CFI! The Book
GENRE
COMEDY SATIRE ADVENTURE ACTION
Core Theme
SOMETIMES YOUR DREAM JOB IS ONLY 1000 HOURS OF TORTURE AWAY.
TIME PERIOD
2000s
COMPARABLE TITLES
WINGS, POLICE ACADEMY, THE HANGOVER, TOP GUN
CHARACTER LIST
• ALEX: MID 20'S, SMART AND QUICK. THINK ICEMAN IN TOP GUN, BUT AMONGST THE IDIOTS OF FLORIDA.
• TODD: 50. OWNER OF THE FLIGHT SCHOOL. ANTAGONIST, GREEDY, BLUNT, FUNNY
• GEORGE: 19. STUDENT PILOT. CLUMSY, DESPERATE, INSECURE, UNDERDOG
Logline
An underpaid, overworked Certified Flight Instructor cheats death while attempting to teach a cast of incompetent student pilots to fly at a skeezy South Florida flight school; all in the quest to build flight time so he can get a “real job” at an airline. The planes break, the regs break, metal gets bent, students are lost at sea, and a Top Gun wannabe student, who has four hundred hours of flight instruction, still hasn’t made his first solo flight. “CFI! The Book” is an over-the-top satirical aviation comedy that’s loosely based on real world experiences of flight instruction, but if the FAA asks, this is all strictly fictional.
Target Audiences
Age: 18-34
Target Gender: Universal
Setting
A flight school in South Florida
Based on a True Story
Yes
Publishing Details
Status: Yes: self-published
Year Published: 2018
Starting Description
A flight instructor deals with difficult and dangerous students while attempting to build flight time at sleazy flight school in the hopes of landing an airline job.
Ending Description
The book ends in a dramatic and hilarious way when an incompetent student pilot, who should not be flying a plane on his own, is allowed to. The main character then reaches the point he is able to move on to a better job.
Group Specific
Information not completed
Hard Copy Available
No
ISBN
Information not completed
Mature Audience Themes
Language/Profanity
Plot - Other Elements
,Satire
Plot - Premise
Overcoming Monster/Villain
Main Character Details
Name: Unnamed narrator, written in first person
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Educated, Heroic, Outspoken, Adventurous, Aspiring, Funny, Masculine, Sarcastic, Skillful, Underdog, Confident, Engaging
Additional Character Details
Name: Todd, the owner of the flight school
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Role: Antagonist
Key Traits: Villainous, Criminal, Educated, Greedy, Manipulative, Power-hungry, Aggressive, Blunt, Funny
Additional Character Details
Name: George, student pilot
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Role: Antagonist
Key Traits: Clumsy, Desperate, Funny, Insecure, Underdog
Additional Character Details
Name: many other student pilots
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Role: Antagonist
Key Traits: Aggressive, Clumsy, Complex, Crazy, Desperate, Engaging, Funny, Outspoken, Unapologetic
Brief
CFI! The Book is an over-the-top satirical aviation comedy, loosely based on real-world experiences in which an underpaid, overworked Flight Instructor attempts to teach a cast of incompetent student pilots to fly.
What We Liked
- True story, written by an actual flight instructor;
- Interesting world we've don’t get to see often;
- The story’s abundant list of zany characters and hilarious situations;
- The central character, Alex, is relatable as the “Jerry Seinfeld” type in a world of off the wall
sidekicks;
- Perfect film/series for an ensemble cast of up and coming SNL players, and established
comics. Think of it as The Hangover in the sky. One crazy adventure after the other.
Synopsis
Dumpy flight training academy in Southern Florida, present day. Alex shows up for another day on the
job as a certified flight instructor, in need of hours to rack up enough experience and finally move on
to the big dream of commercial flying. His students apparently came out of a madhouse. George; a
bumbling idiot with dreams of being Maverick from Top Gun, but is unable to spot the airport from
above. Antonio, a young Italian man dressed like U2’s Bono, who does not appear to speak a lick of
English. Nelson, a student whose parents own an airline. This is a normal day for a flight instructor.
Near death experiences come with the territory.
Alex soon realizes just what kind of operation he’s flying for. He hops in the plane to check
registration and paperwork, only to find that it doesn’t exist. He confronts his boss, Todd, who
explains "you don't need paperwork to fly", and partakes in a large line of cocaine. "If you are unwilling
to bend the rules, surely Ian, my right-hand man will be up to the task, leaving you useless to me, and
without a job." Alex refuses to budge, and is allowed to take up another plane. George and Alex are
back up in the air with a different airplane and it's time for George to practice engine failure recovery.
George is clearly not up to the task, and eventually, the two find themselves crash landing into a fence.
The two escape without any major harm, but the plane is totalled. Alex is sure his days of piloting are
over, but to his surprise, Todd is thrilled. Turns out, insurance payouts on crash landings more than
cover the cost of the plane, and Todd is able to buy a brand new car with the extra money. As a thank
you, Alex is named Instructor of the Month.
Alex is promoted to instrument training for students who are further along with their studies. Alex is
paired with Nelson, whose sense of entitlement is obvious from the beginning, but they nearly crash.
Alex has to land the out of the control plane on the runway, refusing to sign off on Nelson’s instrument
rating log. This sets flight academy owner Todd into a fury, where he strips Alex of his Instructor of
the Month title, and immediately hands off of the task to yesman, Ian.
It doesn't take long for until the JAA raids the academy and finds dozens of forged logs and illegal
activities, but thankfully Alex has finally accrued enough hours to book it out of Florida and live the life
of his dream as a freight pilot. So long, suckers.