I came up with a list of questions for people who are in the process of finding a flight instructor. This is what I used when I interviewed potential CFI's. I will also use this when I start my search for CFII.
Is the CFI you finished your private with not a II, or do you not like them?
1. How long have you been a CFI(I)/MEI?
2. What ratings/endorsements do you have?
3. How many students have passed on the 1st time?
4. How many of your students failed?
5. Have you had any accidents or incidents? If so, what happened?
7. Do you work for the FBO or do you work for yourself?
9. How do you feel about flying in instrument conditions at night?
10. How long do you plan on being around?
11. Do you smoke?
15. Do you fly on ONLY perfect weather days or do you fly in some weather/weather permitting?
19. What do your students like most about you?
20. What do your students like least about you?
22. Do you use a syllabus, if so which one and do you stick to it?
25. How do you like to be paid?
29. How long have you been instructing (CFI, CFII, MEI)?
30. Describe a situation in which you had a difficult time over coming a student’s lack of forward progress and what did you do to get them through?
32. How many total hours do you have?
33. How many hours of actual instrument time do you have?
34. How many hours do you have instructing?
36. What is your favorite aircraft and why?
37. What is your least favorite aircraft and why?
39. How do you fell about email/phone questions?
40. When do you start the clock/what time am I charged for?
41. Is there anyway that I could get my lessons on video by having someone sit in the back seat? (if applicable)
43. How much preflight discussion you do before getting in the airplane?
44. How much debriefing do you do?
47. Could I have at least 3 references of students who have passed their checkrides who trained with you?
All legitimate questions, though they seem to overlap a bit in some cases, or maybe that's because *cough*#50*cough* they're disorganized. For instance, #32, 33, and 34 go with #1 and 2.
14. Do I need renters insurance?
That's a question for the FBO, not the CFI. This is something you ask when you're calling around asking about the available airplane types and rates and such. And frankly, the answer is "yes." Even if renter's insurance isn't required by the FBO, you should be getting it. There is only ONE FBO that I know of that covers the renter as named insured... That's extremely rare.
17. What where your scores on your knowledge exams? How about your students?
18. What age did you start flying?
23. Where did you do your primary training?
35. Describe frustrations you have had with your own educational advancement?
I see these questions as basically irrelevant. Why even ask them? Something related to the last question could be relevant, but it should read more like "When you've had students get frustrated with a learning plateau, what kinds of techniques have you used to get them back on track?"
6. If CFII is of the opposite sex how do you feel training men/women?
16. Do you use the hands on approach? When you practice stalls do you keep your hands on the controls just incase?
38. Do you frustrate easily?
48. I am scheduled for a lesson. A person interested in learning how to fly wants to go on an intro flight right before scheduled time. What do you do?
50. Are you organized?
If you think you're going to get an honest answer for these from someone with the "wrong" answer, you're going to get bitten. The only thing these questions will accomplish is to **** off a good instructor as you're insulting their professionalism.
12. Do you drink? If so have you ever missed a lesson because you had too much to drink the night before?
21. Do you hit your students?
If you asked me any of the above (and some from the previous group too), the interview is over and I'll show you the door. Really, do you expect anyone to say "Yeah, I drink like crazy and I miss lessons all the time!" You accomplish NOTHING by asking such insulting questions because the bad ones won't just come out and tell you, and the good ones will not stand for such idiotic, belittling questions.
8. Tell me about your flying experiences?
28. What is your approach to teaching?
These questions need to be rewritten, as they're rather open-ended and don't seem to have a particular goal in mind. What are you trying to learn here?
13. How flexible are you?
Like, can I do the splits? I'm assuming you mean schedule-wise, but you should clarify.
24. Your cell phone, do you leave it in your desk/car or do you use it during the lesson?
This fits somewhat in the above category, but... I think a CFI has every right (even an obligation) to receive certain calls (for example, from a student who's on a solo cross country checking in), as long as the clock stops and you're not paying for it.
26. How do you construct your lesson plans?
This is either a question you should be asking when you are a CFI candidate, or it is poorly worded. What are you looking for here?
27. What are your thoughts on how to structure the program so I can obtain my goal?
Unless you have some particular difficulty (learning disability, terrible schedule, who knows what else) that you've shared with the CFI, this isn't a question that can be answered right away. They need to see what weaknesses you have, how you learn, how you respond. The question (above exception notwithstanding) cannot be accurately answered at the first meeting.
31. What types of aircraft have you flown?
Irrelevant. They only need to have experience in the particular type you are planning on flying with them. Who's going to be a better instructor in a C172 - The guy who has 5,000 hours in a 172, or the one who has 10 hours in every type under the sun?
42. With the syllabus do you stick to it or do you deviate from it if need be?
That's a silly question. If you "need" to deviate from the syllabus, you do. I'm not sure why you'd need to, unless they're using a Sporty's-style syllabus that has each individual flight mapped out and you need extra work on a particular problem.
45. On bad weather days am I allowed to come out and sit in the cockpit and go through the motions of the controls?
Again, this is a question for the FBO, not the CFI unless the CFI owns the plane you'll be training in.
46. Do you allow me to discuss the maneuvers on the ground before getting in the airplane?
This really goes with #43, and again I don't think you'll ever get anybody to say "no." It's just a matter of who's being honest.
49. To practice crosswind take off’s and landings would you fly to an airport with intersecting/perpendicular runways so I can have lots of practice doing these?
Why do you need intersecting runways to practice crosswind landings? I've never been to an airport that always had the wind straight down the runway... Plus, if you're going to an airport with two runways to practice crosswind landings, you are much more likely to cause a traffic conflict because everyone else is going to be using a different runway. I'd say a single-runway field is the best place to practice crosswind landings!
Also, everyone needs lots of practice with crosswinds. Who's ever going to say no to the question?
I think Nick's got the right approach. I think just sitting in on hangar talk is the best way to find out an instructor's attitude.
Would "yes" or "no" be the correct answer?
