Quick learners

LDJones

LDJones

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
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Sep 6, 2011
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Twin Cities, MN
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Display name:
Jonesy
I've got a student that's one of the fastest learners I've ever encountered. I would have soloed him at five hours if he'd had his medical by then. I think he ended up soloing at 7 or 8 hours. Tonight we finished his night requirements and we have over half of his instrument time completed. He's done two solo XCs and has just over 10 hours of solo time....and he's at 33 hours total time. I'm confident he could ace his checkride tomorrow. We'll knock out the 1.2 of instrument remaining this weekend, review all the private pilot maneuvers again, then send him out to practice those for a couple of hours. I'll then probably do one or two mock check rides with him and, hopefully, by then he'll hit the 40 hours needed for the checkride.

Definitely fun to watch someone progress so rapidly.
 
Wow...that's pretty good. The fastest learners I've seen were young enough to have not discovered women or cars yet. ;)
 
As an instructor I had a 14 year old student. I could not solo him, of course, but he was ready at 10 or so hours. He flew and passed every lesson and if he was 16 he would have been ready for his check ride. His ambition was to be a fighter pilot. I mean it was his burning desire to be a fighter pilot. I lost track of him, and I really hope he made it.

I had another student that was 24. He was in the national guard and wanted to fly C-130. He did his private in 30 days, flying and ground study, including weather days. He was selected and made it to the C-130.
 
@ LD - forgive me in advance as I am not a CFI.. Its amazing that a new student can solo at 5hrs.. but is that student really safe at 5hrs?
I think 90% of students can land safely in thier first 10hrs, but there is a lot more to flying than landing lol.
If your student does greasers, emer procedures like second nature, stalls with the best of them.. then you have found someone truly special.. please keep us updated on his amazing progress.

@ MSCARD - or maybe he hasn't discovered them yet lol

@ zeldman - awesome.. glad he made the 130s.. and 30 days.. even if it was super fast track course.. still pretty amazing.
 
LDJones said:
I've got a student that's one of the fastest learners I've ever encountered. I would have soloed him at five hours if he'd had his medical by then. I think he ended up soloing at 7 or 8 hours. Tonight we finished his night requirements and we have over half of his instrument time completed. He's done two solo XCs and has just over 10 hours of solo time....and he's at 33 hours total time. I'm confident he could ace his checkride tomorrow. We'll knock out the 1.2 of instrument remaining this weekend, review all the private pilot maneuvers again, then send him out to practice those for a couple of hours. I'll then probably do one or two mock check rides with him and, hopefully, by then he'll hit the 40 hours needed for the checkride.

Definitely fun to watch someone progress so rapidly.
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Cool, how many weeks/months are the 33 spread across? Do you know if the guy had pre-training exposure to GA? By 5 hours I had 5 landings, maybe 1 unassisted(mostly), and I was 2 months in, haha :)
 
I had a Private student a couple of years ago who was like that. Early 30's, and just a fantastic learner. Studied hard, yes, but what was most amazing to me was that if I told him to do something, he just DID IT. For example, the first stall entry he might have the ball out of center. I'd tell him to fix it, and he would, and that issue would never happen again, at all. Everything was like that. On the first steep turn, he might not have had enough back pressure, I'd mention it, he'd fix it, and that was all I had to say. Next time he might not have enough bank angle, so I'd mention it, and boom, it was fixed, the problem never to be seen again. Most maneuvers only took a few tries to get right. It was a lot of fun!

I think he passed his checkride with about 41 hours.
 
mtuomi said:
I did mine in 26 days. It's not hard.
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Just looked at my log: 16 days start to finish...solo after 5.5 hours, pilot's license in 43 hours, bought my first plane w/46 hours. I was 26. On the other hand my IR...with that I'm on my 24th year!!! lol (BUT, taking ground test next weekend).
 
tawood said:
Just looked at my log: 16 days start to finish...solo after 5.5 hours, pilot's license in 43 hours, bought my first plane w/46 hours. I was 26. On the other hand my IR...with that I'm on my 24th year!!! lol (BUT, taking ground test next weekend).
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Yeah. Getting it done in 40ish hours and a couple of weeks is doable, as long as it's a full-time job for you for that time.
If you want to take 70 hours and 6 months to do it, go to a school that operates out of a busy field, and doesn't allow student solo touch and go's. No wonder it takes 70 hours, when 20 of those hours have been spent waiting in line between full stops and taxi backs!
 
mtuomi said:
Yeah. Getting it done in 40ish hours and a couple of weeks is doable, as long as it's a full-time job for you for that time.
If you want to take 70 hours and 6 months to do it, go to a school that operates out of a busy field, and doesn't allow student solo touch and go's. No wonder it takes 70 hours, when 20 of those hours have been spent waiting in line between full stops and taxi backs!
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Meh, I did my PPL in 44 hours over 18 months all at Class Delta fields. KHPN, KCDW, & KIXD. I had an issue with my SI so I took about a year off after I had 25 hours or so. I soloed at about 35 hours and was basically ready.

I was the same kind of student the OP described. I was a self-study and the maneuvers just clicked into place after a few hours. Similar experience getting my IR, I had 51 hours PIC XC and 42 hours instrument time at my checkride.

It can be done.
 
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It took me 1 year, 2 months, 1 day to get my PPL. Solo right at 10 hours. CFI said I was ready at 33 hours. PPL at 40.7 hours. First CFI wasted a lot of my time with those first 7.1 hours.
 
Yea some guys pick it up really quick. I had one student nail his first landings lesson and he was soloing a few hours after that.
 
Yeah some people it just clicks. It did for me, same for all my friends who've pursued flying. All of us soloed pre 10hrs, and checkride at 40. I think if I ever get my CFI done with its gonna be an adjustment that not everyone just intrinsically understands how to fly.
 
RussR said:
I had a Private student a couple of years ago who was like that. Early 30's, and just a fantastic learner. Studied hard, yes, but what was most amazing to me was that if I told him to do something, he just DID IT. For example, the first stall entry he might have the ball out of center. I'd tell him to fix it, and he would, and that issue would never happen again, at all. Everything was like that. On the first steep turn, he might not have had enough back pressure, I'd mention it, he'd fix it, and that was all I had to say. Next time he might not have enough bank angle, so I'd mention it, and boom, it was fixed, the problem never to be seen again. Most maneuvers only took a few tries to get right. It was a lot of fun!

I think he passed his checkride with about 41 hours.
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Oh crap! I'm worthless!!!
 
It took me longer than most to get my PPL but I did it. Wish I had done this in college when I was 19 though would have been less expensive.
 
Agreed, there are people out there who are just naturals in some aspect, piloting notwithstanding.
That's when the CFI(I) usually utters the phrase "I wish all my students were like you" or "you are a dream student". It makes the instructor's teaching much easier.
Of course, the bad news is: not all students are like that. Heck, barely any students are that bright and focused.
That's why I am NOT pursuing CFI (although all my friends tell me I should to combine my love of flying with my love for teaching).

Congratulations, Loren, on a great student. I bet you anything that you WILL miss him when he's gone. :)
(Don't worry, he'll come back for IR, ME etc)
 
This kind of student is sure a lot more fun than one that after 6 hrs dual/practice still can't do a steep turn within tolerances! Oh, the inhumanity of it all:eek::eek:

PS - that was 6 hrs solely on steep turns. If I remember, he had right around 70 hrs by the time he took his PPL ride.
 
I took about the national average for the private. But I had never been in a small plane in my life. The first time was the first lesson. There were others in my class that had many hundreds of hours flying with a parent or other relative since they were big enough to sit in the seat and reach the yoke. All they had to do was get the instruction logged so they could take a check ride.

Those of you that picked it up quick really made if fun for your instructor. As I learned during my time as a full time instructor, watching students struggle was hard on me. And since I struggled as a student I really worked with those that struggled. But when they finally soloed, or got their certificate, or whatever goal they had, that made me feel really good to see them succeed.
 
Students that also showed up prepared for the lesson also made my job a whole lot easier. If I told them to study stalls, they would report back to me with sufficient information. The ones that took longer weren't prepared for the lesson and basically had me spoon feed them the information to them.
 
falconkidding said:
Yeah some people it just clicks. It did for me, same for all my friends who've pursued flying. All of us soloed pre 10hrs, and checkride at 40. I think if I ever get my CFI done with its gonna be an adjustment that not everyone just intrinsically understands how to fly.
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Congratulations L.D.! You must be a great instructor!

And Falconkidding, I don't think it is always "not everyone just intrinsically understands how to fly." Quite a few of us are 1) not necessarily in a hurry to see how quick we can get it done, and 2) are working in a job that demands a lot of focus and time and cannot focus our total time and energy on learning to fly. Getting it done is the important thing, not how long it takes.
 
somorris said:
Congratulations L.D.! You must be a great instructor!

And Falconkidding, I don't think it is always "not everyone just intrinsically understands how to fly." Quite a few of us are 1) not necessarily in a hurry to see how quick we can get it done, and 2) are working in a job that demands a lot of focus and time and cannot focus our total time and energy on learning to fly. Getting it done is the important thing, not how long it takes.
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Oh I know theres a multitude of reasons, not throwing shade at people who aren't instantly able to pick it up. There are just some people that naturally grasp it though.
 
exncsurfer said:
Cool, how many weeks/months are the 33 spread across? Do you know if the guy had pre-training exposure to GA? By 5 hours I had 5 landings, maybe 1 unassisted(mostly), and I was 2 months in, haha :)
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It was 9 hours in four weeks to solo...he was ready by hour 6. Then work and weather interfered for two months before we got to XC. Then the holidays interfered. But now we're back at it trying to wrap up. No aviation exposure prior to starting training.
 
I've been asked a few times what student I enjoy teaching, and as I enjoy all certificate and ratings, student pilots have always been my favorite. Fun to see someone who knows nothing about flying learn and progress. I've had a few difficult students other instructors passed onto me and got them finished with no problems. Sometimes it's a personality thing between instructor and student, and that's when either or both the instructor or student should suggest a CFI change.
 
somorris said:
Congratulations L.D.! You must be a great instructor!
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If it had anything to do with me I wouldn't have had the 30-hours-to-solo students! But I have. At least twice. You tear your hair out trying to figure out what you're missing, what YOU aren't conveying to them because you KNOW it's your fault they're not "getting it" and you feel like you're wasting their money! At least that's how I feel. At that point I'll try to have them fly with a friend so he can try to figure out where I'm screwing up.
 
To the instructors here who have had extremely fast learners: Do you ever ask the student what methods they used to prepare? Was it years of flight simulator? Was it watching youtube videos? Radio control planes? Reading Stick n' Rudder? Visualizing the flight beforehand? Sometimes maybe it really is that they're "just a natural", but in the other cases, it could be helpful to future students if we knew what works.
 
Some people are born aviators, for others it takes dedication and percivierance ... at the end of the day it's all good as long as u are a safe pilot. That's the way I console myself

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camel said:
To the instructors here who have had extremely fast learners: Do you ever ask the student what methods they used to prepare? Was it years of flight simulator? Was it watching youtube videos? Radio control planes? Reading Stick n' Rudder? Visualizing the flight beforehand? Sometimes maybe it really is that they're "just a natural", but in the other cases, it could be helpful to future students if we knew what works.
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Good question. As for me, no, I did not ask nor did I ever think to ask. The fast learners I had were very motivated with very definite plans on what they wanted in aviation. They read everything they could find on flying and would show up at the airport just to talk about certain maneuvers or about their self study for the written. (they knew I had a fondness for eating so they would usually bring something to eat) These guys made me work to be sure I had correct answers and could transfer the information to them in a way that they would understand easily.
 
Can't say it was the case for me on the private, but when doing the ten-day course with PIC, the instructor was concerned that he was going to slow for me. He said I was the first person he'd ever instructed that he thought he was holding back. I told him the pace was fine, even though I did get a couple of days off for good behavior.
 
camel said:
To the instructors here who have had extremely fast learners: Do you ever ask the student what methods they used to prepare? Was it years of flight simulator? Was it watching youtube videos? Radio control planes? Reading Stick n' Rudder? Visualizing the flight beforehand? Sometimes maybe it really is that they're "just a natural", but in the other cases, it could be helpful to future students if we knew what works.
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Step 1: Use an integrated ground study program. At minimum it must include a textbook and a syllabus. Bob Gardner's Complete Private Pilot is my favorite. Alternatively, video programs with syllabuses also work.

Step 2: In accordance with the syllabus, read the appropriate ground lesson prior to each flight.

Step 3: Come prepared to each ground lesson with the review questions done, with a general understanding of what will be happening on the next flight, and with any questions you have from the ground study.

Step 4: A written test prep book costs $20-$25. You can either use one on your own to study for the written or pay me/my company ~$50/hr to teach you this one-on-one. (No fast learner has ever taken me up on the $50/hr offer.)

Step 5: We follow the syllabus for flying and ground discussion. Anything extra that you want to do (like go on a sightseeing flight) can be saved for the end of training when we're just flying around to build time.

The fast learner will take all of these 5 steps into account, have the written test finished without my prodding, and be on the schedule several weeks in advance with the lesson number in the reservation remarks.
 
Zeldman said:
Good question. As for me, no, I did not ask nor did I ever think to ask. The fast learners I had were very motivated with very definite plans on what they wanted in aviation. They read everything they could find on flying and would show up at the airport just to talk about certain maneuvers or about their self study for the written. (they knew I had a fondness for eating so they would usually bring something to eat) These guys made me work to be sure I had correct answers and could transfer the information to them in a way that they would understand easily.
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Yep, I know that I was always asking my CFIs to challenge me. Due to my wacky life, I had 3 CFIs for my primary and 3 different CFIIs for my instrument. I had instructors basically say, you're checkride ready now while well short of the flight time requirements. While it felt good to have that affirmation, I also was discouraged to see the CFIs just throw their hands up as if to say they had nothing more to teach me. I knew I wasn't perfect and there were things that I could do better. I instead would have preferred to work on lots of emergency procs and commercial maneuvers (Lazy 8s and Chandelles and commercial steep turns etc.)
 
LDJones said:
It was 9 hours in four weeks to solo...he was ready by hour 6. Then work and weather interfered for two months before we got to XC. Then the holidays interfered. But now we're back at it trying to wrap up. No aviation exposure prior to starting training.
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That's great. I had a friend with a ton of GA and military aviation exposure. He got his done (late 20s) in 40 hours on the nose. I struggled with my landings and had about 55 hours.





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