There are Lots of Scholarships Available - Time to Apply is NOW

During the August 22nd Power Hour, we reviewed some of the scholarships available to people pursuing flight training. While doing research for the show, I was very surprised by the sheer number of programs out there that are not widely known.

The majority of them are for people 19 and younger, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty for people older than that.

I think most of you are familiar with the AOPA Foundation Scholarship Program. It has a large fund, but there are lots of applicants. An easier path for some is through the EAA local chapters. Most chapters run programs and also connect to the broader RAY scholarship through EAA. This money can be significant.

I was also surprised by the number of scholarships available from Women in Aviation (WIA). There were probably 20 or more programs just there. WIA also notes that they don't consider gender in the selection process, but you must be a member to apply.

In the chat during the show, many people shared their lists of funds/places they have used or recommend to their students. One person won 6 scholarships from the Ninety Nines totaling around $26K.

So, I took the document I prepared and merged it with what was in the chat, excluding the contributors' names. I've attached that document here.

Many applications open in September and October, so now is the time to get going on this. Some require an essay, and some don't.

On the show, we told you to build an Excel sheet of all the places on the list and the relevant info for each, including the application link, website, and fund size. You can use this to keep track of all of the applications/essays you submit. 

That power hour was one of the most interactive we have ever had. So many people left their top 10 lists, or just some odd places that you probably wouldn’t have considered to look. 

So, I hope you start the process to help with the finances of flying. Let us know if you get some good wins. 

Rumor Has It

Just a short note to let you know that the FAA is in the process of producing an Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for the Flight Instructor Instrument rating. Currently, this is a Practical Test Standard (PTS). I don’t have an update on timing yet. Please check the FAA’s website; they will publish it there when it becomes effective. There is usually a 30-day window before the ACS takes effect. It’s also not clear whether the FAA will need to publish this change in the Federal Register with public comment, because all ACSs and PTSs are incorporated by reference into FAR 61.14. Because this is a law, changing anything in that FAR would require the FAA to go through the rulemaking process and publish it in the Federal Register. 

Here is the link to the FAA’s website where the ACS’s are published. 

Knowledge Tests Are Changing - October 27th

This is pretty big news. The FAA is finally doing something about “Question Harvesting,” which most test prep providers use to get the FAA’s questions and answers. Since 2010, the FAA has been looking for the technology to improve in order to stop this. Well, the day is coming soon, and it is October 27, 2026. 

Before you panic, the first two knowledge tests that will be changed are the Instrument Rating Airplane and the Remote Pilot—no word on when others will change. 

So what are they doing, and why will it be almost impossible to get the questions like in the past? 

Here is what they will be doing. PSI, the appointed contractor that administers all FAA tests, has been able to integrate images from the Test Supplement Books online for you to see while taking your test. The FAA is not publishing the Test Supplement Books or releasing the images to the public. That basically means you will have no idea which image you will see in advance. For example, most METAR and TAF images contain about 6 METARs and TAFs. If you know those, then the questions would all be about those only. Now, with the images taken out of public view, you won’t know what they are, and the FAA can change them. 

The other thing PSI has developed is a way to deliver questions dynamically. So the question is unique to a few individuals at a time. This can dramatically increase the test question banks.  For me, this is a day that should have happened a long time ago. I never seem to understand why people will be so proud of their 98% test results when they knew every question and answer ahead of time. As an instructor, I would prefer that my students complete the ground training, whether online, with me, or in a ground school, and then take two or three practice tests without ever seeing the questions or answers. This is then a reflection of what you know and what needs attention. After the sample test, I think the test preparation offered by many companies is still relevant because DPEs need to craft questions and scenarios around the missed ones, and the fewer the better for the checkride, especially if I already cleared them up with the student 

So, if you are preparing for the Instrument Rating or Remote Pilot knowledge test, you have just a few months before the questions/testing changes. 

I’ll keep you posted on any other changes I encounter. 

I have a way to fix the DPE variances - “What's the Gouge”? - Surprise there isn't any info

This will take a few articles to complete, but I have been working on cleaning up how practical tests are administered and how standardization can be a real thing. I propose a radical change to how checkrides are conducted. Using this method, we eliminate preparation for the specific gouges a DPE is known for and standardize the test overall, without giving the examiner free rein. 

Let me lay out the overall concept, and as the months go by, I’ll expand on each in more detail. 

1. The plan of action for DPEs to use for the “oral” part of the exam would be downloaded by the DPE on the day of the exam, without the applicant's or the DPE's knowledge of what is in the Plan of Action. The Standardization Team would vet these at the FAA and allow some local items to be tested. Still, the majority of testing would be based on standardized POAs that aren’t available to the DPE or the Applicant in advance. 
   

2. For the flight portion, a similar thing would happen. The DPE would download a Plan of Action for the flight portion, which would contain the list of maneuvers, emergencies, etc. that need to be performed. Again, there is some allowance for substitutions in certain circumstances. For example, steep spirals can use a lot of altitude. On a day that is generally acceptable for the flight, the ceiling may be so low that the altitude required to start the maneuver would be too high for the conditions. In such cases, the DPE would be allowed to change that to steep turns. 
   

3. The pass/fail criteria would be changed to align more closely with US military flight tests. Currently, a person can fail the practical test if one maneuver is botched. For example, all maneuvers that are not operational would be on the list of “not 100%” of the standard required. The grading system would change to something like
   

a. Q Means qualified and meets or exceeds the standards in the ACS/PTS. 

b. Q- Means qualified “pass”; didn’t do anything unsafe but didn’t meet the standard 

c. U Means Unqualified “Fail”; didn’t meet the standard and was potentially unsafe. 

So, in this system, you could have some Q-minus results on non-operational tasks and still pass the overall test. Some further thought needs to go into this as we develop it over the coming months. 

This is similar to what airlines do for the continuing qualification of their crews. AQP - Advanced Qualification Program, which is currently FAA-approved. No one knows what the flight profile will be, nor which maneuvers will need to be demonstrated in advance. 

With something like what I have laid out, it can help get rid of the following: 

1. What’s he/she going to ask me? 

2. What's the gouge? 

3. He’s picky about airspace; you have to know it cold - no looking up that. 

4. She hates FAR books that are tabbed- that must be all you know is why. 

5. He wonders why you didn’t tab the most needed or hardest-to-find sections. 

6. She insists that you use the DECIDE model for emergency approaches to a landing. 

7. He uses the 3P model for emergencies. 

8. His oral is 8 hours long. 

9. Her oral is 2 hours long. 

10. The DPE was out to get me. 

I think you can see where this is going. I’ll refine it over the next few months and add detail on now/when/if something like this could be implemented. It’s also worth asking if enough people within FAA and the public would get behind something like this. 

Let's see how it unfurls. 

Power Hour Topics for 2027 include some new areas.

For those of you who don’t know, I host a webinar called the “Power Hour” on Saturdays from Noon to 1 pm Eastern Time, followed by an aftershow that includes open mics/questions, general conversation, and more. The show has been running for over 6 years now, with over 300 shows performed. We have between 400 and 800 attendees and offer Wings Credit for most/not all shows. 

Here is a link to register for the shows 

Over the past few months, I've included topics that are often overlooked and useful to our audience. 

Starting in 2027, I’ll be adding topics like Flying Gyroplanes, Helicopter Aerodynamics, What can we use from Glider flying in Airplanes?, All about the Rotax 912 engine, and more. The idea is to get some experts once a month to cover these and other topics, so we help spread the word about other aircraft, not just airplanes. I think it will be interesting and fun. 

I’m looking forward to it. If you have any suggestions, or if you consider yourself an expert on any of the topics above or anything else, send me an email. mike@cfibootcamp.com 

GAPS Course is Filling a Need in CFI Training

Several months ago, we released our CFI Knowledge GAPS course, a video-based course that focuses on the difficult areas of CFI training that most CFIs don’t fully understand. Those areas are:

1. Fundamentals of Instructing 

2. Training, Endorsements, and Testing Requirements for All Ratings a CFI is Authorized to Provide 

3. Using a Syllabus and Modifying Lesson Plans for Individual Learners 

4. Practical CFI - Using IACRA as an Instructor, Validating Credit in the Wings Program. 

This course covers the hard areas with videos, quizzes, and study outlines for each lesson. It allows a person to use a CFI they feel comfortable with at home without sacrificing what that CFI may not be good at in Initial CFI training. 

This course is currently bundled with our ACS SmartStudy Pro audio courses that cover every knowledge, risk, and skills element in the ACS for Private, Commercial, and Flight Instructor. There are companion PDFs for each task that can be viewed when time allows; however, the intent is to use the audio lessons on the way to the airport or as a comprehensive review of what you need to know after the flight. It is also great for checkride prep. The GAPS course is usually $600, and the three ACS SmartStudy Pro products are $200 each. For a short window of time, you can get the GAPS course and all three ACS SmartStudy Pro courses (Private, Commercial, Flight Instructor) for $300. That's 75% off the list prices. 

Here is a link to get the deal. 

POP UP - CFII - Instrument Instructor AND Accelerated IFR Course Announced

CFI Bootcamp will offer a just-announced CFII and Accelerated IFR course, both in person in Palo Alto, CA, and remotely via Zoom, from Sept 22-24, 2026. Class starts at 8 a.m. Pacific Time and ends at 3 pm. 

The class is designed for both instructors who want to add “Instrument Airplane” to their flight instructor certificates and pilots pursuing an instrument rating for airplanes. This is a three-day course that covers everything IFR. 

This class has a special deal running for a few weeks. If you register for this class, you can get it for not the usual $875, but for $599. That's $276 off the list price, a little more than a 33% discount. It’s only for the September class, though. 

If you want to see the course syllabus, here is a link to the class's hour-by-hour schedule. 

If you want to register for the course, click this link. 

PROTIPS

1. When practicing teaching, if you are by yourself, teach the lesson out loud and in front of a mirror.

   Teaching out loud helps you catch difficult-to-explain areas and flow problems. The mirror allows you to see how you are communicating, or not.
   

2. As a CFI, make sure you do these three things before getting into an airplane with someone you are training/evaluating. PS: It doesn't matter who it is and how qualified they are; just do these things, and you'll thank me one day: check the fuel and caps visually and dip the tanks if you can; check the oil and dipstick security; walk around the entire airplane and check the flight control surfaces. I can't tell you how many times this has saved me from what I thought was a great student who missed things on preflights. It only takes a minute or two to do all of this.
   

3. Find out how to project your iPad to a Smart TV. Many flight schools have them now. Start using

   technology slowly. Get good at the basics like this first and add new skills as you get more comfortable. Generally, your iPad and Smart TV need to be connected to the same WiFi network. Then you can slide your finger from the top-left corner of the iPad screen to bring up the “control panel”. There, youwill find what appears to be two monitors near the FOCUS icon. Tap the two-monitor icon and then select the Smart TV you want to connect to.