Stupid Question: Is it okay to be Facebook friends with your CFI?

N918KT

N918KT

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Sorry if this is a stupid question, but it's a question that I have been wondering for quite awhile.

Is it okay to be friends with your CFI on Facebook? Any positives or negatives on being Facebook friends with your CFI?
 
You tell us: What do you expect to gain from this? What do you think he will gain from this?

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
You tell us: What do you expect to gain from this? What do you think he will gain from this?

-Skip
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Like if I have a question about a certain task after the lesson ended, or anything about flight training in general that I didn't ask during the debrief.

I mean some college students are Facebook friends with their professors. For example, I talk with one of my professor on Facebook chat about running my club (he is the club advisor). I thought the same can be applied to CFIs as well.
 
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I'm not encouraging nor discouraging the use of FB. Maybe it can be of use to you two. You need to find out from the CFI if he is a frequent FB user, otherwise the cell phone may be better. -S
 
Yea, that is a stupid question

Are you friends with your CFI? if so then sure be his friend on FB.

Here's a really weird, I actually am real life friends with some of my students, like getting a drink at the bar or going surfing, crazy??
 
You're asking an internet forum whether you should friend your CFI on FB? Based on that fact I say yes, friend away.

R u new to the internet or is flying just a new thing and you're looking for social norms? If the later there is no 'norm' for what you ask. Just do what you want.
 
Well, first off you have to keep in mind that Facebook was designed for 14 year old girls and gay male flight attendants. Secondly, with the possible exception of your mother nobody really sincerely gives a SH*T about where you are and what you're doing.
 
Art VanDelay said:
Well, first off you have to keep in mind that Facebook was designed for 14 year old girls and gay male flight attendants. Secondly, with the possible exception of your mother nobody really sincerely gives a SH*T about where you are and what you're doing.
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That's a very opinionated posting.
As it happens I'm not 14, Nor am I a gay flight attendant, I'm 64 yrs old and active on FB, I keep in touch with family members living some 4000 miles away, I have also re-connected with lost friends of over 20 yrs ago, who without the social media world we now have at our disposal I would not have rekindled our friendships.

In reply to the OP original question, of course it's all right to be FB friends with your CFI, I still keep in touch with my former CFI via FB, never been an issue, on the other hand when I was training I wouldn't have commented on FB about anything I wasn't happy with following a flight...I much prefer to look a person in the eye and address any issue I may have....
 
to the OP: It really depends on your relationship. I suppose if I were your CFI and you pinged me a couple times I'd respond but otherwise I'd probably say "Let's talk about that next time we meet" If you want FB to see some of his flying adventures and what he does outside of flying then sure friend him. But don't use the chat function to get free ground instruction or at least don't abuse it. Unless he gives you ground instruction for free already.
 
If experience is any judge CFI's will shortly be moving on to the airlines . . . I"d had 6 CFI's since I got back into flying - 4 of them are now flying for the airlines, 1 is a FAA FSDO inspector and 1 [the current one] is a CFI. . . .
 
N918KT said:
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but it's a question that I have been wondering for quite awhile.

Is it okay to be friends with your CFI on Facebook? Any positives or negatives on being Facebook friends with your CFI?
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Interesting question. I am friends with my CFI on Linked In. It's a little more professional than FB. But that's just my opinion. I see nothing wrong to be a FB friend, it all depends on you, your CFI, and how comfortable you are sharing your personal life.
 
asgcpa said:
Interesting question. I am friends with my CFI on Linked In. It's a little more professional than FB. But that's just my opinion. I see nothing wrong to be a FB friend, it all depends on you, your CFI, and how comfortable you are sharing your personal life.
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+1. Since you can friend anyone and it's up to the receiver to accept or not, I'd just ask.

If I were a current CFI, I'd be using social media too. The only question is which one. Since my current airline is slowly imploding, most guys are using LinkedIn for professional contacts and FB for family and friends.
 
Better question:
Is it stupid to be facebook friends with anyone?

Answer:
Yes, because Facebook itself is stupid.

Unless you're a 15 year old teenage girl, why are you on Facebook?
 
I think the market has spoken.

I love Facebook to keep in touch with family and I have reconnected with friends from long ago.

EdFred said:
Better question:
Is it stupid to be facebook friends with anyone?

Answer:
Yes, because Facebook itself is stupid.

Unless you're a 15 year old teenage girl, why are you on Facebook?
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My CFI is 75, BUT if he had a FB page I would def friend him. We have went to lunch, I have brought him breakfast before a early lesson. I have sat with him for hours in his hanger talking and walking around his museum. I think I will remain friends with him long after I finish my PPL. I have seen his former students pop in and say hello dozens of times while I was there. I guess it all depends on the relationship you have with your CFI.
 
jonnyjetprop said:
I think the market has spoken.

I love Facebook to keep in touch with family and I have reconnected with friends from long ago.
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If you want to know your aunt just got out of the shower and has bad cramps today, have at it. Some things are just better left unknown.
 
Art VanDelay said:
Well, first off you have to keep in mind that Facebook was designed for 14 year old girls and gay male flight attendants. .
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Nope, your thinking of the defunct MySpace. Remember all the sparkly crap on that place?

FB was designed by nerdy CS college guys to exchange pictures of girls that they had surreptitiously snapped on their way to get pizza during their weekly trip out of the computer lab. :D:D
 
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Art VanDelay said:
Well, first off you have to keep in mind that Facebook was designed for 14 year old girls and gay male flight attendants. Secondly, with the possible exception of your mother nobody really sincerely gives a SH*T about where you are and what you're doing.
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Classic! (sad, but true)
 
The FB thing with a CFImis for friend type things... Not questions regarding flying. That would be more appropriately an individual email or phone call. Keep friend-ness and flying questions separate.
 
EdFred said:
Better question:
Is it stupid to be facebook friends with anyone?

Answer:
Yes, because Facebook itself is stupid.

Unless you're a 15 year old teenage girl, why are you on Facebook?
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Now tell me that what you wrote doesn't sound like 15 years old teenage girl ? :lol:
 
EdFred said:
Better question:
Is it stupid to be facebook friends with anyone?

Answer:
Yes, because Facebook itself is stupid.

Unless you're a 15 year old teenage girl, why are you on Facebook?
Click to expand...

A lot of bitterness there just because you could not progress fast enough on MafiaWars

:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
What's Facebook?:rolleyes:

To the OP, does email work or how about a phone?

Just about everyone has a phone, most people have an email account and some people have a Facebook account for some reason known only to them.

Cheers
 
Nobody needs an airplane. You have two perfectly good feet. Get to walking. ;)
 
My rule for Facebook friends is simple:

1.) I never send a request to be friends with someone, only accept them.
2.) I limit myself to a max of 100 friends at all times. If I'm going to accept a new "friendship" I must remove one.
3.) I must believe there is a reasonable chance I'll have a meaningful conversation with the person in person[b/] within the next year, otherwise I delete them.
4.) I actually want to be friends with them

If the request from a student met all of the above I would likely accept it.
 
jesse said:
3.) I must believe there is a reasonable chance I'll have a meaningful conversation with the person in person[b/] within the next year, otherwise I delete them.
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Oh crap. My year has got to be up by now. LOL
 
Dont know about all the negative attitude, its a tool. I use that tool to keep in touch with family and friends, literally. On days I cannot connect to make a call or text to my wife whom I havent seen in months because I'm out on the jobsite, I can always send a Facebook message or video chat on Facebook through wi-fi connection.

If that makes me a 15 year old girl or a gay flight attendant to want to stay in contact with the people that I love then I guess thats what I am :rolleyes:

I think we have proof in the pudding of the saying - there are no stupid questions only stupid answers :eek: :wink2:
 
In my world it's LinkedIn for professional contacts and FB for friends and family. I find the separation useful.

That said, if I were a young CFI looking for business I'd be using all the tools, new and old, to keep myself busy...
 
EdFred said:
Better question:
Is it stupid to be facebook friends with anyone?

Answer:
Yes, because Facebook itself is stupid.

Unless you're a 15 year old teenage girl, why are you on Facebook?
Click to expand...

That's pretty much my position, along with the fact that Digital Skies Technologies, which practically every national government believes is a front company for the Russian Mob, is FB's second-largest single stakeholder (right after Zuckerberg himself).

If I had a CFI or anyone else I was considering hiring tell me that I had to communicate with them through FB, or monitor their FB page for information, or have anything whatsoever to do with FB, I would find someone else to hire. I do not have and do not want a FB account. I'd rather just drive down to Brighton Beach and hand my wallet, passport, and birth certificate to the first guy named Ivan, Boris, or Igor I happen to come across. At least I could get a decent seafood dinner while I was there.

-Rich
 
jesse said:
My rule for Facebook friends is simple:

1.) I never send a request to be friends with someone, only accept them.
2.) I limit myself to a max of 100 friends at all times. If I'm going to accept a new "friendship" I must remove one.
3.) I must believe there is a reasonable chance I'll have a meaningful conversation with the person in person[b/] within the next year, otherwise I delete them.
4.) I actually want to be friends with them

If the request from a student met all of the above I would likely accept it.
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I like this... I don't have a "limit", but took me a LONG time to get to 150... I usually add the person, and if they don't make any contact within a month or so, they get deleted. Seems silly to be connected but never connect.
 
Yes, that is a stupid question.
 
N918KT said:
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but it's a question that I have been wondering for quite awhile.

Is it okay to be friends with your CFI on Facebook? Any positives or negatives on being Facebook friends with your CFI?
Click to expand...

It's a semi free country. It's YOUR choice. There's not a government to tell you if it's OK. Yet.....
 
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