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Saturday 5th July 2008

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Interactive Quiz #27:
Becoming A Flight Instructor

Did you ever have the urge to teach others to fly? Did you hold back from doing it because you thought that it was too difficult or costly to become a certificated flight instructor? While it's true that there's a whole new set of skills required for teaching others to fly, the main requirement is that you be able to communicate effectively with other people. Irv Siegel's latest online quiz may help you decide whether CFI-dom is for you.

by Irv Siegel

In 1999 the FAA published FAA-H-8083-9, the Aviation Instructor's Handbook, and a great deal of material from that book has been used in developing this month's quiz. The questions in this quiz are based largely on the FAA's "Aviation Instructor's Handbook" (FAA-H-8083-9, 1999 edition).

1. What experience is required of a pilot in order to obtain a flight instructor
a. 500 hours of flight time
b. 1000 hours of flight time
c. 1500 hours of flight time
certificate for airplanes?

d. a commercial pilot certificate and an instrument rating, or an airline transport
pilot certificate

2. Flight instructor applicants are required to pass a knowledge test on the
a. holds an FAA Ground Instructor Certificate.
b. holds a current teacher's certificate issued by a state, county, city or
c. is employed as a teacher at an accredited college or university.
classroom training techniques. Who is exempt from having to take this FOI test? A person
d. any of the above.
fundamentals of instructing (FOI), including the learning process, elements of effective
municipality that authorizes the person to teach at an educational level of the 7th grade
or higher.

teaching, student evaluation and testing, course development, lesson planning, and
who

3. What class of medical certificate is required to take the Flight Instructor Airplane
Practical Test in an airplane?

a. First Class
b. Second Class
c. Third Class
d. No medical certificate is required

4. Flight instructor certificates expire after a certain period of time, which is
a. 12 calendar months
b. 24 calendar months
c. 36 calendar months
d. 48 calendar months
e. 60 calendar months

5. In order to renew a flight instructor certificate, what class of medical certificate
a. First Class
b. Second Class
c. Third Class
d. No medical certificate is required.
is required?

6. What is the FAA’s definition of learning?
a. The ability to increase one's score on an objective test
b. The ability to improve accuracy in maneuvering an aircraft
c. The ability to demonstrate newly acquired knowledge.
d. A change in behavior as a result of experience.

7. Which of the following is not a principle of learning, according to the FAA?
a. Effect
b. Exercise
c. Intensity
d. Mimicry
e. Primacy
f. Readiness
g. Recency

8. Does the element of threat promote effective learning?
a. No, fear adversely affects perception by narrowing the perceptual field. Trying to
b. Sometimes, but only if the threat is carried out. Empty threats don't promote
be prepared or to suffer the consequence (lesson canceled).

c. Yes, learning is a psychological process, and students will learn desired behavior
cancel a lesson if the student arrives unprepared. This will cause the student to learn to
effective learning. If, for example, an instructor threatens to cancel a lesson if a
frighten a student through threats of unsatisfactory reports or reprisals may seem
in order to reduce the amount of stress caused by threats.

logical, but is not effective psychologically.

student hasn't done his/her preparation, the instructor must be prepared to actually

9. Which of the following statements is true regarding the exchange of flight controls?
a. Very few accidents have occurred due to a lack of communication or misunderstanding
as to who actually had control of the aircraft.

b. A flight instructor should not tell a student to relinquish the controls; this will
c. Flight instructors should always guard the controls and be prepared to take control
of the aircraft.

result in a loss of confidence that leads to greater difficulty in learning.

10. Which of the following statement(s) is (are) true regarding lesson plans?
a. If the instructor finds that the procedures outlined in the lesson plan are not
b. A lesson plan is an outline for conducting an instructional period. It assures that
c. Commercially-developed lesson plans are acceptable for most training situations,
d. a and b only
e. a and b and c are all true.
including use by flight instructor applicants during their practical tests.

leading to the desired results, the instructor should change his/her approach, even to the
pertinent materials are at hand and that the presentation is accomplished with order and
point of abandoning the entire lesson plan in favor of review.

unity.

11. Which type of airplane is better for primary training: a high-wing or a low-wing
a. high-wing, due to better visibility.
airplane?

b. low-wing, due to better visibility when making turns in the traffic pattern.
c. high-wing, due to the shading effect that keeps the cockpit cooler.
d. low-wing, due to the ease of checking the fuel level during the preflight
e. high-wing, due to the ease of draining fuel into a fuel cup.
f. low-wing, due to the ability to detect loss of a fuel cap and/or fuel siphoning in
flight.

g. high-wing, due to the ability to inspect the landing gear in flight.
h. high-wing, due to the greater ground clearance during taxi, takeoff, and landing.
help judge distance.

i. low wing, because students feel more comfortable in an aircraft that looks more like
inspection.

j. low wing, because ground reference maneuvers are easier with a wing reference to
the airliners that they have flown in.

12. True or false: The vast majority of flight instructing jobs pay only slightly less
a. True
b. False
range of benefits, including sick leave, vacation pay, medical benefits, and a 401K
retirement plan.

than an airline or corporate pilot position, and almost all flight schools offer a full

Interactive Quiz #27: Becoming A Flight Instructor

Interactive Quiz #27:
Becoming A Flight Instructor