CFI Mainstay Revisited and Revised for the Modern Era

Those looking to achieve their flight instructor certificate have a new option to complete the teaching-oriented portion of their program, with the improved and updated Fundamentals of Instruction Course available through the King Schools site. 

As the school notes, the FAA's Aviation Instructor's Handbook is a somewhat abstract portion to tackle after so many lessons on aviation, coming out of left field for the fledgling instructor with a bevy of psychological, academic, and instructional terms that can prove to be a stumbling block for more practical-minded pilots. In classic academic form, the FOI portion almost seems to mystify the simple, adding complexity and fluff to something that should be naturally intuitive to a hands-on pilot: Teaching someone to fly the plane. 

King approached the course change as a chance to "shoot an approach through the verbal clouds," with longtime founder/CEO Barry Knuttila. The "four-hour course links the academic-sounding language of educational theory to practical situations and experiences that arise in real-life flight instruction", enabling instructors to distill the more useful ideas behind the terminology and apply them in the cockpit, or as King put it: "The purpose of all the unfamiliar vocabulary is to help you recognize the subtle signals in the interactions between you and your students, and to avoid pitfalls encountered by all professional educators. Off-putting as it may be, the academic language pins labels on things that you might otherwise not even notice, and helps you to see them better."

The course includes a series of brief video segments, sized for brief, concentrated understanding of each particular topic followed by multiple-choice quizzes to assess understanding. Once through the lessons and the handbook, (future) instructors can use the King Study Method to prepare for the written exam, "including off-line access on your mobile device, practice exams, a flash card app and tools to assess your readiness for the FAA written test." Retail on the course is $199 for lifetime, unlimited access.

FMI: www.kingschools.com