Possible Delay to MOSAIC Release.

Okay, Let's talk about MOSAIC.  MOSAIC is a modernization of a special airworthiness certificate. That was basically to take care of the Sport pilot market. They will increase the stall speeds to at least fifty-some knots, maybe sixty-something, allowing the airplane's weight to be higher. So we'll be able to fly airplanes with a sport pilot certificate up to about thirty-four hundred pounds if everything goes right.

There'll also be a night rating or night privileges, but there will not be an increase in the number of passengers.  So, there is only one still. However, the problem with MOSAIC is that it is scheduled for release this year. 

However, because of the new administration, all published regulations must undergo some screening before they get approved. And so we anticipate there'll be a hold up there. Now, I don't imagine any pushback from anybody on this rule mosaic because it really benefits the market.

I don't know if you know this, but doing anything within the sport pilot regulations after your initial certification doesn’t require a DPE or ASI to conduct a practical test.  So, for example, if you have a Sport Pilot or higher certificate and want to add a category or class to the Sport Pilot Privileges, you just need two CFIs.  One CFI does the training and the recommendation, and the second does the proficiency check.  There's no DPE or ASI involved.  The endorsement is placed in the logbook, and you have that privilege right away.  

So we think we will see many people coming out of the rotorcraft programs, like from the arm.  Some schools have a Rotorcraft Transition Program (RTP) that helps them get airplane certificates and build time.  But remember that they can't act or log PIC time in an airplane unless they have an airplane category and class on their pilot certificate unless they are on solo flight.  So if they get a solo endorsement, they can only log PIC time when alone in the airplane.  They can’t log PIC time when it’s a dual flight.

In these programs, they have around 700 hours but will need 1500 in airplanes to get an ATP to work for an airline.  So they will need a lot of time, and also they will need PIC time in airplanes.  When MOSAIC happens, these pilots, once proficient in an airplane, can get two CFIs and have airplane single-engine land privileges at the sport pilot level.  Mosaic will allow airplanes of at least 3400 pounds to be used.  That covers most of any training fleet that a flight school could have.  Also, because there is no DPE or ASI, this should be a cheaper and quicker alternative.

So we'll keep you posted on that.  We'll see when the regulation comes out. I have no idea how long it's gonna take.

CFII Class has a special offer - Only for the Feb 2025 Pop-Up Remote Class

If you’ve wanted to be an instrument instructor for a long time, or you just want to add it on to a course you're taking now, like one of our courses, then you can join our pop-up CFII class we just announced for February.  What that means is we didn't announce it until the last minute. It adjoins the February class, 17-23rd.  The CFII class is Feb 24-26th. 

So, if you look at our calendar here, you'll see it's there now.  It's the Monday after our CFI class, so people in our CFI class can continue for three more days and get all of the ground required for the CFII.

If you're pursuing an instrument rating, this is like an accelerated program for that, so you could participate. The ground class is only three days. 

Now, the good news. The class usually is $875.   So you've got a fifty-dollar coupon that will knock fifty dollars off the price of that class. But it's only for our newsletter, podcast, and Power Hour subscribers.

If you aren’t part of the power hour, you should subscribe.  It’s free.  It’s a one-hour webinar that usually has Wings Credit.  It covers flight instructing techniques, deep dives into maneuvers, advanced ForeFlight, Marketing for CFIs, and more.  We’ve done 219 shows as of this newsletter!  They are every non-holiday Saturday from 12-1 pm ET, 9-10 am PT.  The Power Hour typically draws between 200 and 500 people.  

You can sign up for the power hour here.

You’ll get an email about what show is coming up, then another hour before the show, and finally, one 5 minutes before the show starts so you won’t miss it.

We added a second hour to the power hour, just an open mic time.  So, if you have questions or comments, you can do so in the second hour.  You only need to attend the first hour for Wings Credit, though.

If you want to see past power hours, join our membership site.  There is a free version with some access to the shows.  Other options exist to see all of the previous Power hours by paid access to the next level membership.  You can see what’s included by clicking here.

Clarification of the qualifications to train initial CFI

Here is some clarification of the qualifications required to train initial, first-time flight instructors for ground and flight training.  People are really getting this wrong.

The regulation that changed is 61.195(h.)  A distinction is made in this modified regulation between ground and flight training.  The regulation was modified for the flight training side of things only.  The ground training requirements to train initial CFIs didn’t change.

To provide flight training to an initial CFI applicant, the requirement, the CFI providing the training must have done one of the following:

1. Held the certificate for at least 24 calendar months and provided at least 200 hours of flight training.

2. Recommended at least 5 persons for any practical test and have at least an 80% first-time pass rate.

3. I graduated from a FIEQTP (Flight Instructor Enhanced Qualification Training Program).  The program must be conducted under Part 141 or 142 and includes 25 hours of ground training and 10 hours of flight training, of which 5 may be in an AATD.  As of this newsletter, no schools have yet been approved to conduct this training.  When instructors graduate from this course, they can provide flight instruction for initial CFI applicants without any time requirements or recommendations and pass rates for practical tests.

To provide the ground training to an initial CFI applicant, the CFI or AGI must have done one of the following:

1. Held a flight instructor or advanced ground instructor certificate for at least 24 calendar months and gave at least 40 hours of ground training.

2. Taught at least 100 hours in any approved Part 141 or 142 course.  There is no time requirement using this option.

Some schools mistakenly think that if a person meets the flight training requirement, they also meet the ground training requirements.  This is not always true, so be sure to check before you start giving ground instruction or flight instruction to initial CFI applicants.

Okay, that clears that up. And there's one further caveat here: The FOI test knowledge test requires an endorsement now, but the FIA knowledge test does not.  The flight instructor airplane (FIA) doesn't, but the FOI does.  An authorized instructor must give that endorsement, and those same requirements for the ground exist, except that an AGI, advanced ground instructor, can provide this endorsement straight out of the gate with no waiting time.  They can’t, however, provide the ground training for the FOI until they meet the requirements of 61.195(h.)

It's just because, under the ground instructor regulations, they can give a knowledge test endorsement for any certificate or rating under this part. So there's no waiting time involved.

What other industry works like this - How we get it to work is amazing.

Now, let's talk about our industry. What an industry we've got.  What other industry works like this?   How we get it to work is amazing.  Here's what we settled on:

Imagine if UPS said we have a great idea. Let's get 1978 delivery vehicles and make a business out of it.  That delivery business should work, right?   It should be reliable. Everything would be cheap, and it'll be alright.  It would be good, Right?  Imagine if they did that. 

That's what we do in flight training for the most part.  New airplanes are incredibly expensive.

Only specific markets can really do that. So if you're at Emery Riddle, UND, or the University of Western Michigan, they have these airplanes.  The programs are super expensive, but you can get financing.  So, if you can't get financing, typically, you will be flying airplanes of that 1970-1980 vintage. 

Then we've got other things that plague us.  So the FAA is our regulatory body; you know they're pretty good at it.   I don't have a lot of bad things to say about the FAA in that regard. Occasionally, they get it wrong, but every organization will do that.  What happened during the ’70s and ’80s is not the FAA's fault,  but we are dealing with the results today. 

So here's what happened.  We have all these legacy providers of engines, propellers, magnetos, and all this stuff that got certificated a long time ago when GA was booming. Aircraft were selling a lot.  Airplanes are going out the door, so there was an incentive to get this certification so you could make a propeller, engine, etc.  It costs a lot to do that.

Now, the market is so small that there's no reason for anybody else to enter this space.  So, the regulations requiring the certification and the process to become a magneto, propeller, or engine provider are so egregious and expensive that no one wants to do it, which means we're left with whoever's still there. Companies like Hartzell propellers, MT propellers, Lycoming, and Continental, etc.  That's all we have.  We don't have anybody else.  So If they can't get parts, don't feel like making something, or it's not profitable enough, they just stop, and we can't get anything. So we go to the junkyard, and we get stuff from there.  We get things from everywhere to get something to work.  

For example, a school we work in has a Cessna 206. Brand new, pretty much.  Just a few months old. The owner landed the airplane on the nose wheel hard, and it crinkled the firewall after having the airplane online for only a few months.

So then they call Cessna and say, “Can we get a firewall?”  Cessna says they don't have any.  When we make the next batch of 206’s, we will place an order for you so you can get one then. That’s going to be In about six to eight months.  So, in the meantime, the owner has to pay the fixed costs like the payment, insurance, hangar, and you name it, and doesn't have access to the airplane. If this happened and this was your car, you'd be crazy with it.

We have a similar circumstance at another Flying Club. They have a Duchess. The Duchess had a nose wheel collapse, which caused the propellers to hit the ground when they were running, so the engines had a sudden stoppage.  So, both the props and engines had to be replaced. So they went to a propeller manufacturer and ordered the prop. 

They called up three months later, and the propeller manufacturer said it would be three more months.  They called up again after three months and said, well, it looks like it will be another three months.  Three months go by, and the propeller company says, well, we really don't know when we're gonna be able to deliver.  So they canceled the order and went to the other, more established company, and now they have 4 months to wait.

The school didn’t order the propeller from this company first because they were more expensive. 

So this airplane will have been down for a year and a half. A year and a half of no revenue, paying fixed costs, and the loss of revenue.  So it's amazing when people complain about how much it is to rent an airplane or do whatever.  Look at all the stuff that's involved in it.  

If you want a door for a Duchess, you must go to the junkyard.   They don't make doors for Duchesses anymore.  You call up Raytheon, and they say they don’t support that airplane any longer.

So I am just wondering what other industry works like this?  We've got an industry that's hard to define and very difficult for people on the outside to understand, especially if you're just coming into it and expect to buy an airplane.  The assumption is that everything is going to go smoothly. The reality is that just finding someone to work on your airplane will be a nightmare,  let alone things going smoothly.

It’s an industry we are in, and these are some of the things we must tolerate and get used to.  It manages to work, but at times can be very challenging.

Our mastery class will be renamed “Teaching with Tech - Using ForeFlight/Zoom and PowerPoint to teach in person and remotely.

Our mastery class, which we offer every couple of months, is a weekend class. It teaches how to use technology in the classroom, use a syllabus, and track students’ progress.  It also shows how to use PowerPoint, ForeFlight, and Zoom together and be really masters of that.  It shows how to teach using only ForeFlight, projected onto either Zoom or a smart TV, so all you ever need is your iPad. It also shows you how to use PowerPoint the right way.  Most people get this wrong. The way most people use PowerPoint is ineffective and a complete waste of time.  In just an hour, you’ll know how to avoid that. In addition, we show you how to deliver a lesson and broadcast it onto a smart TV or a laptop like a MacBook and how to do this remotely using Zoom so you can sit on your couch and make money. 

You can do remote ground and not have to drive anywhere.  So, I'm renaming that class to “Teaching with Tech.”  You can find information about this by going to our website,   

Here is a link to our online calendar that shows the class dates.

All of the class dates are listed.  Most are both in-person or remote.  During the class we have several people online with us to help with the technology.  So, if you get stuck on something, we'll get you unstuck.  By the way, I want to give you a super pro tip, a super duper pro tip, Okay?  For those of you who aren't using Apple products, for one reason or another, you're missing the boat because aviation runs on iPads and iPhones. It's okay to have a Surface and all those other tablets like Samsung and so on.  But, if you want to use it on an airplane andwant the best possible experience, you will want an iPad.  If you’re going to teach, you’ll want an iPad, too, because you can use Airplay and connect to smart TVs easily.  You probably want an Apple Pencil as well. 

Let me tell you how to try this out for less because some of you say, “I don't know about this.”   “What if I don't like it, and I spent all this money on this stuff?” 

There's a website called backmarket.com, and they sell used Macs, iPads, iPhones, and Apple pencils that have all been refurbished and come with a warranty.  You can pick your product and try it out for a lower price than new. 

One of our students wanted a MacBook Air, which he got for a hundred and sixty dollars!  It's an older one.  It's five years old, but it works fine.  He can then decide if he wants to spend the extra and buy a new one, but he gets a chance to try it out.

So, if you want to use ForeFlight but don't have an iPad, you can probably go to backmarket.com and get one and 

Okay. So, if you were thinking about doing Tech in the classroom with us and you don't have an iPad, that's where you can get one and not spend a fortune.

ProTips.

1. If you are a CFI, you really need a ForeFlights Performance Plus subscription.

If you're a CFI and want to teach from your iPad, you need Forelights performance plus subscription. This has things in it that the other subscriptions don't have; for example, it has 3D view and 3D routes, so your student can send you their flight plan via text, email, or airdrop, and you can fly that flight plan in 3D view.  You can see the clouds in the profile view. You can see the bases and the tops of the clouds. You can see the terrain. You can see the airspace. You can see icing.  You can see turbulence.  You can see all of this in the Profile View. 

You can teach weather theory because it has a dynamic surface analysis chart.  You can see the areas with high and low pressure, cold fronts, warm fronts, etc.  You can zoom up and then show how the temperature on one side of the front and the pressure differ from the other.  Then, you can animate the world's winds at any altitude you want so you can see how they flow.  This is very interesting for students, Right?  

These features only come with the highest level subscription, around $350.  If you join SAFE,  the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators, safepilots.org, for $55, you will get one-third off.  So that will take the price down, plus you get connected to the industry via SAFE, an excellent organization. The National Association of Flight Instructors, NAFI, also has the same discount program.  nafi.net

2. Three-hour blocks, please

Let's do three-hour blocks, please. Let's not do two-hour blocks.  I'm talking about booking the total time of a lesson with a student.  Two hours too short. So what will happen if you have a two-hour block is you're going to get behind because you’ll be late after every flight. So make three-hour blocks.  It will really save you the trouble and the aggravation of being late. No one likes that. The first hour is spent getting the airplane, dispatch, and maybe pre-flight.  Then, it’s off to the pre-flight briefings.  Then you have to walk to the airplane. All these little things add time to the lesson.  Then you start the plane, make the flight, and get back, tied down and checked in.  Last, you are scrambling to give a post-flight briefing and sign the student logbook or online training record.  Three-hour blocks work.

3. Start playing with ChatGPT - here are some ideas.

Don't be afraid of it.  It's not gonna kill you.  It's gonna help you. So I'm gonna give you some ideas here. So just download chatGPT on your computer, phone, iPad, or whatever device you're using.  ChatGPT uses prompts similar to a Google search—type in what you want.  You can be more specific here than with Google. 

For example, you could say something like this:

Sketch an airfoil and show me where the low pressure is on top of the wing and the high is on the bottom.

If you use Google for that, it won't know what you mean.  It will show you its best finds, buit won’tto do what ChatGPT will do, and create that sketch. The other thing that Google won't do that Chat GPT will do for you is create quizzes. I just asked the other day to make a pre-solo knowledge test required by FAR 61.87(b) that uses the Palo Alto Airport In Palo Alto, California, as the airport where the solo will take place.  I hit the submit button, and it created a knowledge test that knew how to apply the correct regulations that must be covered.  It gave me airspace questions.  It gave me some questions about  Palo Alto Airport’s local procedures.  It gave me questions about parts 61 and 91.  So I gave it a follow-up prompt to refine it. I asked it to generate the flight characteristics and limitations of a Cessna 172S model and create a 20-question quiz.

You can play with this, and you can really get a lot of good information.  We use it in our initial CFI class. For example, one of the things we used to have people explain how Vy and Vx converge at the absolute service ceiling.  Why does Vy go down as altitude increases?  Why does that happen?  What happens to Vx?  You can prompt ChatGPT to provide the details.  You can also have it create a diagram, graph, or series that explains this.

I think what you'll find it very valuable, studying, and as a CFI for creating quizzes. You could, for example, take the POH systems chapter and upload it to ChatGPT.  You could then ask it to create a ten-question quiz on each system.

Then, of course, you have to vet it, that's a nice start.  You could also use it to create an outline. You could prompt it to create an outline for a private pilot ground lesson on weather theory, including key points and a quiz, and it will create that for you.  You can also have it site references, and it will list the references from which the information was obtained.