Cfi syllabus

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Newly minted CFI looking for thoughts on training syllabi. Has anyone used the FITS from the FAA? Or are there others you found more useful?. Eventually with experience I will no doubt develop my own. Need something that will keep me from missing content or unnecessarily prolonging the student’s experience due to an inefficient plan.
Also I will take any newbie tips :)
Thanks!
 
Consider teaching directly from the ACS. That’s what the DPE uses…. Going directly to the source is a decent habit.

Sporty’s is a decent syllabus that’s independent CFI friendly I think.

Edit: congrats on the CFI!!
 
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Consider teaching directly from the ACS. That’s what the DPE uses…. Going directly to the source is a decent habit.

Sporty’s is a decent syllabus that’s independent CFI friendly I think.
Thank you.
 
For private...
61.87
61.93
61.105
61.107
61.109
 
Thank you for the fars.
I am wondering about a syllabus that would weave all of these requirements in a logical order and build in repetition with each lesson as well as scenario based learning...like the FITS does.
 
Thank you for the fars.
I am wondering about a syllabus that would weave all of these requirements in a logical order and build in repetition with each lesson as well as scenario based learning...like the FITS does.
You are correct in looking for one. The regulations are requirements, not a syllabus. Same for the ACS.

There are plenty out there and they are all very similar. The "wheel" of a good stepping stone sequence has been invented and refined. @Tools mentioned the Sporty's syllabus. Here's King's. Plenty more out there available for free.
 
You are correct in looking for one. The regulations are requirements, not a syllabus. Same for the ACS.

There are plenty out there and they are all very similar. The "wheel" of a good stepping stone sequence has been invented and refined. @Tools mentioned the Sporty's syllabus. Here's King's. Plenty more out there available for free.

Drank the kool-aid and bought into the FAA's bizarre idea of a syllabus? 136 pages, wow.
Screenshot 2023-06-23 at 8.16.30 AM.png
 
Drank the kool-aid and bought into the FAA's bizarre idea of a syllabus? 136 pages, wow.
View attachment 118328
Syllabus for the course, lesson plan for each lesson, additonal reference material, and lesson tracking are all different things. Back when I was doing primary, I took the material from several (they really are all 99% the same and wrote my own. Lesson order, lesson general content, and tracking so I know it was logged in the student's logbook. This was the first page.
upload_2023-6-23_8-41-29.png
 
Our program has always used the Gleim products. It not only gives a lesson by lesson outline, but plenty of home study material for the student as well.

The FAA specifically states not to teach the ACS. Yes the ACS is the standard by which a student will be tested and the sets the standards they should meet, but it is not all inclusive and is by far not a lesson by lesson syllabus.
 
Our program has always used the Gleim products. It not only gives a lesson by lesson outline, but plenty of home study material for the student as well.

The FAA specifically states not to teach the ACS. Yes the ACS is the standard by which a student will be tested and the sets the standards they should meet, but it is not all inclusive and is by far not a lesson by lesson syllabus.
Unless, of course, one plans to teach short field and soft field landings before ever getting to stalls and slow flight. :D
 
Consider teaching directly from the ACS. That’s what the DPE uses…. Going directly to the source is a decent habit.

Except the ACS is in no way structured in a logical progression for learning. The ACS should be a reference but certainly not the syllabus or lesson plan.

Unless, of course, one plans to teach short field and soft field landings before ever getting to stalls and slow flight. :D

Exactly!
 
I just plugged "private pilot syllabus" into a search engine and a lot of examples popped up, starting about twenty dollars.

When I was an independent CFI, I used the ASA Student Flight Record to track and record each student's training. It is well organized. I also have complete lesson plans from American Flyers.

Where I currently work, we have our own syllabus that is quite detailed. And it changes from time to time.
 
I just plugged "private pilot syllabus" into a search engine and a lot of examples popped up, starting about twenty dollars.

When I was an independent CFI, I used the ASA Student Flight Record to track and record each student's training. It is well organized. I also have complete lesson plans from American Flyers.

Where I currently work, we have our own syllabus that is quite detailed. And it changes from time to time.
Yes exactly... seems like too many options . The FITS is free but having no experience using it was wondering if there are pitfalls to it or maybe a better mousetrap. I will take a closer look at the other options. Thanks to all for those suggestions.
 
Thanks to all who are posting,very much appreciated!
 
Yes exactly... seems like too many options . The FITS is free but having no experience using it was wondering if there are pitfalls to it or maybe a better mousetrap. I will take a closer look at the other options. Thanks to all for those suggestions.
Don't worry about too many options since they are mostly identical.

Another consideration you may or may not have thought about. When I started teaching I had a full time (non-aviation) career. Most of my students did too and (aside from "Midlife Flight," I marketed myself as the "CFI with a schedule as bad as yours." Once a week lessons if the weather cooperated. Mayby a second if there was a break in both our schedules at the same time. So I was less concerned with the syllabus itself than I was with good study material for my student that would help keep their head in the game. Sportys and King both have online (back then, DVD) courses that are not only "written test prep" but follow a flight training program, lesson by lesson. Student can prep for the next lesson with the course, take the lesson with me, and then review what we did with the course. That's what led me to Sportys and their syllabus to begin with.
 
Don't worry about too many options since they are mostly identical.

Another consideration you may or may not have thought about. When I started teaching I had a full time (non-aviation) career. Most of my students did too and (aside from "Midlife Flight," I marketed myself as the "CFI with a schedule as bad as yours." Once a week lessons if the weather cooperated. Mayby a second if there was a break in both our schedules at the same time. So I was less concerned with the syllabus itself than I was with good study material for my student that would help keep their head in the game. Sportys and King both have online (back then, DVD) courses that are not only "written test prep" but follow a flight training program, lesson by lesson. Student can prep for the next lesson with the course, take the lesson with me, and then review what we did with the course. That's what led me to Sportys and their syllabus to begin with.
Don't worry about too many options since they are mostly identical.

Another consideration you may or may not have thought about. When I started teaching I had a full time (non-aviation) career. Most of my students did too and (aside from "Midlife Flight," I marketed myself as the "CFI with a schedule as bad as yours." Once a week lessons if the weather cooperated. Mayby a second if there was a break in both our schedules at the same time. So I was less concerned with the syllabus itself than I was with good study material for my student that would help keep their head in the game. Sportys and King both have online (back then, DVD) courses that are not only "written test prep" but follow a flight training program, lesson by lesson. Student can prep for the next lesson with the course, take the lesson with me, and then review what we did with the course. That's what led me to Sportys and their syllabus to begin with.
I am in a similar place, ie regular teaching job non aviation related. My friend who is also working on his Cfi is going to use Sporty’s as well. I will look more closely at that.
 
There really no reason as a CFI candidate to not write all your flight lesson plans. The incorporation of the lesson plans in to a syllabus with 3 phases. - Presolo, XC/Night and Practical Test Prep - is not that difficult.
 
I am in a similar place, ie regular teaching job non aviation related. My friend who is also working on his Cfi is going to use Sporty’s as well. I will look more closely at that.
Another thing about Sporty's - the associated syllabus has been free for years, but they recently made the courses themselves free for CFIs. Good marketing but great for us who use them.
 
There really no reason as a CFI candidate to not write all your flight lesson plans.
No reason to either. I showed up with a set of prefab lesson plans (including some 20 year old ones my CFI passed on to me :D) and three I wrote myself. I've written more lesson plans and syllabi since becoming a CFI than I wrote before.
 
Our program has always used the Gleim products. It not only gives a lesson by lesson outline, but plenty of home study material for the student as well.

The FAA specifically states not to teach the ACS. Yes the ACS is the standard by which a student will be tested and the sets the standards they should meet, but it is not all inclusive and is by far not a lesson by lesson syllabus.

A syllabus is a checklist of items, and so is the ACS. The syllabus should be more inclusive than just the ACS items, and also not necessarily in the same sequence. I have always developed my own syllabus using the ACS (or PTS) as a starting point. Using store-bought syllabus never sat well with me. The process of thinking through each step, writing them down, modifying and iterating has significant benefits. In the same sprit, I instruct my students to develop their own aircraft checklist using the POH as a starting point.
 
... In the same sprit, I instruct my students to develop their own aircraft checklist using the POH as a starting point.
Yes. I started doing that unprompted during my intial training for ppl and agree that's a good tool. The added bonus is that it would give them a sense of ownership. I could assign that in pieces that are germane to the lesson.
 
No reason to either. I showed up with a set of prefab lesson plans (including some 20 year old ones my CFI passed on to me :D) and three I wrote myself. I've written more lesson plans and syllabi since becoming a CFI than I wrote before.

Maybe why new CFIs these days tell me there’s no difference between a forward and a side slip.
 
Maybe why new CFIs these days tell me there’s no difference between a forward and a side slip.
That's because they didn't have to walk uphill both ways in shoes made of cardboard.
 
Not sure what I did 24 years ago has much relevance to new CFIs these days,
Just commenting the CFIs I encounter who use someone else’s lesson plans tend not to know or know how to teach the manuevevers.
 
Just commenting the CFIs I encounter who use someone else’s lesson plans tend not to know or know how to teach the manuevevers.
We might need to agree to disagree on this one. That's not necessarily a function of whose lesson plans are being used. That's true of any (valid) source material. You can memorize the entire library of FAA material from the FAR to the Airplane Flying Handbook and still not be able to teach it effectively. That's especially true of the simple outline of a good lesson plan.

When my examiner saw my set, he said, "Good. No need to reinvent the wheel. It's more important to know how to use one. Let's see." Told me to give him a lesson. It wasn't one I wrote up. He was happy. I was happy.
 
When i started teaching 29 years ago i used to use a textbook that i eventually grew to despise and drop. The text wasn't horrible, it just didn't fit my teaching style and became too limiting.
BUT...
It really made a difference in the beginning because it gave me a structure and suggested a sequence that gave my early teaching some cohesion. I would hate to be a student of a first time CFI who scoffed at the idea of a "pre made structured outline" in fact the FAA created FITS...but I suppose we should scoff at that because it is pre made for us.
The outline doesn't have to impede your own creativity in creating lesson plans...its just an outline. And even if you used a prefab lesson plan, there is still room for your teaching style, your choice of visual aids etc, again its just an outline. Over time you will probably replace stuff that you feel you cover better or you come across something better. It's all part of the journey.

When I see a kid with training wheels on his bike, I don't berate him for his lack of cycling ability and make gross generalizations about the low state of affairs of all these kids using a crutch.

I do appreciate all of the responses even if I disagree with some of them. Thanks for the lively debate!
 
Newly minted CFI looking for thoughts on training syllabi. Has anyone used the FITS from the FAA? Or are there others you found more useful?. Eventually with experience I will no doubt develop my own. Need something that will keep me from missing content or unnecessarily prolonging the student’s experience due to an inefficient plan.
Also I will take any newbie tips :)
Thanks!
You are right. A syllabus follows a sequence whereby the training is presented and taught. Teaching should be presented in building blocks, hence a sequence. You are on the right track not to assume that the teaching material is to be just randomly presented from the ACS. It should be well thought out and presented in a logical building block sequence. ACS doesn't provide a sequence, although it is the official resource of information. Jeppesen has a PPL syllabus which compliments their text book. I've had success taking the Jeppesen route. Any reputable third party which can provide a syllabus along with text book / video training references for each item in the syllabus is effective. Gleim, Sporty's, Jeppesen. I'm not sure what text book reading references the KING syllabus has....If you make your own make sure it follows a logical sequence and be sure to reference reading material for each Ground and Flight Training lesson. Lesson plans are good to have, but it is the syllabus that connects all the dots and brings the information together in a logical sequence of what and when the training should be provided.
 
Newly minted CFI looking for thoughts on training syllabi. Has anyone used the FITS from the FAA? Or are there others you found more useful?. Eventually with experience I will no doubt develop my own. Need something that will keep me from missing content or unnecessarily prolonging the student’s experience due to an inefficient plan.
Also I will take any newbie tips :)
Thanks!
If you wish, I can send you a copy of our private pilot syllabus.
 
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