u/Almostfamous1362

Hey friends, I had my CFI Initial checkride with Michelle Petrina in Montana this week. After hearing various things, I wanted to share my exact experience:

To clarify, the CFI initial checkride was not easy... Just to get through all of the standards it took a while (for reference our ground was 3 hours and flight was 2 + debrief) Here are the facts:

• She arrived at 5am on the dot (when I requested we start)
• She brought GOOD snacks for me and said "during todays exam please take breaks". Also, she asked if I wanted soft piano music during my ground to boost the mood.
• Ground: both she and I had the ACS in front of us and we followed it LINE BY LINE on my slides. There was only one question I wasn't sure on and she let me look it up in the Aviation Instructors Handbook and share my answer (it was the about 4 stages of the learning process)
• After finishing, she let me take a small break and tell her when I wanted to meet at the plane to start the flight portion.
• Before the flight she reviewed our whole flight plan on the ground including what maneuvers I would be teaching. Then during the flight she had it out on her ipad and we followed it line by line.
• During the flight portion she took the controls and she told me "hey make sure you are drinking water and let me know when you are ready to show me the next maneuver"
• After we had our debrief where we talked about everything. She wrote me detailed notes about what she liked and disliked. I didn't have perfect checkride and I for sure have a lot to improve on... but she was fair and appreciated that I could recognize and explain how to fix my mistakes.

Overall, this was a positive experience and the most by the book checkride I have ever had. Her CFI gouge would literally be the CFI ACS, HIGHLIGHT your written test deficiencies, and maybe some meditation classes to learn how to breathe during maneuvers haha. Hope this helps any future CFI candidates :)