A few less hours than Nick, but also 4-figure hours and a CPL when I did CRI, and yes, it was a challenge. On the whole I think I learned more on the CRI course in relatively few hours than considerably longer on the CPL course.
I think that bose is perhaps being a little over conservative however - if somebody is good enough to pass the skill test (and many people have of course passed the FI skill test with less hours) then they are hopefully up to the task. 100 hours is enough, I would hope, to adequately understand and teach tailwheel, if they are a good enough instructor.
But it is a very demanding course, and a very demanding skill test. It really was not, for me at least, a simple box ticking exercise. And then coming up to speed in my first 50ish hours of instructing was also a steep learning curve, in my case happily with the mentoring of a couple of very experienced FIs who were generous with their time and experience.
(Regarding CRI --> FI, there's a small dispensation for some of the groundschool component of the FI course, but that's all. So far as I've been able to find out [as a CRI who'd like to also get FI at some point but not in a hurry] there's no statement one way or the other existing about whether instructional hours as a CRI count towards the requirements for FI(R)-->FI.)
G
Last edited by Genghis the Engineer; 22nd Nov 2013 at 10:00.