Master CFI is the gateway to O1

I have been asked to consult in various areas as well as pilot positions after obtaining the O1 visa. The following is a summary of those discussions.

I will share it here as a Q&A style, hopefully, you can use it for your reference.

I have been asked about many things from O1 visa to permanent residence, and Master CFI (hereinafter referred to as MCFI), F1 visa to OPT. This time I will post about Master CFI.

Q What do I have to do to get MCFI?

Four areas of activity are required: Instructor Activity, Educator Activity, Service to the Aviation Community, and Professional Activity.

32 credits (1 credit = 15 hours, so 480 hours total) are required, with each area requiring a specific number of credits.

Q What should I do for those 4 areas?

I didn't know what to do at first either, but I put it together with my own opinions.

Instructor Activity requires 16 credits. This is the easiest area to get credit for as an instructor because it is general instructor activity. At least two activities must be included. For example, you must include not only instructor activity for certifications or ratings such as Private Pilot and Instrument Rating Flight Training but also Checkout and Flight Review, which is training for certified pilots. As a flight instructor, at least 8 credits must include Airplane and ATD instructional duties.

Educator Activity requires 4 credits. This includes teaching seminars, preparing materials for seminars, writing articles, and creating programs. Think of it as an extension of your instructor's duties. If you are an instructor who only flies (or, to put it another way, an instructor whose sole purpose is time-building), this is a bit of a challenge, or perhaps you need to be a bit heavy-handed to do it. However, if you are willing to enter into this area and actually proceed with the work, you will be aware of the next area, and you will naturally be approached by those around you.

Service to the Aviation Community requires two credits, but it must include two activities. If you organize your own seminars, you will want to go look for others. (See below: Entering Professional Activity.) In addition, you will be able to improve the quality of your own seminars. You will be invited to participate in an event somewhere else.

Professional Activity requires two credits, but it must include two activities. One is to attend seminars as mentioned above. The other is to improve your knowledge and skills by taking checkouts on other aircraft, IPC, and FAA wings program. 30 hours are required for 2 credits. You will accumulate those hours in such a short time by attending seminars and doing other activities. Always be aware of your participation and contribution to the community by meeting people in real life as much as possible.

Q Can you be more specific?

I told you that 32 credits (1 credit = 15 hours, so 480 hours total) are required for the entire program. Generally, a person works 1080 hours per year (40 hours work week x 52 weeks per year).

MCFI's plan is to perform 480 hours over two years; 240 hours in one year. Don't you think that is a manageable amount of time to do while doing your teaching duties?

Here is an example of Instructor Activity. Let's consider your daily instructor duties. If you have a 30-minute Preflight Briefing before each flight, an hour on the flight, and a 30-minute Post-Flight Briefing after the flight, that's 2 hours per flight. The 16 credits required are 240 hours, which can be accomplished in 120 flights by a simple calculation. If you are a full-time instructor who flies about 50 hours a month, don't you think this is a number that can be achieved in 2 to 3 months? All you need to do is to add the Checkout and Flight Review to your regular flight training. So this is the easiest area to add credit.

Here is an example of an Educator Activity. Tell your school, " I examined a case that occurred recently. Here's what I did (and show them the document). I want to share it with everyone, so please let me use the classroom for about an hour!" If it is an example of an incident that occurred in the school, everyone will be interested. Or you can propose an aviation seminar on a topic that you have been asked about by your own students. The key is to suggest that you will conduct it without compensation. This is a self-promotion time for the school, as well as for the students and other pilots who come to the school.

Don't you think this is something we usually talk about with our friends on a chatty basis as hangar talk? This is just a matter of making it official.

If you were to conduct a one-hour seminar, it would take quite a bit of time to conduct it for the first time, since it involves work such as advance preparation, a questionnaire after the seminar, and writing up a summary in an article. Take your time! You can keep track of it all and credit it. Let's say it takes 5 hours. That's a total of 6 hours. The 4 required credits are 60 hours, so by simple arithmetic, this will be accomplished in 10 seminars. If you do it once a month, it will take less than a year. You would also be named Employee of the Month, which is common for American schools. Once you receive an award, strangely enough, the next opportunity will come along. It also creates an opportunity to move on to the next area.

Donate the materials compiled from the seminars you have conducted to aviation organizations such as AOPA, SAFE, and NAFI. If they take it up, you will be one step closer to an O1 visa.

Here is another example of Service to the Aviation Community: register with the FAA safety team and apply for the position of Provider. Anyone can join this team on a volunteer registration basis. Just by being registered there, you will get an FAA certificate, which will help you with your O1 visa application. Actively promote your organization to the FAA so that you can be promoted from Provider to Representative. Show your activity. The two required credits are 30 hours, so spend 30 hours volunteering at FAA safety team meetings, workshops, etc., and at events. 30 hours for the FAA safety team and 30 hours for events is the key to getting an O1 visa, so spend as much time as possible on these activities. Please put in the time.

You will meet many people through your participation and contribution to the community. Just think about contributing. What do they want? What can I do? If you think it will help you get an O1 visa, you can do it.

Professional Activity is as mentioned above. As a professional pilot, you should go to various places and learn.

Q How long does it take to perform?

The MCFI review will give you credit for activities dating back to the past two years, and while it may take you two years if all you want to do is get an MCFI, if you are strong enough to make it happen in one year, you will be a talent that will attract the attention of others. I think that will lead to the O1 visa.

Q How challenging was it to obtain MCFI?

To be honest, in my case, the activity itself was not a big challenge at all, as it was something I usually do. However, I think the hardest part was to prove it with documents. Therefore, I recommend that you start recording all your activities on a spreadsheet from now on.

You can actually submit your records to the Board of Review. If necessary, the Board may contact the witnesses listed. Oftentimes, not all the time you submit is admissible. So I recommend that you submit your activities with some time to spare, rather than submitting with last-minute credits.

Q Why did MCFI lead to the visa?

I think Educator Activity and Service to the Aviation Community are interrelated. And I think this is a very important key to obtaining an O1 visa. It makes people think that you are a "top performer" which the Immigration Office believes is necessary for the United States. I think we can create the logic to make it look that way.

I was appointed as a Chief Instructor fairly early in my career due to circumstances at work...I only had a little over 600 hours...

I heard that there was no one else available to do it full-time. Lol

But I can now see that being thrown into that spot was an excellent opportunity.

In addition to the routine work of managing and guiding the instructors who were my subordinates, who were more experienced, and teaching the students, I was also required to give a lecture on a specific topic at the monthly meetings. To be honest, it was painful. The experience of having to start thinking about the next month's topic as soon as the monthly meeting was over or I would not make it in time... I was constantly looking for a topic. I had to ask senior pilots, mechanics, and air traffic controllers to find topics.

There were many things I recognized in conversations with students and instructors in front of me in my daily duties. I made a lot of teaching materials, posters, and tools. I made materials for the bulletin board every month that students would be interested in, such as aviation information. I worked hard to make my job easier. If we did things normally, we would lose (not win or lose, of course) to the Americans... I think there was also a sense of impatience. I was an inexperienced Japanese instructor with English as a second language who was already behind at the starting line.

I had to participate in meetings, speak up, and give presentations on the flight operations team of the Air Force organization due to my job responsibilities. I was surrounded by Air Force pilots and non-pilots from Air Force organizations. I could barely keep up with them.

I guess I was a rare Japanese pilot on a base. Various activities were covered by US military TV, radio, magazines, and newspapers.

What I felt was typical of the American culture was that they gave out awards to the best of their ability and frequently. I was also surprised at the number of times I received awards. Is it really okay to get something like this? lol Perhaps this is something that those who have worked at U.S. military bases in Japan would understand. I am sure that American society is the same way.

I have received awards from my team, awards from my group, awards at the base level, and then I was able to receive awards at the Pacific Air Force level, as well as a recommendation for an examiner appointment when an American examiner retired. Of all my experiences in the Air Force, my attorney said that these two were the biggest factors in helping me pass the O1 visa.

For those of you who think that the special circumstances of the US military base are the reason for the MCFI and O1 visas, NO! U.S. military bases are just like American society.

Regular seminars will be held. They create "something" for the students in front of them with their wisdom. Be active in the community and strive to be "recognized"; look at NAFI's MCFI case study. Try to do what you see fit. There are sure to be hints hidden in there. You can't see them unless you are aware of them.

Compiling the seminars you have conducted and regularly posting articles about them on the web may get you media coverage. You could be selected as Flight Instructor of the Year at the AOPA level.

Although in a different genre, Mr. Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Panasonic, once gave a lecture to business executives. The participants asked him how to make their business successful! In response to the question, "In order to do that, you must first think about succeeding. Most of the participants did not understand, but the young Mr. Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera, and former CEO of Japan Airlines seemed to think, "I see. Then take action. Something will come to light.