If you’re a new CFI who has either just begun training or has been working on CFI training for a while, it’s no secret that the process of becoming a Flight Instructor is incredibly daunting. Every week we read many posts on the r/Flying forum on Reddit from CFI Applicants who are looking for help and some direction on how to build their CFI Lesson Plans or their CFI Binder. We try to reply to as many of these posts that ask for help building CFI training material as we can because that’s what FlightCog specializes in.
CFI TRAINING IS HARD
Everyone who’s ever looked at the CFI program knows that the CFI training program is no joke and there are no free handouts. Becoming a Flight Instructor is an excellent way to enhance your flying career, learn more in-depth information, become more comfortable with your piloting abilities, and to build time to move on to a more advanced flying job.
Admittedly, it’s a challenge trying to figure out where to begin the CFI program especially at smaller Part 61 flight schools that do not have an established curriculum or a syllabus. Of course, you’ll be flying, but there’s a lot more to being a CFI than just flying the airplane… You must also teach what you’re doing while you’re flying the airplane… You begin the CFI course by compiling a seemingly infinite list of CFI Lesson Plans that will go into a “Binder.”
ARE INSTRUCTORS JUST BEING SADISTIC
When you’re just starting out as a CFI Applicant… You have no clue how to build a lesson plan unless you’re background is in academia. Let’s be honest though… Most pilots are not in academia. So, when you begin the program, you’ve got no idea how to build a lesson plan, what should go in it, or where to find the content you need. Building your CFI Lesson Plans is a massive amount of work, and a ton of information to assimilate and understand.
When you begin your training you may seek advice from other CFI’s. Depending on their age and when they started flying, a lot of them will tell you:
You absolutely must build your own CFI Binder. I did it when I was a CFI, my brother did it, my mother built her own, and heck! So did my father and his father! Build your own CFI Binder, you’ll learn more than you ever thought possible.
Don’t be lazy and buy CFI Lesson Plans! That’s taboo and surely a quick way to fail your CFI training and subsequent checkride!
Full disclosure… Why would we reinvent the wheel when the CFI Training standards do not change? Are CFIs telling their CFI Applicant’s that they must build their own lesson plans because they intentionally want their applicants to struggle? Do they say this because good resources for the CFI didn’t exist back when they were getting their CFI ticket? Are they just downright being sadistic? What is even more disconcerting about this whole topic is that each training standard has an objective that must be accomplished. Why would we waste our time building our own CFI Lessons when nothing has changed? It’s the same standard and same material for everyone who goes through the program.
Yes, some will argue “you’ll learn better.” Blah…Blah…Blah…
But here’s something to think about. When you went to college, did you write your textbook so you could “learn better?”
NO, you totally did not! So, why are Flight Instructors telling their students they’ll learn better by writing their own? It’s an unproven myth that has been circulating the CFI world for decades.
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
If you’re still reading this. There is light at the end of the tunnel. The solution is called The Complete CFI Binder Series. This solution has specifically been written for a new CFI in training and even Airline Pilots who instruct on the side (we know because we are airline pilots).
We created The Complete CFI Binder Series in 2014 to help make the study process of becoming a CFI more easily attainable and less confusing. We have done all of the research on every single testable subject area of the CFI Course and have compiled it into a single resource (a professionally designed textbook). This is a complete turnkey solution for any CFI Applicant who doesn’t know what he or she needs to study or what content is supposed to be in their binder…
The entire purpose of The Complete CFI Binder Series is to help you save time! Instead of reinventing the wheel, you now only need to focus on studying the material and doing further research to achieve the correlation level of understanding.
The Complete CFI Binder Series literally covers everything a CFI Applicant would ever need to know or want to know as a Professional Flight Instructor. The book even includes standardized maneuver execution for all maneuvers listed in the CFI PTS. And the book is updated annually to keep it up-to-date with changing regulations and new concepts.
CALCULATE YOUR OPPORTUNITY COST
Right now is the BEST time to be a pilot! Not only are the airlines hiring like crazy, but so is everyone else! Have you ever heard of Opportunity Cost before? If not, let us teach you. Opportunity cost is a consideration that every CFI Applicant must consider. Consider the time and effort you could save yourself by purchasing a turnkey solution like The Complete CFI Binder Series.
The definition of Opportunity Cost is “the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.”
Instead of wasting hundreds or thousands of hours creating your own CFI Binder or CFI Lesson Plans, you could purchase and download our product which will save you time and decrease your total opportunity cost as a new CFI Applicant. The Complete CFI Binder Series was designed to get you your CFI Ticket faster than any other resource that exists today. This means you’ll become a CFI faster, which means you’ll be working quicker, making money quicker, and building time and experience quicker!
