Not a Brantly post, just a flying post from a Brantly fan

[Tom]

Nothing gets you back into flying like picking up a new rating. I just took (and passed) my CFI check ride. I don't need it for my job, I just needed something to shake up my flying life -- other than the day-to-day ops. It was TOUGH. Since I was doing it for no one but myself, I really dug into it. The training syllabi I produced are quite good. I just about retyped the FARs (nothing helps you remember something like typing it out). I dragged out my flight school pubs for reference, and went into my oral lookin' for trouble.

BUT FIRST, I had to take and pass (70 or above) the written exams: Fundamentals of Instructing and Certified Flight Instructor. I used the ASA prep software. I got it on Saturday, studied it for 4 to 8 hours per day for a six days, then took and passed both tests on the following Friday. (FOI - 88; CFI - 79)

My instructor was a crusty sheriff's deputy/chief pilot for a large aviation unit, and we spent ten hours reviewing the regs and doing practice briefs (my practice, not his). We then spent 2.5 hours preflighting the JetRanger. He preflighted, then I preflighted out loud, then he took me around it again and asked me questions about pretty near everything. We flew the next day, with me in the left seat as the "instructor."

The most exciting thing? Full autos. I did about eight of them. As I improved the instructor began to reach over and shake my cyclic arm, while asking me why I couldn't keep the ship straight and level. After about three hours of that, I had a break for lunch and then the designated examiner gave me my briefing (about 1.5 hours of questions on fundamentals of instructing, FARs, and more demonstration preflight briefings by yours truly).

The check ride was 1+ hours of every maneuver in the book, including a short hop out to the swamps for a confined area landing and, of course, a 180 degree auto to the deck. I was surprised at how excited I was when he handed me my Temporary Airman Certificate: Flight Instructor. It felt darn nice! Now I'm dusting off my instrument navigation pubs, and I'm going to get my CFII.

By the way, none of the pilots at my company have ever tried to get the company to pay for flying, but I read the policy on tuition assistance, and it didn't exclude airman ratings. I got pre-approved, as required, and my company is shelling out several thousand dollars for the course (as well as several thousand more for my CFII). Even if you're not in a flying job, your company's tuition assistance might cover a new rating. If you have to go out of pocket, it's probably tax deductible.

I had fun, learned a lot, and got my mind back into flying.

By the way, I didn't have a Brantly available, or I would have done it in one. I needed to use a JetRanger because I have very little piston time, and most of that is in a Brantly, which has that great throttle/collective correlator (which is like a governor).

Happy flying!

Tom

[Ron Spiker]

Great job Tom!!!!!
Congratulations.

[SunHelo Paul]

Silly boy You could have used our Brantly and taken your checkride with a DPE with 100+ hours of Brantly time (dual given).