Using AI as a Learner and Teacher: Full-Day Class

At CFI Bootcamp, we have been teaching how to use AI, ForeFlight, and Zoom as teachers and learners during the first day of our Initial CFI-A class. We were the first to recognize that AI needed to be taught and not stumbled into. We also teach a Code of Ethics to define when and how AI can be used and what to do if you suspect a learner is not proficient.

Over the past four CFI classes, I have refined the techniques and applications of around five AI tools vetted as best in class for specific teaching or learning applications in Flight Training.

A big part of learning AI is that no single tool will produce the best results. You need to be able to use the five we teach, but the good news is that they are easy to pick up. You'll find our approach uncomplicated, and you can start using these tools during class and for sure after it's over.

We are covering key concepts now emerging in Flight Training education such as:

1. How to record lessons in flight and on the ground and make summaries and action items.

2. How to make a Podcast from these summaries that learners can listen to on the way to and after a lesson - Very powerful and effective.

3. How to create lesson plans for things like the GFC 500 autopilot and other avionics packages.

4. How to create 5-minute versions of your current lesson plans for preflight briefings.

5. Quiz generation on the fly - Students don't see the quiz ahead of time, and it's unique to them every time.

6. Creating graphics for difficult-to-explain concepts in aviation - Why Vy and Vx converge, and where, as an example.

7. Using Flight Training-Specific AI tools.

8. The Ethics and Code of Conduct for using AI as a Learner and a Teacher.

This class is taught live on the first day of any of our Initial CFI classes offered once a month. You can attend that day for the AI portion, or you can buy additional days if you don't need the full 7 days of CFI ground training. Each day is themed. For example, there are full days for the FOI, Training/Endorsements/Testing for each rating you can teach, using ForeFlight and ForeFlight Connector for flight planning, teaching, and more.

Click on this link for more information [LINK]

Changing the Checkride - Vetted Plans of Action

In last month's article, I discussed how we could change the testing process to produce a pilot who is not just prepared to pass a checkride that they have the "Gouge" on. In that article, I covered a specific method we could use and what it would look like.

That article is in the August 2026 newsletter.

I'm looking for a solution to DPE variances, for example, what one DPE wants vs. what another wants, and so on. To me, this is just barriers and pet peeves creeping into the checkrides. For example, we have a DPE that tests airspace on the CFI checkride for over an hour. No stone left unturned. RVSM and Oxygen requirements for pressurized airplanes, and where you can be at 20,000 MSL and not be in Class A. For other DPEs, it's either not tested at all or not at that level. Yet something else will be evaluated more thoroughly. Who knows, and better yet, who cares? Everyone smiles and nods in agreement to whatever the DPE says, and that's just how it goes. That's why there are "Gouges" for particular examiners' tests, and students are chomping at the bit to get their hands on them.

So, I'm going to address just the oral portion of the exam in this article. I will focus on a solution.

The fix is to have a large number of vetted Plans of Action housed in a place where the DPE can access them on the day of the test, or maybe the day before. These plans would include scenarios, individual questions, and so on. The answers would be provided, along with specific references aligned directly to the ACS or PTS to which the test is being conducted.

In this solution, neither the DPE nor the Applicant would know what was on the Plan of Action (POA). There would be some flexibility for important local items that can't be captured on a one-size-fits-all POA, but those items would be small relative to the exam. This would keep oral exams within reasonable time frames and eliminate the "Gouge" to a great extent.

It's still up to the DPE to determine that the applicant understands and answers the scenarios and questions to the standard, so it's not a script. It's just a POA that the FAA standardization team says meets the testing standard, and the DPE must use it. It would be different each time. The time frame would be given ahead of time so the DPE knows how much time the test will take.

I think a system like this would require CFIs to train all aspects better because they wouldn't be able to say things like the following. "He never asks about airspace, and we are a bit short on time, so you can just self-study that." The DPE provides a more objective test that no one can see ahead of time, and this sets a standard for the time allocated for the oral portion of the test. We have one DPE that conducts an 8-9 hour oral exam for an Initial, while another's is 2.5 hours. How can this be if there really is standardization?

Next month, I'm going to talk about a solution to the flight side of the checkride and introduce a concept that airlines use called AQP (Advanced Qualification Program). I'll keep stepping through these individual topics until I've laid out the proposed new testing system for you. After that, we can have a good conversation about when, maybe never, maybe later, etc., we propose these changes.

Autumn Is Almost Here - Two Locations - Opposite Seasons

Well, it's almost Autumn in North America. For most, it means a definitive change of the weather and the amount of daylight that's available for flying. At mid-latitudes, autumn brings the most stable weather and smoothest air.

We operate out of two locations, Palo Alto, CA (San Francisco Bay Area), and Opa-Locka, FL (Miami). The weather at these locations differs greatly and offers a special opportunity for our students.

The climates are almost opposite each other year-round. When it's bad in one location, it's good at the other. Let's have a look at what we can expect in these two locations. I'll also recommend a great book if you want to understand the climatology of most regions in the United States (lower 48).

Palo Alto, CA

Around 40° North Latitude. Two broad seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. The dry season starts in June and goes until November; then it rains. It rarely snows, but it gets cold after November and can freeze, although that is rare too. It's a semi-arid climate. In the summer, it's not typically too hot - maybe 80-85 during the day and 65 at night. The coastal sections stay cooler all year and may only be flyable for part of the day. San Francisco rarely gets above 72 degrees or below 48 at night.

In the Bay Area, advection fog is a summertime feature. It rolls in around 7 in the evening and doesn't burn off until 10 or 11. So flights go out after 10 in the dry season. In the wet, fall, and winter season, there is no advection fog, and the coastal areas are generally clear.

Opa-Locka, FL (Miami)

This is a tropical climate around 26° latitude. Contrary to popular belief, South Florida is not always Hot and Humid. There are two distinct seasons: summer, starting in May, when it gradually gets hotter and more humid each month until November. The tropical storm season runs from June to November, and it's not uncommon to have tropical storms as well as an occasional hurricane. Cumulus clouds abound, and it's tricky to be able to fly above 3000 feet, so all maneuvering is done lower to the ground than in the Bay Area.

During the daytime, airmass thunderstorms arrive around noon and dissipate around 5 pm. So it's not practical to do much flying after noon until 5 pm. That's why we do our CFI classes at 11 am - 6 pm there and 8 am to 3 pm in Palo Alto (Class during the Fog).

When November comes, the weather shifts dramatically. It's very noticeable. One day the humidity and heat are just gone. It may take another week or two after you feel it, but the good weather is coming. From November until around late April, there is very little rain and no thunderstorms to speak of. Daytime temperatures are around 70-75, and nights are around 65. In February, there can be a small number of days when daytime temperatures are 45 to 50, with similar nighttime temps. Flying weather is great during this period, and the temperatures are comfortable.

Only two locations in the Continental US have never recorded freezing temperatures: Key West and Miami Beach. It actually snowed in Miami a few times.

So as you can see, the seasons are opposite. This creates a unique opportunity to train in both locations and get everything done quickly. It's a five-hour flight from SFO to MIA and about 6 the other way. It's easily done in a day, and it's nonstop on American.

ASA publishes the book I was referring to, and it's called Flying America's Weather. I believe it's out of print, but it's not too hard to find.

Here is a link. Flying America's Weather. [LINK]

Fly a Cessna 182 Using Your Driver's License

If you have a Sport, Private, Commercial, or ATP airplane single-engine land certificate, you can fly many airplanes at typical flight schools and clubs with a U.S. driver's license. No medical or BasicMed required.

In this case, you'll be flying under Sport Pilot privileges, but that may ring a bell for you. Here are the basic limitations that you would need to follow regardless of the certificate you hold if you are using your driver's license instead of BasicMed or a Medical Certificate:

• Vs1 stall speed: 59 kts or less CAS

• No more than 4 seats

• No more than one passenger

• Not at night (Can get endorsed, but then requires a medical or BasicMed)

• Not higher than 10,000 MSL or 2,000 AGL - Whichever is higher

• Retractable gear ok with endorsement

• Manually controllable propeller ok with endorsement

To use your driver's license, you must not have had your medical deferred, revoked, or suspended.

These changes are outlined in an Advisory Circular - AC 61-146

ProTips

1. Try using ForeFlight Connector. It's free for now. You can connect ChatGPT to ForeFlight and ask it to analyze data, your route, the weather, and more. Give it a try. Go to ForeFlight's website to learn how to do it.

2. Use an iPhone or Apple Watch to record a lesson or class, then create a summary and to-do list. There are several ways to do this. One is to use the Voice Recorder app that's included on your iOS device. You can record it and upload it to an AI tool like Claude, then ask it to summarize it and create a to-do or action-item list. You can also use dedicated tools like Summary AI (runs on Apple Watch as well as iPhone and iPad), or Knowt (runs on iPhone/iPad but not Apple Watch). I think you'll find that recording the pre-flight briefing, Instruction and Student comments in flight, and the post-flight briefing, then summarizing it with action items and calendar events, will make your lessons more effective. You can also record an entire class and summarize important points or things that you were instructed to do.

3. Make 5-minute versions of maneuvers lesson plans. Lesson plans created for most checkrides don't work well with students at flight schools because those students have already completed, or are concurrently completing, a ground school or online course for the aeronautical knowledge and sometimes more, including maneuvers, etc. So, your lesson plan that covers every detail of a steep turn, including the aerodynamics and so on, isn't needed and is way too long. Upload a lesson plan into an AI tool, tell it about your learner's strengths and weaknesses, and have it create a 5-minute pre-flight briefing. You'll be surprised how well this can work. For specifics on how to do this and more, consider attending CFI Bootcamps' Using AI as a Learner and Teacher course, offered monthly.