn't have a great big folder. And she got nervous when we read in the pts that you need a lesson plan library. She went online and got a pretty nice CFI lesson plan book. I think it was from Like, I don't know, cfilessonplans.com or something, but it was free and she took and downloaded that and, you know, made her own book. And it ended up being really neat. So, you know, you can do what you want as far as your lesson plans, but you definitely want to show up with something prepared. Don't show up with something that you're not familiar with. You know, don't print off something or just take somebody else's. Whatever it is you have for your lesson plan library, make sure it's organized, make sure you go through it, make sure you know what's in it, and make sure that you can teach anything that's in there would be my advice. I remember on my CFI checkride in California, I took it with Tim Tucker, and the guy that prepared us said, whatever you do, do not open anything in front of Tim that you can't, that you don't understand. And I was, during the checkride with Tim, I'm trying to teach something. And there was one page that I know was on where you have all the degrees with blade angles and chord lines, and it's real complicated. I was intimidated by that page and I was searching for something and I went by and he put his hand and he goes, oh, tell me about that. Go ahead and teach me that right there. And the CFI that helped me yelled at me afterwards. And he said, don't. I told you, don't open a book to a page that you don't completely understand and completely get. So be very, very careful on what you do have and what you open. Because they at any time can go, oh, you got that? Tell me about that right there. Or, hey, what's that article about? So be very careful about what you have. Make sure you know how to use it and know what's in it. So as far as notebook, you know, I told you about my notebook. I can tell you about another extreme, you know, like, mine's pretty basic. When I was doing the CFI in California, there was a young Japanese guy there, and his notebook was full of helicopter physics. And I mean, this kid was diving into stuff that you're not even going to see in any of the manuals that we normally would use. And I can remember the one instructor walking over to him because he kept really trying to take things deep. And the examiner at one point grabbed his notebook, walked over to the trash can and threw it in the trash. And he said, stop it. You know, there's a point where it goes too far. I mean, there's information out there that you can study, books that people have written where you can really dive heavy duty into aerodynamics and numbers and physics and, you know, not saying you can't do that. If you want to do that, great. But don't feel the need to dive in and, you know, be doing mathematic equations on figuring blade angles. It's not necessary. Again, Helicopter Flying Handbook. Helicopter Flying Handbook is what they tell us we should be using as students, private commercial CFI applicants and FAA designated examiners. This is your helicopter bible. If you are creating a lesson plan out of here, you're good, you're golden. If you're giving somebody information out of here, you're golden. You know, there's other manuals out there, aerodynamic manuals, there's army manuals, there's all kinds of other manuals out there. And I'm not saying that any of them are bad. I'm not saying you can't use them or read them. But when it comes to the CFI and when you're teaching and you're going for your checkride, you really want FAA publications. You know, the examiner's probably not going to care about some book that some Joe Blow wrote that has his own ideas and own interpretations of aerodynamics. I want to stick, and you should stick with the FAA publication. Helicopter Flying Handbook. Far aim. Of course. There's a video in here. I have it in all the sections on the FAR aim. Go through that video. Be good with this thing. I'm telling you, you need to be able to be good. Making sure your students are good with the FAR aim. That was one of the things I got from Tim Tucker way back when at the Robinson factory. He sat there with two of us that were there for our CFIs, and he said, guys, make sure your students know how to use the FAR aim. So many instructors don't even really use it like they should. They don't always teach their students how to use the FAR aim. You know, go through and show them the basics. Show them the study guide in the beginning. Show them how to look things up. And he went through that with us. And again, I have a video here that you can go through. Make sure you're good with the FAR AIM Manual. Pilot's Operating Handbook. I highly recommend. Whatever aircraft you're going to be doing your CFI in, I'd spend the 50 bucks and get the manual. R22, R44, Enstrom, Schweitzer, whatever it is you're flying, if the school has one that you can use. To study, great. If not, I would spend the money and get your own poh. And I know flight training is tough. It's hard for many of us to pay the bills and keep going and live and eat. While you're going through your training and trying to get to cfi. But with the amount of money you're spending, spend that 50 bucks and get a poh for the aircraft that you're flying. Next, I want to talk about the private pilot manual. I've been using this thing since my student days. I still refer to this today. I really like that manual. You know, it says private pilot manual and it has an airplane on it. And people go, well, it's an airplane manual. Yeah, it has a section on airplanes. But cross country is awesome in here. Weather is really good. There's just so much in this book. And again, I still reference this this day. So this is one book that I really like. They also have a commercial and instrument manual. I have that too. But even though I have that, I still usually refer back to this one because it's more basic. And it's just the one that I go to quite often next to kind of add to the story about how deep you want to go in. It's been eight or 10 years ago. I had a couple of guys that I knew that I had flown with. One was the CFI and one was a student. And they approached me on a ramp one day at airport and they were reading. And I think it was like Sean Coyle's book, which, hey, great book. Sean Coyle is pretty cool. I've Skyped with Sean Coyle, I've had conversations with him, but I know he gets really deep into some subject matter that's beyond what some of us really may want to know. And these guys were reading something, and I don't remember exactly what it was, but they approached me on the ramp and started asking me all these questions about this one specific subject. And I can remember going, I don't know, guys. I've never heard that specific subject that you're talking about. And all my training, all my checkrides, I've never heard that. So I'm not saying it's wrong or it's right. I don't know. I just don't know what it is you're talking about. And they, they kind of kept going on for a little bit and telling me all about it. I'm like, hey, it's not in Helicopter Flying Handbook or the Rotorcraft Flying Handbook at that time. You know, I've never Read it in any of the books or manuals I have. I've never heard any instructor mention that specific thing. So again, sometimes people go just maybe a little too deep. Okay, well, I hope that gives you a little insight into CFI checkrides, kind of, you know, some of the things that are going on now. In the summer of 2016, I am going to be reorganizing the CFI section along with the others. You know, as time goes by, it all gets better, we get better organization. So there's going to be lots and lots of new stuff. I'm never stopping. I'll never stop. You know, it's. It's an ongoing process, always will be. Those of you been with me for a while know that. Always doing my best to upgrade, add new stuff. If you're new to this, know that we're always building, we're always adding, doing the best we can. Last note I want to let everybody know is I'm going to be going to California this summer to work with one of our members, going out there to help a member with a cfi. And while I'm there, we're going to be filming some of that ground school for helicopter land. Ground school, which will be cool. You know, some of the, maybe the presentations that are older that I want to update might have her do some of those, have her do some other current stuff. So that should be pretty cool. And while I'm out there, I'll put out a, you know, a note when I'm going to be heading that way. It'll be early summer sometime. I'll take my daughter. So it'll be a little bit of vacation, a little bit of work too. So I encourage to meet up with any of you that wants to get together and maybe have a Coke or have a beer or maybe go for a flight at your flight school. If you'd like me to go up with you, I'd love to get out and experience some flying in California and some different aircraft. So I will let you know more on that as soon as I get dates when I'll be out there. So hope you're enjoying the training. Any questions? Put them down below and we'll see in the next video.