Ground instructor, denied medical

B

Benw

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I am unable to get a medical due to a head injury and short term and working memory issues. I was curious about going after a ground instructor license. Would I even be able to get a job anywhere? Why would a flight school hire a ground instructor when their CFIs can teach ground school themselves?

And to Everyone that is going to recommend Dr. Bruce, I talked to him last week, he was the one that told me I don’t meet the standards
 
That last comment about Dr Bruce you make it seem like you expected him to lie for you so you can get a medical. Sorry about your injury, but there are difficult situations and impossibilities. If its possible, he can get it done. If it is impossible, anyone's hands are tied.
 
That last comment about Dr Bruce you make it seem like you expected him to lie for you so you can get a medical. Sorry about your injury, but there are difficult situations and impossibilities. If its possible, he can get it done. If it is impossible, anyone's hands are tied.
I didn't take the OPs comment that way at all. He contacted the doc and got the straight poop without any expectation of the doc lieing for him.

As for ground instructor, there are jobs out there teaching ground school. Often the flight instructors really want the flying hours and don't want to teach ground school if they don't have to. I taught flying related courses at a community college and the minimum requirement the college had was a ground instructor certificate.
 
Benw, please ignore EdFred, he didn’t read your post closely.

To get your ground instructor certificates you only need to pass three tests—and two of them are fun. So I say just go for it.

Most CFIs at the bigger schools are just there to get flight hours. They aren’t building hours if they aren’t flying, so it is possible that you could be hired if you are good at teaching.

I frequently tutor students who are working with independent CFIs who just aren’t thrilled with teaching another private pilot student what the different airspace classifications are or how to do the VOR questions on the Knowledge Test.
 
Benw, please ignore EdFred, he didn’t read your post closely.

I read it multiple times, and the wording is, at best, ambiguous. Even reading it again, it is definitely not an endorsement of his services.
 
I read it multiple times, and the wording is, at best, ambiguous. Even reading it again, it is definitely not an endorsement of his services.

I didn’t mean to make that second comment a debate about Bruce. All I was trying to say was I have paid the money to talk to the best doctor in the industry about this. After doing all the homework. I have tried everything I can to get certified, so I was just saying that comments about “try this” or “try that” or “call this guy” wouldn’t be of use to me since I have already talked to the best consultant on this topic.
 
Ed, I read that as the OP knows that the usual response here is “Call Dr. Bruce, if anyone can help you, it’s him” and they were just pointing out that they had already exhausted that possibility and accepts their fate. I didn’t take as a slight to the good Doc at all.
 
Sounds like the Dr Bruce thing was miscommunication.

I know someone that has been making a killing as a BGI doing part 107 training. No medical, no pilot certs or universities.
 
Sounds like the Dr Bruce thing was miscommunication.

I know someone that has been making a killing as a BGI doing part 107 training. No medical, no pilot certs or universities.

A BGI isn't even needed to do part 107 training. There are no training requirements for part 107.
 
A BGI isn't even needed to do part 107 training. There are no training requirements for part 107.

There is if you want to sign the person off to take the written.

Or maybe issue the temp cert. Okay it has been at least a year since I spoke with him so maybe things have changed.
 
I am unable to get a medical due to a head injury and short term and working memory issues. I was curious about going after a ground instructor license. Would I even be able to get a job anywhere? Why would a flight school hire a ground instructor when their CFIs can teach ground school themselves?

And to Everyone that is going to recommend Dr. Bruce, I talked to him last week, he was the one that told me I don’t meet the standards

That last comment about Dr Bruce you make it seem like you expected him to lie for you so you can get a medical. Sorry about your injury, but there are difficult situations and impossibilities. If its possible, he can get it done. If it is impossible, anyone's hands are tied.

Umm, did the OP edit his original message or is EdF*** misreading the OP's message? Where did anyone say anything about lying?
 
Ed, I read that as the OP knows that the usual response here is “Call Dr. Bruce, if anyone can help you, it’s him” and they were just pointing out that they had already exhausted that possibility and accepts their fate. I didn’t take as a slight to the good Doc at all.

Exactly! Bruce is a great guy, he spent a few hours on my case, read my old neuropsychology records and told me that yes, he “could” recommend me for a current evaluation, but based on my old scores, he felt that there was no point. He EVEN gave me a whole bunch of examples of how a short term memory deficit would be a problem at the controls. Bruce is a great guy, I’m just one of the unfortunate people he couldn’t work his magic for.
 
There is if you want to sign the person off to take the written.

Or maybe issue the temp cert. Okay it has been at least a year since I spoke with him so maybe things have changed.

There is no endorsement to take the knowledge test. And if you take the knowledge test, you do not need to see anyone to submit your application for a certificate. You only need an instructor (or DPE, ACR, or FAA ASI) if you're using 61.56 flight review currency and online training as the basis for obtaining your remote pilot certificate.
 
There is no endorsement to take the knowledge test. And if you take the knowledge test, you do not need to see anyone to submit your application for a certificate. You only need an instructor (or DPE, ACR, or FAA ASI) if you're using 61.56 flight review currency and online training as the basis for obtaining your remote pilot certificate.

It was to issue the temp certificate. Anyway I don't want to derail this thread, I will go look it up. Thanks.
 
It was to issue the temp certificate. Anyway I don't want to derail this thread, I will go look it up. Thanks.
A CFI cannot issue a temporary certificate, but they can accept the application. DPEs and ASIs can issue temporary certificates. It's kinda a moot point since an airman will get an email with a link to download a temporary certificate in a day or so.
 
One more question before pursuing the BGI. Without taking actual flight training, will I be at a disadvantage to other instructors that are pilots? Yes I can learn all I can from a book, but without actual experience in the air to convey to students, it seems there will be some things I will struggle to explain.
 
Well, you can fly. You just can’t solo or get a certificate. Nothing says you can’t fly with an instructor enough to know what you’re talking about.
 
There are lots of things that make a whole lot more sense after you have a few hours in an airplane. For example, when you set the altimeter the altitude moves in the same direction as the new altimeter setting. You can read about it in books but when you do it a few times in the airplane, it tends to stick with you. Recently we have had some wild swings in pressure and when I got in the plane the altimeter read minus 310' instead of 168'. That’s a good example to use when teaching about temperature and pressure changes and the mantra, “High to low, look out below.”.

Likewise, understanding slips and skids makes a lot more sense if you have actually been in an airplane and stepped on the ball or changed the bank angle to regain coordinated flight. “Red over white, you’re all right.” makes a lot more sense if you’ve seen the VASI change as you approach the touchdown zone. There are dozens of little things that are asked on the FAA tests that are second nature to pilots but seem odd to someone who has only read about it books.

So yes, you will be at a disadvantage if you aren’t a CFI, but if you get some training in landing, stalls, steep turns, spatial disorientation, unusual attitudes, etc. I think you will be a better teacher.
 
Umm, did the OP edit his original message or is EdF*** misreading the OP's message? Where did anyone say anything about lying?

The confusion is because the OP didn't clarify in his second paragraph that Doc Bruce felt he was medically unqualified to fly, not that he was unqualified to teach ground school.

Rich
 
There is no endorsement to take the knowledge test. And if you take the knowledge test, you do not need to see anyone to submit your application for a certificate. You only need an instructor (or DPE, ACR, or FAA ASI) if you're using 61.56 flight review currency and online training as the basis for obtaining your remote pilot certificate.

Note that "using" your ground instructor certificate requires the 61.217 sign off (or whatever) for recency.
 
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