How to be a better CFI

[mmilano]

(from a student's perspective) .. I've had 2 CFIs. The first one was pretty bad, and this one is a LOT better, although there is always room for improvement. I woke up this morning thinking about what would make a good CFI, and thought I would start a list of ideas. I only have a couple, but add to it if you would like

1. Take a few minutes before you meet up with your student to remember what you did at the last lesson, where your student is at in training, and what they need to accomplish next. It is very disapointing when a student has to fill their CFI in on where they are at, or when the CFI starts a lesson and the student has to remind them 'we did this last time', or when a cfi asks 'have you soloed yet.' if you can't remember, then take notes at the end of the lesson.

2. If you notice your student hasn't flown in a while, call them up and say hey, tomorrow looks like a great day to go up and do some ______. It's definately not the CFI's responsibility to schedule the appointments, but it really shows a lot of care and sometimes the student may need a little push.

3. Make your student use the radios. This is the only time they get to practice. Sounds obvious, but one of my CFIs would often take the radio calls. I think he thought he was doing me a favor so I could focus on the tasks at hand. I don't think students will usually question a CFI's method of teaching.

4. Ground School. When a student isn't going through a flight school, the CFI is the only one who can help a student understand how to learn. Most stuff can be learned by reading, but the CFI really needs to give the student DIRECTION, and make sure they are making progress in between lessons. Maybe throw questions out during the lesson and get an idea of the areas the student needs to study up on and then tell them where they can find the info and study it.

5. Spend a few minutes after the flight for a de-brief. Let the student know what they need to think about or did wrong when they don't have the responsbility of flying the plane and impressiong their cfi in their head.

********************

these just a few things i've thought about during my student experience. if the cfi fails #1, you will look incompitent everytime in the student's eyes. they will think they are wasting money with you. all the others are just bonus.

any others to add?

 

[MauleSkinner]

Answer the question that the student asks, rather than the one you know the answer to

Fly safe!

David

 

[RotaryWingBob]

Don't be too quick to get on the controls -- students need to make mistakes and learn from them.

My primary ASEL instructor was too quick to get on the controls and slowed me up because of that.

My primary RH instructor didn't get on them unless things were really headed south (which they were a few times). I could see him out of my peripheral vision getting ready to get on them, but he never did it unnecessarily.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

(from a student's perspective) .. I've had 2 CFIs. The first one was pretty bad, and this one is a LOT better, although there is always room for improvement. I woke up this morning thinking about what would make a good CFI, and thought I would start a list of ideas. I only have a couple, but add to it if you would like

1. Take a few minutes before you meet up with your student to remember what you did at the last lesson, where your student is at in training, and what they need to accomplish next. It is very disapointing when a student has to fill their CFI in on where they are at, or when the CFI starts a lesson and the student has to remind them 'we did this last time', or when a cfi asks 'have you soloed yet.' if you can't remember, then take notes at the end of the lesson.

2. If you notice your student hasn't flown in a while, call them up and say hey, tomorrow looks like a great day to go up and do some ______. It's definately not the CFI's responsibility to schedule the appointments, but it really shows a lot of care and sometimes the student may need a little push.

3. Make your student use the radios. This is the only time they get to practice. Sounds obvious, but one of my CFIs would often take the radio calls. I think he thought he was doing me a favor so I could focus on the tasks at hand. I don't think students will usually question a CFI's method of teaching.

4. Ground School. When a student isn't going through a flight school, the CFI is the only one who can help a student understand how to learn. Most stuff can be learned by reading, but the CFI really needs to give the student DIRECTION, and make sure they are making progress in between lessons. Maybe throw questions out during the lesson and get an idea of the areas the student needs to study up on and then tell them where they can find the info and study it.

5. Spend a few minutes after the flight for a de-brief. Let the student know what they need to think about or did wrong when they don't have the responsbility of flying the plane and impressiong their cfi in their head.

********************

these just a few things i've thought about during my student experience. if the cfi fails #1, you will look incompitent everytime in the student's eyes. they will think they are wasting money with you. all the others are just bonus.

any others to add?

All of the above on your list are pretty much a "given" plus, regarding control takeovers and everything else in flight training, the addition of the student's ever popular request of "not-too-fast, not-too-slow, but always just-right-for-me-at-this-moment" qualifier.

 

[Everskyward]

This may be a matter of personal taste, but I had a few instructors who I swear didn't know how to shut up. It's hard to think when someone is talking at you all the time. Talking is fine when demonstrating a maneuver for the first time, for example, or when correcting an error. However, I think that when instructors use endless commentary they end up flying the airplane with their mouths while the student becomes the voice-activated autopilot, which makes it harder for them to think for themselves in the end.

Nowdays when I'm trying to learn something new and someone wants to step in because I'm not doing it fast enough I'll just say, "Hold on, let me do it myself."

 

[TDKendall]

Something that my current CFI did that impressed me enough to stick with her as my CFI....talk to me like I'm human and at least somewhat intelligent. I didn't feel the least bit stressed when I took my "discovery flight" with her. In fact, the way she treated me caused me to feel more comfortable and confident in my abilities to get us out of the parking space, into the air, land and back to the parking space in one piece. She wasn't too quick on the controls (saw her "cover" a few times but only "felt" her once) and I controlled the plane during all phases of the flight. Heck, even the pre-flight was a learning experience.

Anyway, add that into everything else that's been listed so far and you've got yourself a CFI worth sticking with.