Reflecting on my Original Instructor(long)

MBDiagMan

MBDiagMan

Final Approach
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Just thought I would go through this in hopes that it might help students to understand what a good instructor is all about.

I started flying in 1992 with an instructor that had just then retired and began instructing full time. He was a great guy to sit down and visit with, but was sarcastic ultra strict in the air. Others that know him have said similar things about him. Some won't even fly with him any more. I flew about 20 hours with him and at about 35 hours life caught up with me and I went away from flying.

I got back into flying in 2011 and flew a few hours with him and solo'd again after 3 hours. He was a little easier to fly with, but I ended up buying my plane and hangaring at a different airport. I finished my private with a different instructor. In 2013 I did my BFR with a different instructor yet and it was an easy ride, too easy.

I was going to be off yesterday and weather was going to be nice so I wanted to get the BFR done. I tried to reach the instructor that did it two years ago and couldn't reach him, so I called my original instructor and agreed to 8 AM at his airport.

I should say here that after a long trip in Septmber, I started working on my plane and did not fly for two months. A quick trip around the patch and the 17 minute flight to his field is the only flying I had done in about ten weeks or so. I didn't know if my flying would cut it for him.

I got over there right on time and he walked out and got in. He told me to taxi out, take off, climb to 1500, turn East and climb to 2,500. Not much was said beyond dealing with a little traffic in the area. He immediately had me do a 30 degree bank 360 to the left and then one to the right. I nailed them both. While I was doing them I thought he was letting me off easy with the 30 degree bank. Not! He then asked me for the same thing at 45. Although they weren't perfect like the 30's, they weren't bad and within limits.

We then did some various maneuvers, slow flight, stall without changing throttle setting and then he pulled the power. I could tell he was doubtful when I started down on a field that was close, but I started slipping it down and he said "full rudder" before letting me go really low and let me have power back. He said I would have made it.

He then gave me the most scratched up foggles I ever wore and made me track to the VOR, gave me instructions and I then knew he was making me do an approach. I took off the foggles and entered downwind.

We went in and he filled out my logbook.

Point of the story: he pushed me hard and I made the grade. You don't have to be fond of your instructor for him/her to be an effective instructor. When I flew with him 23 years ago, he went over many things and has me do many things that no other instructor ever touched, he pushed me then and he pushes me now, and I owe him lots of thanks for it. I told him so before I left to fly back home.

If you learn to fly with an instructor that pushes you and teaches you difficult things to learn, I think you will be a better pilot for it. You can approach flying withe the goal of getting your ticket the easiest way possible, or you can approach it with the goal of learning as much as possible. Choice is yours.
 
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I totally agree about having high standards. I think that is one of the most important qualities. For me, I think the perfect instructor would excel in 3 categories: knowledge/skill, high standards, and patience. 2 out of 3 is much more common.
 
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I've found the single most important quality in an instructor is the ability to problem-solve. I can take gruff instructors, but if they can't figure out what's not working, that gets real expensive.

My primary instructor tried to solve problems by just doing it again. Over and over. My instrument instructor analyzed EVERYTHING. The latter sure worked better.
 
I agree. It's far better to have an instructor which pushes you a little and makes your feel uncomfortable than it is to have one which takes it easy or which only chooses the easy route.

My original PPL instructor was very conservative. I don't say that to knock her, there is absolutely room in the hobby for conservative pilots. I'm not sure instructor is a good place for them though. The problem I see is that because we pretty much only flew on really nice days (those with ego air, where you can do everything flawlessly), I'm largely a fair weather flyer. I get really uncomfortable with a 10 kt crosswind component or with any measure of turbulence. That isn't to say that I can't fly in them, but it's stressful. My conservative instructor who took very good care of me during my primary year has taught me to be timid.

Your instructor's attitude is important. You should be challenged.
 
There is one quality that is missing from 90+% of instructors that would alone make flight instruction better across the board:

Not believing urban myths because someone else told it to them.

It perpetuates dumb decisions in new pilots who don't dare question the authority of the guy telling them that slips are prohibited with flaps deployed, or that flying the step will actually increase cruise speed, or that you need clearance to enter certain Class C airspaces.

That alone would make instruction so much better that even a pencil whipped BFR would be more useful.
 
bflynn said:
My conservative instructor who took very good care of me during my primary year has taught me to be timid.
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^^^Its so true that we become our instructors in a sense. I pay close attention to certain things and am lax about others because that was how my CFI was. I only realized this when I started going to other instructors.
 
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My favorite instructor retired a few years ago from being a college professor. In the Department of Education. Yeah, he taught people how to teach.

I don't care about flying to anyone's specification. I care about being a safe and conscientious pilot.
 
bflynn said:
I agree. It's far better to have an instructor which pushes you a little and makes your feel uncomfortable than it is to have one which takes it easy or which only chooses the easy route.

My original PPL instructor was very conservative. I don't say that to knock her, there is absolutely room in the hobby for conservative pilots. I'm not sure instructor is a good place for them though. The problem I see is that because we pretty much only flew on really nice days (those with ego air, where you can do everything flawlessly), I'm largely a fair weather flyer. I get really uncomfortable with a 10 kt crosswind component or with any measure of turbulence. That isn't to say that I can't fly in them, but it's stressful. My conservative instructor who took very good care of me during my primary year has taught me to be timid.

Your instructor's attitude is important. You should be challenged.
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Interesting. My original instructor taught me not to be timid. He took me out in the rain and in IMC as a student. We also did quite a few maneuvers which were not in the PTS (although there was no PTS at the time). I'm still friends with my original instructor, the only one I keep in touch with.
 
Asking to do something made the difference in my case. We weren't going to do spin training until I asked for it. It was fun and eye opening and now I have no doubts about what could cause it and what it takes to recover from it. My instructor said it was better to have a healthy respect for it rather than be afraid of it.
 
It's important to have a knowledgable instructor who pushes you. My primary CFI's favorite things to say were "if you overshoot the base to final turn, just keep the bank and fly it back to the runway. Or else go around and try again. Don't bank more." and, "I won't let you be a fair weather pilot."

We flew in lots of varying conditions, fall, winter and spring. We kept to VFR conditions, crosswinds she was comfortable with, and avoided ice. Flew with snow on the ground,though--everything sure looks different, and be more careful taxiing. If I didn't like something (like the airliner I was following into Class D who called 10 knot windshear, we avoided it or saved it for later. That day we turned around and went home; think I logged 0.5, but it was educational (and bumpy!).
 
Thanks for the interesting responses.

Since several of you mentioned spins: the instructor I spoke about, when I flew with him in '92, would not sign off a student for a checkride without doing spins. I went up with him in his Aeronca Champ. He told me how to put it into the spin, and how to get it out. He wanted me to be heading toward the airport, something easy to see, when I came out of the spin. I caused the spin and got it out, but not heading toward the airport. So, he wanted me to do it again and come out heading toward the airport. All I wanted was to be out of the spin and didn't care which direction I was going as long as the spin was over with. As a result of not coming out of the spin in the right direction he didn't enter a spin endorsement in my logbook. He entered spin introduction.

I guess it was still a good thing because I expect that most pilots never enter and recover from a spin at all.
 
Wow, he does sound pretty tough. Come out of the spin +-10 degrees original heading:D

Mine just wanted me to resist my every instinct to release backpressure and break the spin early. When I finally got it fully developed, I'll never forget that feeling. It looked just like in the movies with everything twirling around and the ground rushing up. I often wondered what people on the ground thought when they saw us spiraling down the first time:hairraise:
 
I usually ask my students, do you want me to teach you to get your license, or do,you want me to teach you to be a pilot? Pretty much at 100 pct of teaching to be a pilot.
 
Tom,

It's been 23 years since I began flying with the instructor I talked about above, so I don't remember if he had that question or something similar for me. That said, I began flying with him because he was the only instructor around at the time. When I came back to flying, my situation changed when I bought my plane and had to hangar elsewhere.

I certainly noticed the difference in the other instructor, who indeed was simply getting me my license. I was glad that I had gotten my original foundation with my first instructor.

I plan on doing my BFR with this instructor from now on and hope to get my instrument rating with him, even if he hasn't mellowed out like it appears and Dr. Jekyll comes back.
 
Great topic. I retired from a 27 year career as a teacher and administrator before learning how to fly. My primary instructor was a really young freshly minted 22 year old CFII. We hit it off really well in the plane. He was mature and an excellent teacher, demanding of himself as much as he was demanding of me and we talked alot about teaching in such a stressful and unique environment. One thing we talked about was learning to be a more effective instructor from your students. He's long moved on to Captain at Skywest, and we still keep in touch on a regular basis. My Instrument and Commercial instructors are based locally and were chosen because they had reputations for being fair and demanding, as was the DPE I used for my checkrides.
 
My CFI was a great guy, perfect for dealing with me. He cut me no slack, pushed me to my limits at times but I feel he taught me so much. Always turning real events into teaching moments.

A CFII that I flew with often reminds me of him, always pushing my limits, wanting more from me, demanding perfection. Our families have become close friends and I miss flying with him since they moved to Boston. However, he's flying in from Boston today since his wife is away on business so at least we can visit for a few days and fly today and all day tomorrow. Mary and I are looking forward to his company, wish his Bride was coming with him.

Tuesday morning he will be off to visit another friend that is local and fly his twin with him Tuesday and Wednesday, then take a late flight home on Christmas eve to be with his Bride.
 
I've flown with 5 CFIIs My primary and IR instructors were good but both moved out of the area. The the two I currently use kick my ass and that is a good thing.

BTW what was with the call for full rudder in the engine out landing?
 
My story is pretty unique in that I trained the "kid" that would be my CFI to be a controller. Although I started flying back in '85 while stationed at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, I didn't finish until this year. I started out flying 152s and soled at 8.7 hours. I had 19 hours when I came back to the states. Then I got married, kids, life...fast forward to early this year.

I had always wanted to finish my goal of getting my PPL. The kid - he's 25 but a kid to me - mentioned that he was going to get his CFI rating. I told him that I'd make him a deal that if he gets his CFI cert then I'd be his first student. He did and I made good on my end. Except that when I found out how much they wanted per hour for the plane (Cessna 172 at $135) and for the instructor at his flight school, I decided to buy my own Cherokee and train in it while paying him more than the school did. I wanted a low wing anyway. (School charged $50 per hour for the instructor but he was only getting $13 of that)

He turned out to be a great controller, pilot and instructor and we still fly together often since obtaining my license in October.
 
AdamZ said:
I've flown with 5 CFIIs My primary and IR instructors were good but both moved out of the area. The the two I currently use kick my ass and that is a good thing.

BTW what was with the call for full rudder in the engine out landing?
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I'm sorry I didn't explain well. When he pulled power I chose a field that was a little too close and had to slip it down. When I started slipping, I think he felt that I wasn't going to make it and told me to use full rudder in the slip. As it turned out I had more field to work with than I thought, so it would have worked either way.

I picked a field that was a little too close rather than was farther away because he taught me to. His reasoning is that you can always slip it down if you have to, but if you're too far away and come up short.....

Also when he pulled the power he said no flaps. I rarely use the flaps anyway.
 
What's the point of pulling power and flaps at the same time? Not likely both will fail.

If you want to get down in a hurry, you can drop flaps to full AND slip. Just don't overdo it, as some flaps take a while to retract.
 
He didn't pull power and flaps at the same time. He pulled power for a simulated power out emergency, then told me I could not use flaps. I assume that he told me I could not use flaps to see what decision I would make, and force me to do a forward slip so that he could test my ability to slip.

As far as how long it takes to retract the flaps, I can retract them in about a half second if I want to push the lever that fast. He also owns a 140 so I fully expect that he knows I can slip with full flaps if I need to.
 
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