Does an IPC count as a BFR?

Fo me, the airplane was much of the issue. My clubs complex single (Piper
Lance) was pretty solidly scheduled, and when it wasn't scheduled, it was
down for various maintenance issues. Add to that an engine that passed TBO
and my determination was that the risk of the airplane being unavailable
when the checkride was due became too great. The club has two 172's and a
182, so I knew I wouldn't have a problem showing up for the checkride with
an airplane. I'm considering adding my multi-engine airplane rating to my
instructor certificate next, and will finish up with single-engine,
preventing the need to bother with a complex single all together. In the
meantime, I'm instructing instrument students while I work on the rest of my
ratings.

As to the point of taking the CFI-I at the FSDO because it is the easiest,
keep in mind that you are still tested on all of the FOI material and must
plan and conduct a lesson, so its substantially more than a CFI-I add-on.
Maybe a better way to frame this is that it's a matter of dividing the
instructor checkrides into more manageable pieces.

Others have also suggested that starting as an instructor of pilots who
already know how to fly is somehow "easier", or a way to ease into flight
instruction. My experience has been that while this may or may not be true,
an instrument instructor spends a fair amount of time correcting bad habits
formed over the time since the student passed their private checkride (and
in some cases before). Nevertheless, even if I never instruct a primary
student, I will still get my airplane instructor ratings.

Brad Z.

"Michael" wrote in message
om...
Mark Kolber wrote
As to why, it's pretty hokey, but there's some theory going around
that the CFI-I is easier, so, if you have to have an inspector for the
first ride, it might as well be the easier one.

The real reason is a little different. For all practical purposes,
you can't rent a complex airplane that isn't decades old. Any
determined fed can ground an airplane that old, and that's normal
practice in many FSDO's. If you go for an initial CFI ride in many
cases you get three inspectors - one ops and two maintenance. The ops
inspector starts your oral, and the maintenance inspectors start going
over the airplane. Oral ends when they ground it, and you get a pink
slip and, if you have the temerity to question their determination
(airplane not airworthy because the placard is curled up/TSO tag on
seatbelt unreadable/repair or alteration logged in logbook is major,
not minor, and requires Form 337) or the inspector just doesn't like
you, you get written up for flying an unairworthy airplane as well. I
know people who have had this happen, and there's at least one CFI on
this newsgroup who has his own story of something very similar.

The CFII ride need not be in a complex airplane - and new full-IFR
C-172's are available for rent all over. It's very difficult to
ground a new airplane. Thus I recommend that anyone doing an initial
CFI go over to a place that rents new C-172's and do the CFII first.

I did my initial CFI in a glider for the same reason - a new glider
was locally available for rent, and there was no way to flunk it
because it was new and completely unmodified - everything was just the
way it came from the factory.

Michael