Major kudos and thanks for the very detailed narrative.
As I just said to Vincent I consider CFI to be the toughest as literally ANYTHING is fair game.
Happy Thanksgiving Professor 
Adam
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Brady,
Congratulations, what an awesome accomplishment! Thank you so much for the detailed post, I enjoyed reading it and I am sure many other future students will as well.
I can tell you this, landings will always be a work in progress. I still think through mine and am always striving for the elusive āgreaserā. I remember well one time I had my girlfriend, now wife, on one of the first flights I had ever flown her on. We were going from ORD to SNA, which is a very short runway. Between the short runway and the desire to impress my girlfriend, the pressure was on. I absolutely greased it onto the runway, which is not easy to do. The next flight I did not have her on board and I pounded the airplane onto the runway so hard that I was embarrassed to say goodbye to the passengers. The landing gods had chosen to smile upon me on the right flight that trip.
What is up next for you schedule wise?
Again, Congratulations!
Chris
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Adam,
Thanks for the kind words! It will definitely be a relaxing holiday this week. And as always, always trying to produce a very detailed narrative for future students to see what our eyes as students look like!
Chris,
Right now they have me starting my instrument add-on here probably the beginning of next week with this being a holiday week. I plan to start reviewing my instrument guide book plus Pilotās CafĆ© came out with a new IFR quick review sheet, so I plan to start that grind after tomorrow. My landings today werenāt to bad, I was impressed with my no-flap landing. It felt like it went just the way you see all these āproā CFI YouTubers making theirs look in videos. I couldnāt be more happier being able to relax tonight!
Brady
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Good stuff, youāre the man! I would say donāt get fat from eating too much ham and dressing but from the looks of it, Iād assume youāre blessed with a fast metabolism like me 
. Anyways Happy Thanksgiving.
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Brady,
Amazing write up! Passing the CFI initial on the first try is huge! Well done, sir.
As forā¦
That will remain true for the rest of your career. Iām happy to see that you are already embracing that reality.
Tory
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Hey Brady, I believe I was in your CFI Zoom ground class with Tom - congrats on passing also! I passed on the first go too out in Phoenix and this one feels good to get done for sure. Definitely some of the most trying but rewarding few weeks of my life. I feel you on not digging yourself a hole during the oral - my DPE had to actually remind me of this haha. But I hear itās all downhill from here! Good luck in CFII!
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TJ,
Congratulations on passing your check ride as well!
Chris
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Congrats TJ!
Sounds like weāve got a solid group of newly minted CFIs to keep your food chain going!
Adam
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TJ,
I believe so! Congrats my guy! Tom was an awesome instructor, asked him millions of questions before my checkride, couldnāt have been as lucky to have him. The amount of stress that CFI checkride had was insane!
I feel like passing took a lot of my shoulders! Was definitely nice to relax for once, haha.
Brady
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Brady Fries! I saw your name on here and had to respond. Nice write up - that was a fun read. Great job on your cert, my man! I had no doubt that youād get it done with ease. If you havenāt shared the news with Tom, Iām sure heād be stoked to hear it. I agree that was a good zoom group we had. Once it was over I missed everyone a little lol. Real happy to have that cert in the bag though - It was a doozy!
Congrats again and good luck in the future! Iām sure weāll cross paths again.
Blake
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Hey man!
Iāve been in contact with Tom quite a bit, he reached out to me the day I discontinued saying he saw, was concerned, but explained to him of the winds and low visibility out this way. Man do I miss yāall from class, it was the first week of silence, and then we started popping up early before class chatting away.
From my understanding a lot of us from class had a first pass rate! Thatās great news! Some are already CFIIās, weāll soon be there with them! If you have my number, shoot me a text. I was passing it around like candy in Zoom. If you donāt, shoot me an email friesb@alumni.psu.edu
Congrats on your CFI initial as well man! It definitely feels good to relieve that stress a bit.
Brady
Certified Flight Instructor ā Instrument Add-on (CFII) - 12/10/2020
Quick turnover since my recent update in regards to receiving my Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) certificate. Iāve heard stories from other students about how quick this process is and let me chime in, itās quick. ATP allocated two flights before the upcoming checkride. I had awesome instructors at my base location offering to do simulator work to get me back in-tuned for instrument flying before we went out and flew actual approaches. As I said above in my CFI initial update, both the DPE and I knew weād see each other, and I had an idea of how this checkride was about to be conducted. Hereās how it went down:
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After the initial CFI checkride, I took some time to myself over Thanksgiving to relax and destress. Thankfully I was able to even take the weekend further for training since all the instructors at my base had full schedules (it felt like a mini-vacation). During this time, I started to hit the ground running, reviewing study guides such as Pilots CafĆ© and ATP provided documents/videos. I reviewed local approach plates for airports of possible use for my checkride, including Jeppesenās North Pole plate for a little relaxation and laughter.
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The first week of the CFII phase I began to sim, I was limited to the amount of time in the training center due to the coronavirus. I am huge on simulator training as it allows you [as the student] to practice flows and approaches. During my initial instrument phase of training, I didnāt utilize my weekends like I did in commercial to practice everythingā¦I wanted to take this opportunity with such a short turnover. When I went home for the few days, I spent time chair flying before bed.
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Compared to the CFI initial checkride, I felt much more comfortable and relaxedā¦the stress from preparing and studying constantly got to me, and of course not taking enough āme timeā. There was also the stress from not knowing when I was taking it and scheduling issues. I felt fully prepared from the short amount of time and was ready to see another ticket. Letās break this checkride down:
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The oral portion was much more relaxed in an aspect that I wasnāt digging holes. A bunch of instructors and I at my location have a joke that I like to pretend Iām in the movie āHolesā because of the way I set myself up in the orals. The DPE and I spoke on the phone two nights prior, gave me an insight of what to expect for teaching lessons (e.g., equipment required for an ILS or LPV approach) and the airports we would be using for checkride day. As I stated earlier, I felt much more comfortable that I did not dig myself holes that I had to shovel out. I noticed a lot of strong points and some weaknesses that I will still follow up on with myself to master the knowledge. No matter how much you study, there can always be a gap in material by trying to āoverdueā it.
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Just as I expect the flight portion would go like we spoke on the phone. We departed and immediately began interception a radial at a nearby VOR, I didnāt give this man a chance to talk one bit on departure. We shot the non-precision approach just like we discussed, went missed and continued to the AFB that I have been practicing precision approaches (low-approach only) for the last two flights. Did some steep turns under the hood which was fun. Lastly, we ended at the airport we departed and called it a day, and the rest is history.
Letās wrap up this phase of training and checkride. Like I stated above, this checkride went much smoother and I felt a lot more comfortable. When you start to feel the airplane by all the linkages and cables, you become one with it. You can anticipate what itās going to do next and how you can be proactive when you get to the plane. Must I also peep in that I went home for a few days in between the last flight and checkride and flew a few approaches in the plane back at home from the right seat with a friend of mine; this greatly helped keep me practicing and getting flows down. I am thrilled to start flying the Piper Seminole. My time in the Piper Archer has been wonderful, I will miss the beautiful G1000 avionics.
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Brady,
As always thanks for the update. I definitely felt much less pressure after the initial CFI. The scope of knowledge and skills narrows and becomes much more focused.
Archers are awesome but youāll quickly see 2 engines are better than one Enjoy!
Adam
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āMy time in the Piper Archer has been wonderful, I will miss the beautiful G1000 avionics.ā
You just made me realize after CFII, itās probably the last time youāll touch a g1000 archer in a while, havenāt thought about that. I absolutely love the plane!
Congrats!
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Brady,
Great work, congratulations! You will be finished very soon. Thanks for the update!
Chris
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You already know I am excited for thisā¦spoke with my instructor this morning and he promised me I would love when we go full power, told me that itās more fun than a single-engine plane.
Take every moment for a blessing, like you said, you donāt know when youāll get another Archer with a G1000 panel, alone the avionics themselves. Hope your CFI will go well!
As though I am happy to have the experiences I have, I am kind of sad that itās coming to an end so fast as I have became really good friends with everyone and we all āchat it upā daily in the training center when we see each other.
Iām excited to finally have a āpartnerā during a phase, I went through my IFR CPL CFII rides without someone else in my phase at the same portion, and this is the first time I can work with someone and sim together and learn at the same pace. Itāll be a nice change of scenario being able to work with someone.
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Iām not sure what else to say here except for you earned it! You truly have cherished every moment. It shows up in every update we receive. I have no doubt that you will be a great CFI.
Tory
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Hey Tory,
Appreciate the kind words, it has been a huge challenge, a lot of learning so far and more to come, and most importantly, very rewarding. I am thrilled to see where this career kicks off and the adventures only continue in.
Brady
I guess my only advice to you right now is to try to not lose your enthusiasm. You have a long way to go. Itās easy to get burned out as an Instructor. There was a point when I was. Happened somewhere around 800 hours. To tell you the truth, I received two job offers on the same dayāone from Horizon and one from Ameriflight. I consider myself very lucky in that regard. It was easier to push through to 1500 knowing that there was light at the end of the tunnel. Ironically, when I got there I couldnāt believe that I was really there. I must have recounted my logbook at least 3 times. I was sure I had to fly a little more. And almost 4 years have passed since then. It seemed like a long way to go in the moment. In retrospect, it wasnāt. I enjoyed it, but I definitely could have enjoyed it a little bit more.
Tory
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Hey @Adam,
I can already tell you after my first flight in the Piper Seminole, I love itā¦and I canāt wait for my future flights. 
Alright enough with the spoilers from my updates! See you all soon.
Brady
1 Like