Instructor availability versus student availability not matching

[Flying in a foreign land]

Posting anonymously because I do not want to cause ripples at my club.

I'm really unsure what I can expect from the flying club here..

I am an american living in a foreign country starting flying lessons. Have gone through a good deal of ground school but misunderstood the rules regarding when I could start flying. Turns out I could start already (just no solo flying) because I have passed the actual prerequisite courses on aerodynamics, aircraft instrument theory, etc. so I was VERY happy I asked again for correction.

So I started. I was assigned a CFI and it was clear to me he was very good. He was thorough and pre-flight we went through what we would be doing, he took off, I handled the flying and learned some straight and level flying, some banking, trimming. It was great. That was the middle of April.
I was very impressed with his landing also in a pretty good crosswind. He's around 30 and been flying since he was 15.

Since then he found out his work (he is professionally flying as well) was taking much more time than he had thought so he had to stop teaching for a while (honest, it wasn't my fault! I didn't do that badly!) but he found another CFI in the club and told me he was good too.

But it's been VERY hard to arrange flight number two, and honestly I feel like communication is not that great. My situation is I work full time, but have mondays free. So Monday is a great day to have a lesson (morning, day, or evening). I've asked him what his "normal" schedule is but am still honestly not sure. It may be he works different hours each week. I understand that there things come up, and instructors can't be expected to always be available even in the "normal window" of availability.

In summer here we have light until quite late too! But other than that weekends are really the only viable time I most often can use. My first flight was after work on a friday, but I don't get dinner, it goes quite late (home by 10:30 p.m.) and most important I'm worn out from job stress at end of day. We have a lot going on at work.

So my new CFI seems to be saying he can't ever know if he can fly on the weekends until like a day or two before. The problem is I am learning on a type of aircraft they have only two of, and are desired by many so they are booked pretty quickly. I'm still not sure if he can do evening flights most of the time or not.

Last monday we couldn't fly because of weather, which happens. And it isn't as if I expect an instructor always on weekends, but his not knowing until just before any weekend seems to be a show stopper.

I just sent an email to the flight school leader, mentioning it is nothing personal, but my CFI schedule seems to not be a good match with my own. Am waiting to hear back. They have a number of CFI's listed, but one of them is my first instructor who really is not available for the time being so I don't know how many of them are actualy active.

Is this normal? I know here the CFI's don't get paid all that much and certainly some of them may want to have weekends free, but how is it normally or was it in your club?

I'm thinking I ought to aim at least for two flights a week. I sure don't know, but it seems like that would be minimum to keep making progress. I mean, I feel like I can't even get the wheels going. Loved that first flight, am really looking forward to more.

I had just seen that there were a few hours on the planes I will be flying, and asked if it was possible sat. or sun. but he has to work both days. I get the idea also that many of the other students are flying in the daytime during the week. Either they don't have regular jobs or work off hours, not sure.

Any thoughts, or advice?

 

[MAKG1]

If your schedule is so constrained that you can only fly one day per week, this is absolutely normal.

Flight training needs the flexibility to follow weather, maintenance, and other students.

Things may be different in northern Europe (right?), but weather and maintenance are roughly the same. If your instructor is in demand, you'll need even more flexibility.

Expect a much bigger problem when you get to night training.

 

[Everskyward]

You mention that the CFI has a flying job. It sounds like it's at least somewhat on-call which is not unusual. He may also need to be available for his job on weekends which could explain why he can't commit to them either.

 

[J F]

If there are multiple instructors at the school, just find a different one. I had 16 students at one point and met all of their schedule needs and kept a day off a week for personal time. I had to deny over 2 dozen students because their schedule didn't fit with mine or my other students. If you want to fly weekends and on Monday, find an instructor that can do at least two of those days.

 

[Flying in a foreign land]

I think I must have written that badly as there seems to be misunderstandings on the situation.

- The CFI that also flies professionally was the first instructor I had. He was great, but he found out he didn't have enough "free time" to continue (for now) instructing for now.
- SO...he arranged for another instructor for me. I haven't met him yet, and it turns out this instructor often works on the weekends and never knows until a day or two before IF he can on any given weekend. By then both planes of the type I'm learning often are already booked.
I think he is young (haven't met him yet) because even after asking what days/times work best for him generally I still don't know. He writes with "U" for "you" and doesn't check what he sends out because his spellcheck converts things to misleading statements. Mainly I can't get a read on WHEN he is generally available even. I think maybe his job is part time, and he gets called in on short notice. I also think he flies mostly weekdays during the day.

So nothing against him, but it seems very inefficient to match my situation (sat, sun, mon as flight days with occasional weeknights as needed) to his (not even sure but definitely weekends are a problem).

I imagine many flying schools have this main problem. That there is a certain number of students that don't work, or not during the week and can fly on weekdays, and another group that realistically can only fly on weekends as a regular thing. I'm guessing they try and recruit CFI's to cover both groups needs?

Since I am new to this, I just don't know what I can expect. I don't expect them to always be available to match my needs, but we are knee deep in a huge project at work and I am getting stressed and worn out each day. Flying in the evening might help with the stress, but it's the worn out part that I think is a bad idea. I want to be on my game, sharp as I can, when I fly. Specially at this stage of it. I'm getting old, and do not have the endurance I once did.

Anyone care to share what kinds of schedules they used when learning?
Like how often did you fly each week (if that much) and whether you had to keep it mostly on weekends, how that worked out for you with the instructors?

 

[murphey]

Let's see if I understand...you haven't even met the new CFI in person to discuss schedule and you're already complaining about availability, age, etc? I would suggest a meeting, not flying, to sit down, review the syllabus, talk about both schedules then see if another CFI is a better match.

 

[Everskyward]

Due to your own schedule, it might be good if you found someone who doesn't have other job commitments, or who works at their other job on the weekdays and instructs on the side on weekends.

Also, I wouldn't make assumptions about someone's age based on electronic communications. I know people in their 60s who use "U". Besides, there's nothing wrong with having a younger instructor. They may be more in touch with their own beginning steps instead of having those days so far in the past that they have trouble remembering them.

 

[Flying in a foreign land]

Let's see if I understand...you haven't even met the new CFI in person to discuss schedule and you're already complaining about availability, age, etc? I would suggest a meeting, not flying, to sit down, review the syllabus, talk about both schedules then see if another CFI is a better match.

I don't see it that way. Communication is pretty essential and this is not happening over SMS, email, or phone. But the main thing, I already know that weekends are very difficult for him to plan because of his job. Weekends are my prime and really only chance to fly.

How about it would have been nice if before being assigned a new CFI someone found out from the student when he CAN fly, and try and match up with an instructor that has a good chance of having the same time available? You seem to think that meeting is going to make the guy suddenly be able to plan weekends. It isn't. It's a bad matchup. I am hoping they have someone that even MAY be able to plan weekend lessons. Is that so weird?

What I am after here actually is what other people did. How often they flew while learning, if they flew after work and on weekends, weekends mainly, or how it worked out. If it is kind of standard to have students that mostly fly on weekends.

 

[Flying in a foreign land]

Due to your own schedule, it might be good if you found someone who doesn't have other job commitments, or who works at their other job on the weekdays and instructs on the side on weekends.

Also, I wouldn't make assumptions about someone's age based on electronic communications. I know people in their 60s who use "U". Besides, there's nothing wrong with having a younger instructor. They may be more in touch with their own beginning steps instead of having those days so far in the past that they have trouble remembering them.

Thanks, good points. I don't care (and at my age expect) if the instructor is young. I hope that it is someone with experience and that can teach, that's all.
And it isn't just the "U", etc. I don't want to go into detail, but in communicating so far, it has been imprecise when specifics were important, wrong information, and not "normal" for trying to arrange a lesson. It's been sporadic and has been a lot of back and forth with no flying time.

I'm just starting and believe I am going to need at least a couple of lessons per week. This is dragging out and we aren't able to arrange times.

Again, age doesn't matter, but commication and somewhat similar availability for flying does, to me.

 

[Everskyward]

Have you made it clear to the school that weekends are the only times you can fly? With two airplanes they may not have a large selection of instructors. Based in the activity at my airport I don't think it's unusual for students to take lessons on weekends.

 

[jordane93]

To really get the most out of flying I'd try to go 2-3 times a week. 2-3 times a week really turns into 1-2 because of weather, maintenance and other issues. Sit down with the owner of the school and express your concerns. I made myself available as a CFI 6.5 days a week so I was able to get a lot of students. There were times when I needed to take a day off or weekend off but for the most part, I was available.