So you want to be a flying instructor

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Big Pistons Forever
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Big Pistons Forever »

IMO required knowledge for instructors re the engine.

1) Type, displacement, model designation, horse power

2) The min and maximum static RPM (fixed pitched props)

3) Any limitation not indicated by a redline/yellowline on an instrument. (eg: min oil quantity, max time to indicate oil pressure on start up, any restrictions on max continuous horse power, RPM/MP vs altitude limits, For constant speed props;the min RPM that you can still apply full throttle, restrictions on leaning)

4) Know and understand how to correctly lean the engine

5) The type of oil being used and any related restrictions (eg min and max OAT if running single grade oil, is the engine restricted to mineral oil only, is cam guard required)

6) The maintenance schedule in use and any AD's that apply to the engine

7) Know the POH procedures for hot weather and cold weather starting and operation
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Colonel Sanders
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Colonel Sanders »

Indeed. Wouldn't it be nice to know that you have a
Lycoming. In Canada, this is worth reading:

cold start

Many pilots in Canada should learn that Lycoming says:
Do not exceed idle RPM until oil pressure is stabilized above the minimum idling range

Or for a Continental engine: http://www.tcmlink.com/pdf2/SIL03-1.pdf

Is a flight instructor's time so valuable that he can't
spare a few minutes to read them? He might learn
from TCM, for example:
Do not operate the engine at speeds above 1700 RPM unless oil temperature is 75°
Fahrenheit or higher and oil pressure is within specified limits of 30-60 PSI.
or
Do not close the cowl flaps to facilitate engine warm-up
Every pilot needs to make the choice: am I going to be a
knowledgeable professional, or just a trained monkey in a
white shirt?
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pelmet
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by pelmet »

Colonel Sanders wrote:
a well hidden airspace restriction where Bush lives
Was that Crawford? Flew by that. North of Austin?
W. is retired and living in the city of Dallas and there is a 1500' TFR of relatively small radius over his house which is not too far away from Love Field. In other words, not too much of a problem for the average flight in the whole Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex with its multitude of airports but you still want to know about it. Probably senior, Jimmy and slick willy have the same thing.

I seem to remember the Crawford name in the news all the time when W. was the prez. His ranch I believe, but I suspect that this may no longer exist as a TFR or be much smaller now. I don't think a TFR moves with an ex-president the way it moves with the president or VP. Watch out for the sporting events TFR's as well that pop up. They can include university stuff which sometimes have huge numbers of fans.

I flew again there recently and met the owner of the place who really knows his stuff and has detailed accurate information on a wide variety of subjects answered in a friendly manner. I love meeting people like this whether at work or instructors. These are the instructors to seek out.

Not sure of the reason for making this a sticky thread. It wasn't originally and I don't know what the decision making process is for that. I guess if a moderator feels it is important concerning the overall subject of the forum.
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Last edited by pelmet on Sun Oct 13, 2013 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by pelmet »

Colonel Sanders wrote:Indeed. Wouldn't it be nice to know that you have a
Lycoming. In Canada, this is worth reading:

cold start

Many pilots in Canada should learn that Lycoming says:
Do not exceed idle RPM until oil pressure is stabilized above the minimum idling range

Or for a Continental engine: http://www.tcmlink.com/pdf2/SIL03-1.pdf

Is a flight instructor's time so valuable that he can't
spare a few minutes to read them? He might learn
from TCM, for example:
Do not operate the engine at speeds above 1700 RPM unless oil temperature is 75°
Fahrenheit or higher and oil pressure is within specified limits of 30-60 PSI.
or
Do not close the cowl flaps to facilitate engine warm-up
I find it bizarre that an instructor would think that it is perfectly normal to be unaware of the engine type installed in the aircraft he/she is instructing on and would personally try to avoid such an instructor.

Concerning the maintain the engine at idle until the oil is at minimum idle oil pressure range, I guess that really does mean that you shouldn't let the engine rev up to some high rpm immediately after start like we hear on the ramp sometimes.

Concerning cowl flap use on the ground to warm up the engine, I read this recently about the subject....

"I’ve discussed this with a test pilot/engineer who is familiar with the workings of a major aircraft
manufacturer’s test facility. He tells me that their testing disclosed that partially closing the cowl flaps
on the ground resulted in temperature hot spots within the nacelle. Without the use of some rather
sophisticated test equipment these areas were impossible to detect, or locate. But baking of the
ignition harness and other problems are endemic"
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Colonel Sanders
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Colonel Sanders »

you shouldn't let the engine rev up to some high rpm immediately after start
I see it all the time. Plenty of metal on metal. You
can do that, but at what cost?
cowl flap use on the ground to warm up the engine
Again, you wouldn't believe the number of pilots
I see, closing the cowl flaps on the ground to try
to warm the engine up faster. I guess it does,
but at what cost?
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by trey kule »


Again, you wouldn't believe the number of pilots
I see, closing the cowl flaps on the ground to try
to warm the engine up faster. I guess it does,
but at what cost?
Yes, I would. But lets take a look at the problem and solutions.

First of all, exactly how much ground school pertains to the care and feeding of engines? I dont recall much. And who is teaching it?
In the US commercial students must get 10 hours in a complex aircraft. I dont think that was, or is a requirement in Canada.
So an instructor can actually get to that position without ever having been personally exposed to cowl flaps and then teaching about them..
Is the solution that difficult to see?

The other issue is many pilots today will never fly a piston aircraft will cowl flaps, or even at all. I fly with pilots with thousands of hours who went direct to turbines immediately after flight school. They dont even know what cowl flaps are for, and quite frankly, they do not need to.

The other thing is that the typical POH does not really discuss the issue of ground cowl use ..a bit, but not usually much.

Do AME,s know more? I have almost got into a fist fight with AMEs who insist on running a piston engine with all the cowlings off.."for just a minute". To adjust something. People like RAM actually have a little clip on set of cowling covers...because, as they explained to me, you start to damage the engine after about 30 secs.

Of course it does not show up for many more hours so AMEs will tell you they have been doing it for years.....and then there is the old radials....which are different.

If someone is going to teach about piston engines then they need first to actually learn about them..not Saskatchewan good ol' farm boy experience. Airplane engines are different.
Then pilots need to be taught properly. I think that would go far to resolve the problem,
I am not sure how many navajos are running around these days but watching a future airline pilot taxiing in with the cowl flaps closed, warming up with them closed...was very common .
Just poor training for the most part
My rant for the day
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Last edited by trey kule on Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Shiny Side Up
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Shiny Side Up »

You'd be lucky if you got kids with some "Saskatchewan good ol' boy" experience these days. A little bit of greasy hands experience is a lot better than starting from scratch. Any sort of engine knowledge is rapidly disappearing from the population these days. Give me some farm kids any day over the usual crop of lotus eating facebook jockeys.
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trey kule
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by trey kule »

I agree with you 100%. It was not a good choice to use as an example. My intent was that a bit of knowledge can be worse than none at all.
Face book jockey..good one. But you know most of these kids reslly dont get it. It is normal to them , and I suppose one day when us old dinosaurs get out of the way, it will be the norm to have a link from what will pass as a brain to facebook...can post every thought then
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Shiny Side Up
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Shiny Side Up »

I would only say that only if the knowledge is incorrect is it worse than none at all, but in most cases it's not so much as knowledge, but a mode of thinking. Problem solving is disappearing. Independent thought is disappearing. I won't say hard work or initiative are, because I still see that (bless them) but the world has become too easy of a place where help is always available and the Internet is ready for consultation. Everyone has a phone, no one takes notes - if they can even write or spell.

One should note that the general "I can always get help" attitude leaves most in the position of "you can always get it when you need it" and "we'll just fix it when it happens" trains of thought. So why care for anything mechanical? Needless to say, this attitude which, I hate to say it, works well enough for the rest of the world is a pitfall for aviators, and especially instructors. They aren't imaginative enough to think: "what if I had to take care of this on my own?"
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by lock15 »

Hedley wrote:I might mention that this is really easy, and I don't know how people flunk it.

Do a rate one turn. It will take one minute to turn the 180 degrees which will take one minute during which you will descend around 700 fpm, aircraft type depending.

Learn the lateral distance from the runway for your aircraft for zero wind.

Compensate for the wind.

If the above is too difficult, perhaps a commercial pilot licence is not in your future.


We're talking about light aircraft where the glide distance is greatly affected by winds. Not to mention it is to a spot landing with the limits being -0/+400 feet. It's very easy to screw it up because they vary so much with conditions.
Pretty bold statement Hedley.
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Shiny Side Up
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Shiny Side Up »

Hedley's not here man.
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Cat Driver »

The test requires you touch down on a given point on the runway and you must contact the runway within 400 feet of that point?
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Rookie50 »

Cat Driver wrote:The test requires you touch down on a given point on the runway and you must contact the runway within 400 feet of that point?
Cat, it's a a power off landing, power off at or before abeam the threshold on downwind, touching down within 400 feet of a given identified point. (for the cpl).

Gee, that's what flying is. Adapting to changing winds with precision, hopefully.
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Cat Driver »

So it is kind of like being able to touch down on a big foot ball field from 1000 above it without using power?
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Rookie50 »

Cat Driver wrote:So it is kind of like being able to touch down on a big foot ball field from 1000 above it without using power?
Tell the players to move first....and braking on turf might be slippery....
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Big Pistons Forever
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Big Pistons Forever »

Cat Driver wrote:The test requires you touch down on a given point on the runway and you must contact the runway within 400 feet of that point?
If you have a question about what the requirements are for the 180 deg precision landing on the CPL flight test I recommend you go to the TC web page and download the CPL flight test guide.

If you have any advice for instructors on how best to actually teach this manoever then I would suggest you post that as it is exactly what I, as the OP, was hoping would be added to this thread.
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LakesideFlightSchool
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by LakesideFlightSchool »

We are looking for a CFI and we are based in Gimli. Anyone Class 3 and above interested. Please contact Lakeside Flight School by emailing your resume to david@interlakeaviation.com and info@lakesideflightschool.ca
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by PilotDAR »

Everyone has a different way about doing things. This is the way I feel I can give back.
The spirit is noble.

That said, though I have over reached before with piloting, after a few minorly embarrassing moments, where it was suddenly apparent that I knew less than I thought, I found it very worthwhile to wait to be asked to provide training, before I presented it to the world. Thus, those people who sought training from me, had decided for themselves that I had something they valued, rather than me assuming that I did.

Having trained and test flown for many years, I'm now content to learn rather than teach. Instructing is very worthwhile, and a little more risky than might first appear....
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by Big Pistons Forever »

Gentlemen,

If you have a constructive comment on becoming a flight instructor please contribute to this thread. If you don’t please post elsewhere
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Re: So you want to be a flying instructor

Post by vermont »

What are the chances of being hired in Ontario? It seems like the schools only hire people who did their rating at the same school?
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