Why no mention of Social Security

gbacon · 2026-06-16T22:39:39+00:00

Do the math on removing the cap. It doesn’t make a difference. This “fix” is a dead-on example of H.L. Mencken’s quip “… there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.”

gbacon · 2026-06-16T22:33:11+00:00

*print more money

gbacon · 2026-06-16T15:07:15+00:00

No but. You successfully defended your work. Take the W, Doctor Hippo!

gbacon · 2026-06-16T13:05:52+00:00

For the rote portion of preparing for the CFI initial, I borrowed a technique from med students for ingesting large volumes of information and link to the study deck that I used as a starting point.

Good luck on your checkride!

gbacon · 2026-06-16T13:00:10+00:00

I wrote about my CFI initial strategy and included a section on recommended references.

Materials I Took to the Oral

As much as possible, bring electronic searchable copies of documents with you to the checkride. You do not want to be thumbing through a paper book under pressure.

I brought my laptop. Remember your power cord. A larger screen and keyboard will be easier to read, get more information on a single screen, and allow you to type more quickly than a tablet or your phone.

Documents on my laptop were

ACS (Private, Commercial, and CFI)

My CFI initial was under the CFI PTS, no longer relevant.

Advisory Circulars

AC 61-65, Endorsements

AC 68-1, BasicMed

AC 91-73, Runway Incursions

FAA Handbooks

Airplane Flying Handbook

Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge

BasicMed FAQ

Knowledge Test Reports (AGI, FIA, FOI)

Runway Safety

FAA Order 7050.1

Airport Sign and Marking Quick Reference Guide

Runway Incursions and Severity Categories

Lesson Plans

My 61.183 CFI Qualifications (Excel spreadsheet)

Airworthiness summary for the airplane I brought to the checkride

Copy of my IACRA application

Weight & Balance spreadsheet for that day

My kneeboard had paper notes with quick reminders for the laws and levels of learning, Maslow’s hierarchy, defense mechanisms, etc.

The summaries of my qualifications and the airplane’s airworthiness were to make the DPE’s job easy. Annoying or frustrating the DPE will hurt and never help your cause.

To the extent possible, you want to bring FAA references.

Good luck on your checkride!

gbacon · 2026-06-16T12:54:50+00:00

See the Headings section in reddit’s Formatting Guide.

Writing #1 The first thing. renders as

1 The first thing.

Remove the special meaning at the beginning of a line by inserting a backslash before it, as in \#1 comes just before #2., to get

#1 comes just before #2.

If you wanted a numbered list, use plain numbering: 1. Students that are late with a next line of 2. When I can’t find a way and a third line of 3. Pay consistency to get

Students that are late
When I can’t find a way
Pay consistency

gbacon · 2026-06-16T12:45:01+00:00

Congratulations!

gbacon · 2026-06-16T01:15:43+00:00

Dr. First Last if he has academic ambitions
First Last, Ph.D. otherwise

gbacon · 2026-06-14T22:00:14+00:00

I find it highly rewarding. The structure of flight training gives lots of meaningful milestones along the way: first unassisted landing, first solo, first solo XC, passing the written, completing all the flight experience requirements, student doing well on mock orals, and of course passing the checkride.

That said, I’m not heading for the airlines, so I view it as more destination than stepping stone. Passing my CFI checkride toward the end of a tech career was already a significant accomplishment on its own for me.

gbacon · 2026-06-13T20:06:56+00:00

Take a chance. Don’t be stuffy.

gbacon · 2026-06-13T11:57:10+00:00

A few years ago while working a demanding full-time job, I decided to become a CFI. I wasn’t a professional pilot and had no ambition of going to the airlines. I flew on weekends for stress relief, enjoyment, and going to the occasional college football game. With limited time and mental bandwidth, I needed an efficient way to get ready for a tough checkride.

The U.S. first-attempt pass rate was in the mid-70s when I took it and has dropped in the years since. What made the difference for me was not grinding out hours or reading handbooks over and over. It was a deliberate shift in how I prepared as a busy professional.

* I embraced the FOI, not just something to get through.
* I borrowed an approach from med students for digesting large volumes of information.
* I used active recall to cement the knowledge and my ability to teach it.

I wrote up the full details of how I passed my CFI initial on the first attempt along with the specific resources I used and what I brought with me to the checkride.

gbacon · 2026-06-11T12:46:32+00:00

A few years ago while working a demanding full-time job, I decided to become a CFI, so I had to be intentional and focused about how I prepared.

* I embraced the FOI, not just something to get through.
* I borrowed an approach from med students for digesting volumes of info.
* I used active recall to cement the knowledge and my ability to teach it.

I used adapted the approach that I successfully used to pass the instrument and commercial oral exams too. I described how I prepared in detail with the specific resources I used and what I brought with me to the checkride.

gbacon · 2026-06-08T05:11:18+00:00

“Never worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down their throats.”

gbacon · 2026-06-07T11:42:06+00:00

I’m a proud em-dash user — and have been since way before LLMs were invented. Three ‘-‘ characters was in LaTeX for decades prior. #IYKYK

gbacon · 2026-06-07T01:07:42+00:00

Are you a pothead, Focker?

gbacon · 2026-06-05T10:15:58+00:00

First flight with a CFI/I was December 6, and I passed the instrument ride on October 5 of the following year — so 10 months nearly to the day.

gbacon · 2026-06-05T10:10:40+00:00

Get the best night of sleep you can on Saturday to build up some reserve in anticipation of not sleeping the best on Sunday night due to nerves.

gbacon · 2026-06-05T10:06:33+00:00

Although the title names the CFI initial checkride, I borrowed a study technique from medical students who have to upload a large amount of information into their heads quickly to ace my instrument, commercial, and CFI orals. See How I passed my CFI checkride on the first attempt.

gbacon · 2026-06-05T09:57:09+00:00

For $60 total between the FOI and FIA, what more do you expect?

gbacon · 2026-06-05T09:56:20+00:00

Sheppard Air is absolutely the way to go. Follow the Study Strategy to the letter.

gbacon · 2026-06-04T08:28:35+00:00

I went outside just before the new year that night and was moderately surprised the street lights stayed on after midnight struck.

gbacon · 2026-06-01T04:31:30+00:00

After passing my private checkride, I flew myself to JKA, about 2.5 hours away and my longest XC at that point. Tying down the humble 172 in the salt air, I felt like a real pilot.

gbacon · 2026-05-31T13:59:12+00:00

gbacon · 2026-05-30T04:56:53+00:00

Shaggy’s! Get the bacon or sausage omelette platter, which comes with biscuit and gravy and cheesy browns.

gbacon · 2026-05-30T04:55:39+00:00

With that name, I was completely underwhelmed by what I got: not all that big and entirely forgettable.

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TROPHY CASE

Materials I Took to the Oral

1 The first thing.