You forgot the picture again 
kidding. Well done, Robert!
Tory
Robert,
Congratulations! Enjoy crew, it is most peopleās favorite part of the program and for good reason.
Chris
Progress update: I just finished my last crew XC flight last night and will be airlined back to Richmond this morning from Ft. Lauderdale. A quick summary of how my crew experience looked for those who are interested:
I finished up my crew eval on Sunday Jan. 17, and was anticipating a quick crew assignment to start the new week. However, for better or worse, I ended up with a week off as they were waiting for a crew partner to come available for me. Although I was excited to get going, it was nice to take a bit of a break without any studying and spend time with my family (especially since I wouldnāt be seeing them for 10 days after that). Iām also fortunate that I was paired with a crew partner who took the experience seriously as well and with whom I also had a lot of fun.
I was airlined down to Atlanta on Friday the 22nd for a start the next day with my new crew mate, who was airlined down from the Louisville training center. We got 2 great, full days of flying in (day 1: KLZU-KJVY, KJVY-KLZU; day 2: KLZU-KJQF, KJQF-KSAV, KSAV-KRDU), then spent the next 5 nights in a hotel at RDU because of weather. We finally were able to get going again and wrapped up the rest of our hours in 3 more full days of flying (day 3: KRDU-KTYS, KTYS-KLZU, KLZU-KJVY; day 4: KJVY-KLZU, KLZU-KCRG; day 5: KDAB-KAPF, KAPF-KORL, KORL-KFXE). Spent one more night at a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale and headed home today, Feb. 1.
Including the days where I was airlined back and forth, the total time on crew assignment was 11 days: 2 days of airlining, 5 full days of flying, 4 days of studying at the hotel because of weather.
I thought we had a pretty good mix of flights and locations, primarily in the Southeast, covering Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky/Indiana, North Carolina and Florida. We got to fly over mountains, over ocean, over clouds, under clouds, through clouds, in calm air and bumpy air, freezing conditions and warm, humid conditions. We did RNAV and ILS, precision and non-precision, circle-to-land and even a visual approach (itās been awhile). We flew 6 different airplanes in our 5 days of flying. We had a couple good experiences with emergency planning and ADM (1. alternator appeared to fail over the mountains of Tennessee, ran our emergency checklist, and fortunately it started working again after we cycled it, 2. On the way from Naples to Daytona Beach strong winds forced us to divert to Orlando, and still had to land in some very gusty conditions).
For me the highlight was probably the Cambria hotel where we spent 5 nights in Raleigh-Durham for weather. Iām kidding. It was definitely the last day flying in Florida. Not only am I a big fan of warm weather (especially when the rest of the East Coast is mired in a dastardly winter storm), the flying was just incredible, not having to worry about icing in the clouds, and getting to fly by and over the coast.
Timing-wise itās been 5 1/2 months since my start date from zero time, for what itās worth. On to TAA and the rest of commercial!
2 Likes
Robert,
Sounds like fun! Crew was definitely my favorite part of the program. I remember thinking āwow! I really am a pilot!ā.
Keep up the good work and keep us posted.
Adam
Robert,
You sound like a full fledged airline pilot there 
In all seriousness, I am glad that you got to fly to so many different places in different parts of the country. This is extremely valuable experience that will suit you well down the road.
Thank you for the update, keep them coming.
Chris
Time for the next update: I just passed my commercial single engine checkride this afternoon! Since coming back from crew, my pace has felt a bit more leisurely, partly because weāre still dealing with weather and plane availability, but itās been nice not stressing about it. My checkride date was pushed back a couple times for weather but Iām just enjoying the ride. At this point in the program itās really starting to feel like the end is coming fast, and so Iām definitely not in a hurry, since there arenāt any low hour jobs waiting for me at this point anyway. I have 10 days off before my CFI virtual ground date, so Iāll start preparing for that while enjoying some downtime as well.
Some highlights of the commercial stage:
Learning how to land again (ha!). I remember as I was prepping for my private checkride and feeling very confident in my short and soft field landings, listening to a fellow student in his commercial phase lamenting about struggling with his landings. I thought that would never be the case for me. Oh well. We rush through these stages so quick, we really still have so much to learn.
TAA was fun. I flew down to Concord for a couple days, and most of my TAA hours came at night. Lots of fun.
On my checkride the DPE had us do our landings at Hanover airport, where Iād never landed before since we never use it in our training. I was slightly worried about doing the landings at a new airport (especially since there tends to be a lot of traffic at it and it has a lower TPA than what Iād been practicing at). I happen to live right by that airport, however, so it was cool to fly over my own house while turning final at 500 AGL.
I feel like I just started, but time wise Iām 2/3 done already. Bittersweet.
4 Likes
Robert,
Your officially a commercial pilot! Thatās a big one, congrats! It is a weird shift going from instrument flying back to the freedom of VFR plus maneuvers and specialty landings. You are getting close to the end! CFI is the last major hurtle then itās downhill, and very quick, to the end! Absolutely take the next few days to relax and recover. If youād like to start prepping for CFI, look over the PTS and highlight the required subject areas and start working on lesson plans for those topics. There are some sample lesson plans available to you as a guide on your extranet.
-Hannah
Robert,
Congratulations on becoming a commercial pilot! Thank you for the update as well. You will be finished before you know it.
Chris
Thanks Hannah! Thatās helpful information. Iād like to get as prepped as I can ahead of CFI so Iāll take any advice I can get about how to effectively use this time.
Major kudos! You can now get paid vs paying which is a huge step!
Keep it up and keep us posted!
Adam
Robert,
Congrats on the Commercial Single-Engine, arenāt Chandelles fun! I always thought they were a sporty and exciting maneuver since youāre putting the plane in a maximum profile.
As to your āthe program is coming to an end so fastā comment, youāre absolutely feeling what everyone feels. I remember reading comments that after crew and commercial single-engine, it flies right on bye. Youāll look a month later and be completing your CFI initial and be like āWoah, this is nuts!ā (obviously on a good feeling - ha). Keep working hard, itās only to get better from here!
Brady
Bravo, Robert!
I went through the program before the TAA rule was an option. I only got to tinker with the autopilot in the CRX sim. I bet that was awesome!
Just wait until youāre being paid to fly for the first time. The moment the Hobbs meter flickers it feels different 
Tory
One month after my last update, Iām incredibly humbled and relieved to report that today I passed my CFI Initial checkride. Iām not going to lieāthis one was tough. There have certainly been challenges in the program prior to this, just in terms of the standards placed on ourselves to become proficient and knowledgeable quickly, and to pass checkrides and keep progressing, but at no point did I feel that it was anything I couldnāt do, and certainly never carried with it the anxiety and self-doubt that I felt during CFI! Ultimately it was an invaluable learning experience, not just from an aeronautical knowledge and proficiency standpoint (and it was certainly that in spades), but from a personal growth standpoint.
A few days after getting my commercial rating, I started the 2-week Zoom CFI virtual ground instruction from the comfort of my own home. Those were long days, spending 7 hours on Zoom, then studying and preparing lesson plans into the night. Midway through week two I was definitely starting to feel the mental exhaustionāthatās a lot of material and work to fit into 2 weeks!
Week 3 I was sent down to LZU to complete the flight training portion. I canāt say enough good things about my instructors at LZU. By this point, having not flown in almost 4 weeks, then jumping into the right seat, it did not start well. I started feeling the pressure of wanting to be proficient, and with only 3 flights before my endorsement flight, I got into my own head and really was dealing with some anxiety, making it worse. Credit to my instructors who really helped me through that. I got my endorsement a week ago Wednesday, then unfortunately had my checkride canceled because of DPE scheduling changes. I ultimately got sent back to Richmond and had the checkride today with a DPE here. The checkride was 9 hours start to finish, but it ended up being a great experience, and Iām a flight instructor now!
3 Likes
Monstrous kudos Robert!
Iāve always felt the initial CFI was by far the toughest checkride as ANYTHING is fair game! Nice job and youāre in the home stretch!
Congrats!
Adam
Robert,
Wow, nine hours! That is insane. I feel like there should be some sort of metal of valor for going through that. Either way though, congratulations! When do you expect to be all finished with the program?
Chris
Robert,
Congrats on the CFI! Welcome to the instructor family. Super excited to hear things went good for you and that you had a great experience. The Zoom meetings can be difficult to focus, sitting in front of a computer screen trying to now learn how to teach the material can get exhausting.
Who was your CFI instructor at LZU, I had Brady (coincident - haha), they all are super nice down there.
Brady
Thanks Adam, I certainly hope that was the hardest!
Thanks Chris, it definitely made for a long day, but Iām glad I went through it, and the little green badge on my ATP Program Outline is medal enough for me! I wonder sometimes about the quirks in the examination system that mean some of my fellow CFI class at LZU simply read off their required and/or self-selected lesson plan notes for the oral, then flew a 0.9 hour flight, with the DPE flying most of the maneuvers. You just canāt worry about that. If I want to be the best pilot I can be, Iām not going to look for shortcuts, even if it means I have a harder road or have to deal with some perceived failures on the way. It doesnāt always feel that way in the moment, but itās the perspective Iām trying to maintain.
Thanks Brady! I had Lilo as an instructor, and Chris was my 2-year. Like I said, I owe so much to them. People like to bag on the FOIs, but if Iām being honest, they embodied those fundamentals and it showed in how my flying and knowledge (and mental state) improved over that week.
1 Like
Robert,
Super glad to hear that they really helped you along the way. I met Lilo and talked to her a few times while I was in my CFI training at LZU, I was originally scheduled to fly with her, then got Brady when I arrived. Also Chris is another great individual, I remember doing our grounds and he was very enthused to helping each of us improve our lesson plans.
Glad to see things are moving along for you, itās time to prepare for the right seat approaches. 
Brady