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I finally started using my CFI certificate today. I’ve done some ground training, but nothing formal, and up until today, my scheduled training flights had been canceled for various reasons.
So today I finally got my feet wet by giving a BFR and doing a checkout flight for the club’s Archer. The executive summary is: I really enjoyed it.
My “student” has been flying longer than I have and has over one hundred hours flying Archers, along with lots of hours in other Pipers. The only issue was he hadn’t flown a powered plane in a couple of years, just some glider time. We started out with a thorough preflight to cover all the systems on this particular plane and then taxied out to the runway. A normal takeoff to start, then off to the practice area. All was going well, but it was a little windy and getting windier. This resulted in a bumpy ride making our stalls and slow flight practice extra challenging. Everything was successful, however. We went over the engine out procedures, then flew on to Miami (Oxford) University to do some landings.
We practiced all the usual takeoffs and landings: normal, short field, soft field, and various flap configurations. I could definitely see his rust, but it wasn’t too bad and he was obviously competent, so we headed back home to sign him off.
So I signed my first logbook with 1.8 hours of training. When it was all over, I was looking around for someone else to fly with. In the end, I just took the Saratoga up for a sightseeing tour on my own.
It was fun. I’m looking forward to my next lesson.