How old is/was your CFI?

How old is/was your CFI?

  • 24 or less

    Votes: 52 19.6%

  • 25-34

    Votes: 76 28.7%

  • 35-44

    Votes: 28 10.6%

  • 45-54

    Votes: 29 10.9%

  • 55-64

    Votes: 39 14.7%

  • 65+

    Votes: 41 15.5%
  • Total voters
    265
Morne

Morne

Line Up and Wait
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Sep 18, 2011
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Morne
In another thread there seems to be a lot of bashing of the, "300 hour, 19 year old CFI." I have no experience with these folks.

Personally, both my regular CFI and the guy I used as a back-up on the days my normal guy was booked were over 60. I have no clue how many hours they had, but "a dozen metric tons" seems to be a conservative guess. They'd both been flying since childhood.

So I am now curious what the breakdown of folks trained by "young uns" versus "geezers" might be.

I also wonder if there is any way to track pilots involved in accidents to see how experienced (on average) their CFIs were compared to the overall pilot population...:idea:
 
My CFI for my private was about 5 years older than me. I was 20 so that would put him around 25. I was happy with the instruction I got from him. In fact I still keep in touch with him many years later. Personally, when I was young I had the tendency to relate better with people who were slightly older than me but not generations older than me so I probably gravitated toward younger CFIs.
 
Mine was young, but committed and very professional. Took me through my private and IA, was completely in love with flight, wanted nothing but the best performance. DPE said, "that Ted always sends me well-prepared candidates."

He flies for Delta now, and they are lucky to have him.
 
I've experienced a combination of CFIs, some who are simply wishing they could parachute out of CFI hell into the airlines ASAP and are happy to be a gum chewing cell phone chatting hung over malcontent until then, and consummate professionals. Age was not a factor with either group.
 
My primary and instrument instructor (same guy) was about 8 years older than me. He was in the Air Guard and he brought that style of teaching which worked really well with my young butt. I looked up to him as a mentor because of his knowledge and experience.

Now, I work with a grey beard that has something north of 15,000 hours in just about everything. I think for me, it comes down to attitude and professionalism more than the age of the individual.

Brian
 
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My CFI for the private was 26 and I was his first full student. A bit more than a year earlier he had left a position as accountant for a Fortune 500 company. We stayed in touch for about 5 years. He left aviation to find himself or something.

The CFI for my commercial was an idiot. Basically he checked off the boxes to prepare me for the checkride. I taught him about constant speed propellers, brake systems and other things. On our X/C he would bore me to tears of how his dream of flying for Continental crashed around him because the girl of his dreams decided to leave him. Oh yeah, his ideas for intercepting a radial was fracking looney. He had SJS and stars in his eyes. He was late 20s and had been instructing less than 2 yrs.

The CFI for my IR was awesome. It was my loss to see him deported because he went to Mexico on vacation but it turned out he was here on a long expired visa. He was from Italy.

Paul, my primary CFI was the best. Next would be the ***** from hell who thought she walked on water because she was a corp pilot with multiple type ratings. Once past her personality she imparted great wisdom and strictly held to high standards. A few yrs ago she augured in.

The CFI for my ME was super cool. An ex-cop, nothing fazed him. He was very relatable, a fun guy. Always had new ways of looking at problems. Early 40s when I met him.

TW CFI was ex-AF ****-don't-stink-I've-flown-in-combat when on the ground. Super smooth and cool guy when in the air.
 
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My original CFI was a year older than god, constantly fell asleep with his hand banging against the side window... I already knew how to fly having grown up around airplanes...
My first instrument guy, Joel, had grown up next door to my wife... My age - and already had been a Cessna Corporation pilot for the company executives... He was flying a DC6 in Africa bringing food to starving towns when a rebel with a stinger missile took off his left wing... No good deed goes unpunished...

My next instrument guy was a police officer... He got the hots for my daughter which was not reciprocated and when she ignored him our relationship soured... But by then he had already signed me off for the check ride <shrug> He had issues with women...

My last wanna-be CFI was this wet nosed puppy at a Wings Seminar who was desperately trying to sell me dual instruction in a tail dragger... I demurred politely... When he persisted I fnally had to point out to him that I have shoes at home that have more time in tail draggers than he has total hours in his log...

My most recent for real CFI is a retired corporate jet jockey who puts me through the wringer for my biennial annually... Take off and departure stalls under the hood, engine cuts on the critical engine during slow flight under the hood... He is merciless... I love it...
 
My instructor for my private cert was a CFII about 24 years old and a grad of ERAU.

My instrument instructor was about 50 years old.
 
When I did my private at the age of 21, my instructor was the same age as I was (in fact, we ended up sharing a townhouse together). When I did my instrument rating at much later years, my instructor was much older than I was.
 
My primary instructor was ^70 and a retired army full bird colonel, wing commander, three tour in 'nam. Great guy, wonderful teacher with attention to detail (can you say "one each"?). Col. Al Iller; proud to call him "friend".
 
My first instructor was about 65 when I flew with him 20 years ago and then about 85 when I started back with him last Spring and flew 5 hours before soloing his 150.

My next instructor who flew with me in my 140, solo'd me in it and went all the way through the check ride was 76.

I also flew a couple of hours with two other instructors past retirement age.

I felt VERY comfortable with all these guys. They were massively experienced and it showed.

Doc
 
My PP instructor was Glen Perkins, out of Orlando Country, now Orlando North, X04... Glen was in his late 50's I would guess. That was back in 81... Super instructor and was a POW in Nam... He spent a few years in a bamboo cage right next to Mc Cain.. Had stories that would make your skin crawl about that experience...... Hope he is still alive out there somewhere......
Thanks Glen....


Ben.
 
My CFI was about 50 or so. He had over 6000 hours (pretty much all in piston singles and twins). Since he was experienced in the type of flying I wanted to do, it was very nice for me to have him showing me the ropes.

I got my CFI at 25 and 400 hours. I've always made sure that I have sufficient experience to teach the person who I'm instructing for the relevant application. Example: I wouldn't go teach someone how to fly a turbine, I don't have nearly enough experience there yet.
 
Ron Levy said:
For my Private, I was 18. He was positively ancient -- at least 35.
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:rofl: I remember when you couldn't trust anyone older than 30. Now I'm old enough to have a kid in their 30's. :cryin:
 
My CFI for my private was 21 or 22, I was 20. We actually went on a couple flying double dates.:D looking back, he was a good guy, not a great CFI, but I probably wasn't a great student either.:rolleyes: My 16 year old son's CFI is an old fart, 47, same age as me!;) When I got my IR, I had a retired gentleman, Malcolm Rutledge, who really enjoyed teaching and flying, we went on several day trips together and he really made it fun.
 
I think age is not a good surrogate for experience. My instrument instructor was in his late 50s but the important thing to me was that he was flying singles and light twins in the system, for several small corporations, several times a week. I tell people that I have two ice stories, he has two hundred.

For the PPL maybe its less important, but I think the old saw about needing to learn from the mistakes of others because you won't live long enough to make them all yourself is also a strong argument for working with an instructor with a big bag of experience.

Now I don't trust anyone under 30.
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Actually that might be a pretty good starting point, with instructors under thirty probably not yet having had time to fill their bags of experience. Hours "dual-given" are not the same, IMHO, as hours of "real" flying, cross-country, in the system, and for hire. Not that teaching experience is not valuable. It is. But it is not enough IMHO.
 
Mine for Primary and IR training is 80 and has been flying since 1950's, an instructor since the 70's.

He's an excellent primary instructor and a great instrument instructor, but I am finding he lacks in a few places, mostly I don't think he has done any IFR traveling inthe last few years and he does not have our new GPS's figured out yet. Fortunately I have a CFII friend who is a 30 yr old corporate pilot that is giving me some instruction as well.

I learn alot from both of them. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. One can fly a light plane in his sleep but has no clue about GPS, the other is a whiz with the system/radios/electronics but has not flown GA in years and is a little awkward in a small piper (kinda funny) :)
 
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Mine was probably in his late 40s (I was 29) and he was RAF-Retired. Was a pleasure flying with him. At various times I've had all sorts of instructors, from brand new instructors fresh from a pilot mill to former airline captains. I found the following:

Their age had little to do with how well they flew.
Their age had little to do with how effective they were at getting their point across to me.
Their experience level as an instructor did make a difference in how effective they were at getting their point across- the more experienced they were, the more effective they were.
Their experience level as an instructor did alter their attitudes - in my experience the ones who had been teaching longer were less "dogmatic" about certain things. My instrument teacher first made sure I understood the goal of the holding pattern was to remain inside a specific region of protected airspace, and THEN went over holding entries, ending up with "whatever works best for you and keeps you inside the protected space is OK".

In summary, I think that the amount of hours of instruction given is a better predictive measurement of CFI effectiveness than age or total time. In general, of course.
 
My PP instructors were older but skilled at evading pterodactyls a necessary trait for aviators of that era. But I was 18-20 dring PP training,
so most everybody was older.

Thinking back, most of the CFI's tht I encountered back then (whether or not they flew with me) were probably 35+, which I now attribute to timing of WW-II that ended 12 years before I started. Many of the instructors were vets and still interested in making a living in aviation, so that may have limited the opportunities for younger guys to enter the market.

I don't think age is nearly as important as interest, aptitude and attitude, although more rather than less experience is never a negative for a good teacher.
 
71, 81, 65 and 22.

A lot of stuff I learned from the old guys, there is a reason they got to that age while being active in general aviation.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
My CFI was about 50 or so. He had over 6000 hours (pretty much all in piston singles and twins). Since he was experienced in the type of flying I wanted to do, it was very nice for me to have him showing me the ropes.

I got my CFI at 25 and 400 hours. I've always made sure that I have sufficient experience to teach the person who I'm instructing for the relevant application. Example: I wouldn't go teach someone how to fly a turbine, I don't have nearly enough experience there yet.
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It's not the age, but the moustache that counts ;)
 
I've had so many. Most were younger, but I guess I got my start late on. My l last two instructors for my PPL were 22. I'm still friends with them and they still give me great advice, only these days more so pertaining to the industry.
 
My private, instrument and commercial instructor was my age. While being my instructor he was also my college roomate and friend. He died from cancer last year :(.
 
PPL: I was 16, he was 20CPL: I was 17, he was 23
CFI: I was 18, he was 24
IA: I was 19, she was 42 ... And hot! (g)
 
I started making a list of CFIs and ran out of paper.

Okay, it's not that bad. But CAP and other things have allowed me various checkrides and onesy-twosey flights with a passel of CFIs over the years.

Everything from ones in their 20s (hi Jesse) to more than one over 70 and everything in-between.

All but one I would fly with again.

And it's not the one I didn't communicate well with last week. I'd fly with him again. If that's what you're thinking.

The one I'm not interested in flying with ever again, shall remain unnamed. I'm not our to ruin his life.

The list is made up of my Primary instructor, piles of aircraft checkouts with different CFIs here and in California one summer, some glider instruction long ago, some tailwheel instruction also long ago, various starts and stops on the Instrument Rating, and BFRs.

The vast majority have a baseline standard for flight performance, and then a few have added some weird (sometimes annoying) demands they've added to the overall requirements all on their own. (Two slso had added requirements of their particular clubs that were mandatory. They taught to the baseline and also to those add-ons, well.)

My favorite was the aircraft checkout by an ex-WWII bomber pilot in his Cherokee 180. He wanted everything done at 120 knots if you could get it. Or as close as possible. Everything.

Slowing below 100 knots in the pattern would set off a lecture. Crazy old coot.

I had been pre-warned that he did that to everyone and to just humor him. Everyone who flew his plane went back to book speeds when he wasn't on board. ;)

Full-bore throttle on final in a Cherokee 180 is strangely fun but pretty dumb. Smile and nod. Smile and nod.
 
My instructor [for my private] is about 65 years old, and he is brilliant. We have a blast and he is incredibly knowledgeable. [Has his PhD and used to be a Neuro Science professor at a University... needless to say there are times I feel.. uh.. intellectually inadequate. ha] But he really works well with me to make sure I understand everything.

That's not to say that younger instructor's aren't just as knowledgeable. My dad's instructor was about 30 years his minor [My dad was his first student -- he went to high school with my sister!] and all I know now is that my dad is a very proficient pilot.
 
Everskyward said:
:rofl: I remember when you couldn't trust anyone older than 30. Now I'm old enough to have a kid in their 30's. :cryin:
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My youngest is 31, so I understand. :rolleyes2:

I'm terrible at guessing ages. My original CFI could have been younger or older than me. I don't know. But he wasn't a kid and he wasn't "old" I'd happily fly with him again, but he died of a heart attack a few years ago while entirely too young.

I've flown with a few others over the years and I suspect that I'm older than all of them. Other than the one that was complaining about my over square operation of the engine in the Arrow (and, no, I don't buy into that OWT) I'd fly with about any of them again.
 
My primary instructor was late 20s. A full-time electricitian and also a scuba instructor.

Got my Instrument ticket from a retired Air Traffic Controller. 50s?

My Commercial ASEL, AMEL, CFI and CFII I got from a guy who is also middle-aged a Pratt-Whitney Propulsion Engineer and runs a small flight school in northern CT.

My primary instructor taught me to fly and land the plane well and also seemed to know quite a bit about the bends... My instrument instructor taught me to communicate well and how to make good decisions regarding the weather. My last instructor taught me how to take really good of the engines through all kinds of different maneuvers while teaching. Their other professions seemed to effect their strong areas of knowledge much more than their age.
 
p1l0t said:
also a scuba instructor.
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A bit off-topic but I know a guy who is/was both a CFI and scuba instructor and he said that the process to get certified as a scuba instructor was much more involved and intense than when he got his CFI.
 
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