Scott Will
Well Known Member
Not sure if it's RV related but I know if I didn't have my RV then I couldn't have come this far!
On Feb. 23 of this past year, I started the 14 day "total CFI" program run by All ATP's (or just plain ATP)... not sure what is their correct name. Having recently completed my commercial single (in the RV!) and multi (in the Seminole) I was ready to move on to the next step. I would have loved to have done all three CFI's with my current instructor but due to life circumstances had to go in a different direction. Plus, I wanted to "knock out" the CFI's in a short amount of time. What better than 14 days.
A few days before I started the class, I called ATP down in Florida. After sending them $1000 deposit they sent me all the books related to being a CFI... basically all the government/FAA books (every single PTS, Airplane Flying Handbook, Instrument Flying Handbook, Aviation Instructor Handbook, and some information on the Piper Seminole). Also included was a binder of what to expect and about 15 pages of questions that are normally asked on a CFI oral exam. I had about a week to prepare. I could tell it would be like drinking from a fire hose.
I wouldn't have signed up for the program if I wasn't comfortable with my skills and background. Why? Because I know in these fast paced pilot factories the emphasis is not on hand-holding and taking baby steps. They rush you through... and rush you through they do. I'm glad to have a solid aviation background (aero eng degree, part 121 dispatch, etc) and a darn good instructor that helped me thru instrument and commercial rides.
I arrived on Feb. 23 to find two other guys in the class... both were finishing the 90 day program from ATP. However the younger one (age 20) didn't make it through the CFI program in Vegas (wonder why) and is redoing it here in Atlanta. Perhaps there's less distractions here than in Vegas? The kid that runs the ATP shop here in Atlanta came in and greeted us and warned that we'd be spending practically 24/7 at the school in preparation for the MEI checkride. He then introduced the "two year CFI" just in from Dallas. As you know, the regs say that in order to train initial CFI's the CFI training them has to be teaching for 2 years and have 200 logged hours of instruction given.
Well the class started... it was a solid week of ground school covering EVERYTHING you've ever learned while flying. But for me the stuff I had to learn the most about was "Fundamentals of Instruction". Basically the psychology of teaching and dealing with students. We basically spent 8a - 5p everyday in the classroom... but of course they encouraged us to stay later. Having a wife and 4 year at home made that difficult and it was hard to be at both places at once. During the week, you're supposed to come up with 32 ground lessons - 2 of which you have to teach during the oral. Where was I going to find time to do that?! Somehow I did.
The second week of school was focused on the flying. However, we did do the fun spin training the second day we were there. The normal program is 7 hours and that includes 3 checkrides!! So you can see that it was basically one flight then checkride for each step (MEI, CFII and then CFI). Wow, I know I could fly but was I going to be ready for a checkride with basically 2.5 hrs prep? Last time I flew the Seminole was in October! So my instincts kicked in and I agreed to pay $1000 more for an additional 8 hrs of flying or 15 total. Glad I did! We flew about 3 times before I was "shipped off" to Fort Lauderdale for my initial MEI ride with a guy named "Pinkslip" Pinkston.... what a nickname to have.
They put me on US Air and flew me down to FLL on Thursday Mar 5. Checkride was scheduled for the next day at the "big" airport (FLL) at 9AM. Oral lasted about 2 hours and about 1 of that was my presentation of Vmc. I figured the longer I dragged that out the less questions I'd get! Pinkston was not as bad as they say.... once you find a subject they like to talk about then they really open up. I think the oral goes a long way and once he saw I knew what I was talking about he really opened up and was pretty friendly.
Got the oral out of the way. Time to go fly. With ATP you almost never fly the same airplane twice. However they are all configured pretty much exactly the same. Pinkston likes to bust people by placing a small cone in front of the nose while you're not looking. You go to crank the engines and he busts you on the spot saying you didn't do a final walkaround. You never know what a student may do to the aircraft. I made DARN sure he was in my sight at all times. Ceilings that day were about 3500 BKN. We departed and flew out over the everglades. Talk about flat! And nothingness! You're supposed to be above 4000' to shut down the engines for training and do certain maneuvers. But due to the ceilings we made do and immediately shut down the left side at 3000' AGL! The airwork went ok... I missed a few things but I caught myself. Did some touch-n-go's at HWO then back to FLL for a final short field landing on the parallel runway.
Wooohoo! I passed. Boy was I stoked. Passed the initial ride with a guy known for not passing many (I heard the national pass rate for first time CFI's is 12%). ATP booked me on a 8PM flight on Spirit which later turned into a 1130P departure. So I made use of my Delta bennies and flew home first class and arrived about 5 hours earlier!
OK... on to CFII and CFI. By now we were right at 2 weeks and we were definitely going to go longer. I didn't care, I had the time. So life at home and weather pushed things back even further. Got about 1 flight in before the CFII ride with good 'ol Clyde at KMDQ. We did some work in the simulator at ATP and did some local practice approaches. The morning of the checkride we flew to MDQ early and ran through the Clyde's CFII profile before my actual ride. Needless to say the ride went well and I was CFII on March 15. People told me that Clyde flys two approaches and I was to act as the instructor... but that didn't happen. I ended up flying everything almost entirely under the hood (which is unusual for him, so I hear). Said I flew the plane well - better than most of the kids from ATP that come through there with lots more time in the Seminole.
Two down, one to go... the plain ol CFI single engine. This was going to be done in the Cessna. I hadn't flown one of those things in AGES... my gut was telling me to do it in the RV. But I still had some time left with ATP so I figured I'd fly it off and see how I felt. Well even more time went by. Weather, funerals and other delays pushed the CFI ride out to April 1. Again we got in about 2 flights in the local ATL area a week before my checkride. It all seemed to come back to me. My CFI for the CFI portion commented on how well I flew the single... geesh, could it be because I have over 400 hours in one? (Keep in mind that the ATP people do all their training in the twin). And even Clyde, the examiner at MDQ, says a lot of the ATP kids are rusty in the Cessna.
Make a long story short... we got the CFI ride done yesterday. Almost 6 weeks after I started the 2 week program but hey, it's done. Now I'm CFI, CFII and MEI!! The CFI ride was probably the most fun and shortest of all. Clyde said my chandelle was one of the best he's ever seen. I said thanks... must be all the practice in the RV!
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to share my experiences with ATP.
On Feb. 23 of this past year, I started the 14 day "total CFI" program run by All ATP's (or just plain ATP)... not sure what is their correct name. Having recently completed my commercial single (in the RV!) and multi (in the Seminole) I was ready to move on to the next step. I would have loved to have done all three CFI's with my current instructor but due to life circumstances had to go in a different direction. Plus, I wanted to "knock out" the CFI's in a short amount of time. What better than 14 days.
A few days before I started the class, I called ATP down in Florida. After sending them $1000 deposit they sent me all the books related to being a CFI... basically all the government/FAA books (every single PTS, Airplane Flying Handbook, Instrument Flying Handbook, Aviation Instructor Handbook, and some information on the Piper Seminole). Also included was a binder of what to expect and about 15 pages of questions that are normally asked on a CFI oral exam. I had about a week to prepare. I could tell it would be like drinking from a fire hose.
I wouldn't have signed up for the program if I wasn't comfortable with my skills and background. Why? Because I know in these fast paced pilot factories the emphasis is not on hand-holding and taking baby steps. They rush you through... and rush you through they do. I'm glad to have a solid aviation background (aero eng degree, part 121 dispatch, etc) and a darn good instructor that helped me thru instrument and commercial rides.
I arrived on Feb. 23 to find two other guys in the class... both were finishing the 90 day program from ATP. However the younger one (age 20) didn't make it through the CFI program in Vegas (wonder why) and is redoing it here in Atlanta. Perhaps there's less distractions here than in Vegas? The kid that runs the ATP shop here in Atlanta came in and greeted us and warned that we'd be spending practically 24/7 at the school in preparation for the MEI checkride. He then introduced the "two year CFI" just in from Dallas. As you know, the regs say that in order to train initial CFI's the CFI training them has to be teaching for 2 years and have 200 logged hours of instruction given.
Well the class started... it was a solid week of ground school covering EVERYTHING you've ever learned while flying. But for me the stuff I had to learn the most about was "Fundamentals of Instruction". Basically the psychology of teaching and dealing with students. We basically spent 8a - 5p everyday in the classroom... but of course they encouraged us to stay later. Having a wife and 4 year at home made that difficult and it was hard to be at both places at once. During the week, you're supposed to come up with 32 ground lessons - 2 of which you have to teach during the oral. Where was I going to find time to do that?! Somehow I did.
The second week of school was focused on the flying. However, we did do the fun spin training the second day we were there. The normal program is 7 hours and that includes 3 checkrides!! So you can see that it was basically one flight then checkride for each step (MEI, CFII and then CFI). Wow, I know I could fly but was I going to be ready for a checkride with basically 2.5 hrs prep? Last time I flew the Seminole was in October! So my instincts kicked in and I agreed to pay $1000 more for an additional 8 hrs of flying or 15 total. Glad I did! We flew about 3 times before I was "shipped off" to Fort Lauderdale for my initial MEI ride with a guy named "Pinkslip" Pinkston.... what a nickname to have.
They put me on US Air and flew me down to FLL on Thursday Mar 5. Checkride was scheduled for the next day at the "big" airport (FLL) at 9AM. Oral lasted about 2 hours and about 1 of that was my presentation of Vmc. I figured the longer I dragged that out the less questions I'd get! Pinkston was not as bad as they say.... once you find a subject they like to talk about then they really open up. I think the oral goes a long way and once he saw I knew what I was talking about he really opened up and was pretty friendly.
Got the oral out of the way. Time to go fly. With ATP you almost never fly the same airplane twice. However they are all configured pretty much exactly the same. Pinkston likes to bust people by placing a small cone in front of the nose while you're not looking. You go to crank the engines and he busts you on the spot saying you didn't do a final walkaround. You never know what a student may do to the aircraft. I made DARN sure he was in my sight at all times. Ceilings that day were about 3500 BKN. We departed and flew out over the everglades. Talk about flat! And nothingness! You're supposed to be above 4000' to shut down the engines for training and do certain maneuvers. But due to the ceilings we made do and immediately shut down the left side at 3000' AGL! The airwork went ok... I missed a few things but I caught myself. Did some touch-n-go's at HWO then back to FLL for a final short field landing on the parallel runway.
Wooohoo! I passed. Boy was I stoked. Passed the initial ride with a guy known for not passing many (I heard the national pass rate for first time CFI's is 12%). ATP booked me on a 8PM flight on Spirit which later turned into a 1130P departure. So I made use of my Delta bennies and flew home first class and arrived about 5 hours earlier!
OK... on to CFII and CFI. By now we were right at 2 weeks and we were definitely going to go longer. I didn't care, I had the time. So life at home and weather pushed things back even further. Got about 1 flight in before the CFII ride with good 'ol Clyde at KMDQ. We did some work in the simulator at ATP and did some local practice approaches. The morning of the checkride we flew to MDQ early and ran through the Clyde's CFII profile before my actual ride. Needless to say the ride went well and I was CFII on March 15. People told me that Clyde flys two approaches and I was to act as the instructor... but that didn't happen. I ended up flying everything almost entirely under the hood (which is unusual for him, so I hear). Said I flew the plane well - better than most of the kids from ATP that come through there with lots more time in the Seminole.
Two down, one to go... the plain ol CFI single engine. This was going to be done in the Cessna. I hadn't flown one of those things in AGES... my gut was telling me to do it in the RV. But I still had some time left with ATP so I figured I'd fly it off and see how I felt. Well even more time went by. Weather, funerals and other delays pushed the CFI ride out to April 1. Again we got in about 2 flights in the local ATL area a week before my checkride. It all seemed to come back to me. My CFI for the CFI portion commented on how well I flew the single... geesh, could it be because I have over 400 hours in one? (Keep in mind that the ATP people do all their training in the twin). And even Clyde, the examiner at MDQ, says a lot of the ATP kids are rusty in the Cessna.
Make a long story short... we got the CFI ride done yesterday. Almost 6 weeks after I started the 2 week program but hey, it's done. Now I'm CFI, CFII and MEI!! The CFI ride was probably the most fun and shortest of all. Clyde said my chandelle was one of the best he's ever seen. I said thanks... must be all the practice in the RV!
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to share my experiences with ATP.
. It's kinda like drinking from a fire hose
