What to do now?

lancie00

lancie00

Line Up and Wait
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May 12, 2016
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lancie00
I've been working hard on my IFR. Passed the written. 75% done with the flying. Just working towards the required hours. My CFI told me to get time with a safety pilot before a few more hours with him before my check ride.

I just received word that he unexpectedly passed away.

I really hate the idea of finishing up with someone new but I guess it's time to look for a new instructor.
 
I’d suggest finding your new instructor now and doing a few lessons with them to figure out where you’re at, rather than waiting until after you’ve built those extra hours with a safety pilot. Then proceed from there.
 
That's quite unfortunate. Hopefully you can find an instructor of similar teaching style and mindset as your previous one. If you pick one that is vastly different, your training can suffer and add more hours than necessary to the process.
 
I've been with a ton of instructors. Figure on losing 3 - 5 hours of your progress getting in step with a new instructor. No big deal and an opportunity to learn something new and another perspective on flying. It is all good; I don't begrudge "extra" training.
 
I had to take a year off from my PPL training and when I came back my previous instructor had gone to the airlines. My new instructor was pretty different but we got along well, and I found that his different personality and teaching style was a benefit for me. I was very close to finishing my requirements up and came back up to speed pretty quickly, and I found that the differences that my second instructor had sort of helped to fill in the holes from my first instructor. Not that my first instructor was bad - he was a great instructor, but I think that every teacher has a style and that said style inherently means that there are strong and weak points to their lessons. I'm doing my IR right now with the instructor that I finished my PPL with. I know that he will be gone to the airlines before I finish my commercial (which I plan to work on next), which makes me sad, but I'm looking forward to getting another brand new perspective on flying!

TL;DR, I'm sorry for your loss. I have developed friendships with the CFI's I have worked with and I would be sad if one of them passed. But, consider some potential benefits of getting a new perspective from a different instructor.
 
That sucks. Sorry for your loss. Agree with finding someone new pretty quick and get some time with them to breed some familiarity with each other. It’s nice since you still need some hours so I don’t think you’ll be wasting much time flying g with someone new.
 
Unfortunately stuff happens,hope you find a new instructor quickly. Good luck.
 
mondtster said:
I’d suggest finding your new instructor now and doing a few lessons with them to figure out where you’re at, rather than waiting until after you’ve built those extra hours with a safety pilot. Then proceed from there.
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alfadog said:
I've been with a ton of instructors. Figure on losing 3 - 5 hours of your progress getting in step with a new instructor. No big deal and an opportunity to learn something new and another perspective on flying. It is all good; I don't begrudge "extra" training.
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This! You can “loose” proficiency very quick as an instrument student. Suck it up and get it done. Good luck, you’ll be fine and probably learn a few new things.
 
Your choices are find a new instructor or give up. I vote for find a new instructor.
 
I am sorry for your loss. I agree with the others, find another CFII quickly and get back on the horse and finish up. Looking at it glass half full, you have the opportunity to learn some new things from your new instructor, and that will serve you well long term.
 
mondtster said:
I’d suggest finding your new instructor now and doing a few lessons with them to figure out where you’re at, rather than waiting until after you’ve built those extra hours with a safety pilot. Then proceed from there.
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@lancie00 , gotta agree with this. If there are some technique adjustments you are going to have to make with a new instructor, you may not want to reinforce the old techniques by doing a lot of flying before you find out.
 
Thanks for the support. I agree there's not much else I can do. It just seems like the world is against me most of the time. No matter what I do, it's a fight to get anything done.

Oh well, if it was easy, anybody could do it.
 
lancie00 said:
Thanks for the support. I agree there's not much else I can do. It just seems like the world is against me most of the time. No matter what I do, it's a fight to get anything done.

Oh well, if it was easy, anybody could do it.
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Geez, man, that is some attitude. I think perhaps that your late CFII would have more claim to that attitude. I teach my son that that is just the way things work; life is not easy, you get knocked down and you get back up. End of story.
 
alfadog said:
Geez, man, that is some attitude. I think perhaps that your late CFII would have more claim to that attitude. I teach my son that that is just the way things work; life is not easy, you get knocked down and you get back up. End of story.
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Good advice @lancie00. YOU have to take control and own it. It’s not the end of the world. I’ve taken on students whose instructor left for one reason or another and they did fine. You will too.
 
lancie00 said:
Thanks for the support. I agree there's not much else I can do. It just seems like the world is against me most of the time. No matter what I do, it's a fight to get anything done.

Oh well, if it was easy, anybody could do it.
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I'm sure the CFI's family is just all torn up that you'll need to find another CFI now that your first CFI is, you know, dead and all. If they could speak here, I'm sure they'd ask how it is you manage to just get through a day the burden their loved one going off and dying has placed on you. :rolleyes:
 
lancie00 said:
Thanks for the support. I agree there's not much else I can do. It just seems like the world is against me most of the time. No matter what I do, it's a fight to get anything done.

Oh well, if it was easy, anybody could do it.
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It’s a fight for most of us. Attitude makes the difference. Deal and move on. And for the sake of all holy things don’t say that to your new cfii before your first flight together.
 
Wow! You guys are rough!

I never said I was going to quit. I NEVER said I don't feel for the family. They have suffered the biggest loss of all.

All I said was that I was upset that my instructor passed away. Right or wrong, after my compassion for the family, it frustrated me with my situation. Obviously, none of you have ever been frustrated at something in your life.

Don't worry, I'm a big boy and I know how to pull myself up and get back to the task at hand. And if it make you feel better about yourself to try and belittle me, go for it. I can take all you can dish out.
 
lancie00 said:
Thanks for the support. I agree there's not much else I can do. It just seems like the world is against me most of the time. No matter what I do, it's a fight to get anything done.

Oh well, if it was easy, anybody could do it.
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A wise man once said "Success is getting up one more time than you are knocked down." Hang in there.

I know you feel a loss. Death is the ultimate rejection, and while it didn't hurt you as much as it hurt his family, I'm sure it still hurt. Just think, he literally took you as far as he could.

You'll be OK when you can find some humor in the situation, even gallows humor.
 
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Crashnburn said:
A wise man once said "Success is getting up one more time than you are knocked down." Hang in there.
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Thanks for the support. The disappointing part is here I am almost 2 months later and I still haven't found another instructor. Everyone is either "too busy" or "the weather doesn't look good". I'll get there eventually but I can see that it's going to make me work for it.
 
"Weather doesn't look good"? That's instrument training weather!!!! Leave the hood in the office and go fly. For me, the ideal training day was one that was 500 overcast with tops at 4000. Most of the initial approach altitudes in the Puget Sound area are between 2000 and 3000 so there was lots of flying in the milk bottle.

Bob
 
bobmrg said:
"Weather doesn't look good"? That's instrument training weather!!!! Leave the hood in the office and go fly.

Bob
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That's what I said too but between it being my first lesson with a new CFII and the !@#$% icing we've been getting around here, I understand the hesitation.
 
bobmrg said:
"Weather doesn't look good"? That's instrument training weather!!!! Leave the hood in the office and go fly. For me, the ideal training day was one that was 500 overcast with tops at 4000. Most of the initial approach altitudes in the Puget Sound area are between 2000 and 3000 so there was lots of flying in the milk bottle.

Bob
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Problem is, where he’s at we have a lot of ice concerns this time of year. Not conducive to instrument training, or flying in general.

There have been very few days I’d consider flying light airplanes in IMC in the last month.
 
bobmrg said:
"Weather doesn't look good"? That's instrument training weather!!!! Leave the hood in the office and go fly. For me, the ideal training day was one that was 500 overcast with tops at 4000. Most of the initial approach altitudes in the Puget Sound area are between 2000 and 3000 so there was lots of flying in the milk bottle.

Bob
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Couldn’t agree more. Flying in that slop with a CFI will teach you how not to get killed.
 
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