Tired of cocky CFIs

Pilots are type As, almost as bad a medics.

Didn't realize the OPs was a bush or backcountry pilot, plenty of folks up there flying who ain't backcountry.
 
One of the things I like about pilots is they tend to have strong personalities. They are passionate.

But perhaps that's because that's the way I am.
 
I think there is a difference between confidence (and the normal ego that comes along with it) and having an attitude problem. You need to have confidence to survive.
 
i ve flown with cfis that sincerely believe they are astronauts with their 2000 hrs of doing stalls on a 172 or similar in the local practice area. it is pathetic.
 
Unregistered said:
I think its funny that CFIs think their such hot ****, when really they arent the ones flying 90% of the time.
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I think it's a whole lot easier to fly when you can just be quiet and fly the plane with your own hands than it is to fly it by instructing a student who never did it before.

dtuuri
 
Unregistered said:
So im a commercial MEL pilot, never got my CFI, spend 1000hrs flying in Alaska. Now i fly charter with a company that also does flight instruction. I flew with one of our CFIs the other day and he was terrible. Lesson to CFIs out there. Just because you have an instructors rating and know the "regs" (Which i know too) does not mean your gods gift to the world.

I think its funny that CFIs think their such hot ****, when really they arent the ones flying 90% of the time.

I coach soccer and i can tell you right now the guys i'm coaching are 10x better players than I am, simply because they actually play everyday.

Time to grow up CFIs
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Hiding behing "unregistered" I see...
 
murphey said:
I put this phrase in my "never use" list along with "user friendly" and "it's in the mail".

It's the most offensive thing you can say to a K-8 teacher who willingly forgoes a higher paying career because they believe teaching K-8 is the most important job around.

It's the most offensive thing you can say to that retired [Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, NASA, whatever] engineer who willingly teaches K-12 to inspire the kids and show them that the world is not owned by the MBAs and the World Bank.

And you insult all the CFIs who do know what they are doing, who are not there just to reach 1500 hour so they can leave.
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:yeahthat:
Sorry EdFred (Yes, that's INSTRUCTOR EdFred :)) thinks differently!
 
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I've found that cocky people can either be cocky in a non-offensive way, or in a nasty way. I avoid the nasty one's.
 
All of mine have been pretty o.k. I'll go out on a limb and say you won't make CFI if you're plain stupid.

What get's awkward is as you get older, you end up with a kid in the right seat on a biannual who's looking at you like a deer in the headlights because the 180 is scaring the **** out of him....

Silent chuckle ... :lol:
 
I've noted that there tends to be three categories of flight instructors...

1) Those who start early and use flight instruction merely as a stepping stone to "bigger and better". They view it as little more than a necessary evil. The cocky ones tend to be found in category 1.

2) Those with a lot of experience and come back to their "roots" to pass along what they've learned, for personal gratification or because it's a good way to stay out of the wife's way during retirement. You find a lot of these guys at FlightSafety and Simuflite as well as at the airport coffee shop.

3) Career CFIs who make a career of flight instructing, usually because they are very good at the teaching process and they enjoy doing it.

When I'm looking for a CFI I try to always look for instructors out of categories 2 or 3. Guys in category 1 can't teach what they don't know and most of them don't yet know what they don't know. About all they can do is teach to the test. Guys in category 2 have usually been there and done that and have the logbook to prove it. Guys in category 3 are worth their weight in gold. About all most of these guys can do is teach to the test, but at least they enjoy it and are usually quite good. As always, you pay your money and make your choice.
 
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Dead Stick said:
I've noted that there tends to be three categories of flight instructors...

1) Those who start early and use flight instruction merely as a stepping stone to "bigger and better". They view it as little more than a necessary evil. The cocky ones tend to be found in category 1.

2) Those with a lot of experience and come back to their "roots" to pass along what they've learned, for personal gratification or because it's a good way to stay out of the wife's way during retirement. You find a lot of these guys at FlightSafety and Simuflite as well as at the airport coffee shop.

3) Career CFIs who make a career of flight instructing, usually because they are very good at the teaching process and they enjoy doing it.

When I'm looking for a CFI I try to always look for instructors out of categories 2 or 3. Guys in category 1 can't teach what they don't know and most of them don't yet know what they don't know. About all they can do is teach to the test. Guys in category 2 have usually been there and done that and have the logbook to prove it. Guys in category 3 are worth their weight in gold. About all most of these guys can do is teach to the test, but at least they enjoy it and are usually quite good. As always, you pay your money and make your choice.
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I think it would surprise some people to see how many students want an instructor that teaches them how to pass the checkride as cheaply as possible with absolutely not a dollar spent on anything that isn't directly related to the PTS. Most of these folks couldn't afford to start in the first place and realize that about half way through then get rather pushy as their dollars run short. The good thing is once they pass that checkride many of them might fly one or two more flights then hang up their hat as they spend the next ten years paying for the training they loaded up on 20% interest credit cards.
 
jesse said:
I think it would surprise some people to see how many students want an instructor that teaches them how to pass the checkride as cheaply as possible with absolutely not a dollar spent on anything that isn't directly related to the PTS. Most of these folks couldn't afford to start in the first place and realize that about half way through then get rather pushy as their dollars run short. The good thing is once they pass that checkride many of them might fly one or two more flights then hang up their hat as they spend the next ten years paying for the training they loaded up on 20% interest credit cards.
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There certainly are a lot of these guys out there....
 
jesse said:
I think it would surprise some people to see how many students want an instructor that teaches them how to pass the checkride as cheaply as possible with absolutely not a dollar spent on anything that isn't directly related to the PTS. Most of these folks couldn't afford to start in the first place and realize that about half way through then get rather pushy as their dollars run short. The good thing is once they pass that checkride many of them might fly one or two more flights then hang up their hat as they spend the next ten years paying for the training they loaded up on 20% interest credit cards.
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You see the result of that when you give a BFR to a guy that only flies 50 hours a year (if he's lucky). They seem to fly for a 3 or 4 years then they quit. That's probably a good thing.
 
Dead Stick said:
You see the result of that when you give a BFR to a guy that only flies 50 hours a year (if he's lucky). They seem to fly for a 3 or 4 years then they quit. That's probably a good thing.
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Or the guy that wants an airplane checkout, and has absolutely no idea about anything.... He has been flying that CFI's 172 for 4 years and has never bothered to read anything that was in front of him... Like the POH, the placards, or the checklist...
 
ja_user said:
Or the guy that wants an airplane checkout, and has absolutely no idea about anything.... He has been flying that CFI's 172 for 4 years and has never bothered to read anything that was in front of him... Like the POH, the placards, or the checklist...
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OK, that begs the question to each pilot on this board...

When was the last time YOU read the entire POH/AFM, cover to cover, of the aircraft you fly (including ALL of the equipment supplements)? My bet is that the majority never have.
 
Dead Stick said:
OK, that begs the question to each pilot on this board...

When was the last time YOU read the entire POH/AFM, cover to cover, of the aircraft you fly (including ALL of the equipment supplements)? My bet is that the majority never have.
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I would ask it a different way.

"How many of you know how to find out the details of your W&B, fuel systems and where to look to see what the proper tire pressure or Oil Levels are?"

I am not saying memorize it, this isn't necessary for everything. But one should certainly know the basics of what should be found in there..

Also for a new aircraft checkout, there are a couple sections that are really good to look through...
 
ja_user said:
I would ask it a different way.

"How many of you know how to find out the details of your W&B, fuel systems and where to look to see what the proper tire pressure or Oil Levels are?"

I am not saying memorize it, this isn't necessary for everything. But one should certainly know the basics of what should be found in there..

Also for a new aircraft checkout, there are a couple sections that are really good to look through...
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I didn't say anything about memorizing it. I bet not one pilot in ten has read it cover to cover, including all of the supplements. Pretty sad really.
 
Well, my plane was built in '58 so reading the AFM wasn't that daunting of a task.
 
Dead Stick said:
I've noted that there tends to be three categories of flight instructors...

1) Those who start early and use flight instruction merely as a stepping stone to "bigger and better". They view it as little more than a necessary evil. The cocky ones tend to be found in category 1.
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My CFI and the Chief CFI at the school I work fly at are in this category, but they don't view it as a necessary evil. They both have a passion for teaching and are awesome instructors even though their ultimate goal is to fly in the airlines. I personally don't see any problem with a guy becoming a CFI in order to build time for the airlines. That's what I plan on doing:dunno:. My dad did this. He became Chief CFI at a school in Florida and gave 7,000 hours of dual. He did the whole CFI thing in order to build time for the airlines but ended up loving teaching so much. He then got a job with Northwest and started flying DC-9's and became a check airman for them as he brought that passion from instructing. I think the whole demonizing young kids getting their CFI's in order to build time is getting old.
 
EdFred said:
Well, my plane was built in '58 so reading the AFM wasn't that daunting of a task.
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Some of the Schweitzer gliders I've flown had mimeographed 1-page "pilot information sheets" yet a lot of guys won't even bother to read those. Maybe my wife is right - guys won't read the instructions. :lol:
 
jordane93 said:
My CFI and the Chief CFI at the school I work fly at are in this category, but they don't view it as a necessary evil. They both have a passion for teaching and are awesome instructors even though their ultimate goal is to fly in the airlines. I personally don't see any problem with a guy becoming a CFI in order to build time for the airlines. That's what I plan on doing:dunno:. My dad did this. He became Chief CFI at a school in Florida and gave 7,000 hours of dual. He did the whole CFI thing in order to build time for the airlines but ended up loving teaching so much. He then got a job with Northwest and started flying DC-9's and became a check airman for them as he brought that passion from instructing. I think the whole demonizing young kids getting their CFI's in order to build time is getting old.
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Who is demonizing them? Read my first post on this thread. Personally, I fall into category 2 as would your father. Becoming a CFI and spending at least a few hundred hours giving dual to primary and advanced students is a good thing, a very good thing. The stereotypical problems arise when a CFI is burned out and is still a few hundred hours short on TT time.
 
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Dead Stick said:
Who is demonizing them? Read my first post on this thread. Personally, I fall into category 2 as would your father. Becoming a CFI and spending at least a few hundred hours giving dual to primary and advanced students is a good thing, a very good thing. The stereotypical problems arise when a CFI is burned out and is still a few hundred hours short on TT time.
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Not your post, but I've seen some posts that blasted young kids for getting their CFI's in order to build time. Sure their aresome lousy CFI's that do this, but I've seen a whole bunch of great CFI's doing this.
 
It's not even a book. I want to say it's only about 8-10 pages.
 
Without comment...

14964525213_ff56f6f9da_z.jpg
 
Dead Stick said:
OK, that begs the question to each pilot on this board...

When was the last time YOU read the entire POH/AFM, cover to cover, of the aircraft you fly (including ALL of the equipment supplements)? My bet is that the majority never have.
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Yesterday. Yes, really.

Checking out in a G1000 182T.
 
I got my CFI primarily so I could sell aircraft that I owned and give transition training to the new buyer. Most CFIs had 152, 172, Cherokee time, but few had Bonanza, Saratoga, Gyroflug, P210, etc time. It made selling planes much easier when I did not have to rely on someone else.
 
James331 said:
Don't tell my girl that, my "credit" is stagnant and unused.

I pay for things outright and don't borrow money from people, if I can't afford it I don't need it.

This has allowed me freedoms that most credit slaves will never have, I also don't understand how spending money you don't have demomstrates fininacial responsibility :goofy:

Now I don't live with my mom, I do have a few a few toys like my float plane, Vette, bike, etc, all of which I don't owe a dime on, I don't have a single credit card.

In my opinion the whole premises is flawed and down right amusing.
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Thank you for the clarification.
Taken in context, Credit in the scenario is a substitute for money and implied to represent fiscal responsibility.
 
Dead Stick said:
OK, that begs the question to each pilot on this board...

When was the last time YOU read the entire POH/AFM, cover to cover, of the aircraft you fly (including ALL of the equipment supplements)? My bet is that the majority never have.
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I have, for many of the planes I've flown. Just finished doing it a couple of days ago for the most recent one.
 
txflyer said:
All of mine have been pretty o.k. I'll go out on a limb and say you won't make CFI if you're plain stupid.

What get's awkward is as you get older, you end up with a kid in the right seat on a biannual who's looking at you like a deer in the headlights because the 180 is scaring the **** out of him....

Silent chuckle ... :lol:
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I've been a CFI for a few years and have worked with many. You'd be shocked if you knew how many "special" CFI's existed out there.
 
James331 said:
Pilots are type As, almost as bad a medics.



Didn't realize the OPs was a bush or backcountry pilot, plenty of folks up there flying who ain't backcountry.
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mondtster said:
A lot are, and it drives me crazy. I believe this is part of the reason we have the accident rate we do.
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Ugh. You may want to rethink that. I've sat right seat for a non-type-A and their indecisiveness and willingness to follow ATC or whoever's instructions without question, is going to get them killed someday... or at least scared very badly.

jesse said:
I think it would surprise some people to see how many students want an instructor that teaches them how to pass the checkride as cheaply as possible with absolutely not a dollar spent on anything that isn't directly related to the PTS. Most of these folks couldn't afford to start in the first place and realize that about half way through then get rather pushy as their dollars run short. The good thing is once they pass that checkride many of them might fly one or two more flights then hang up their hat as they spend the next ten years paying for the training they loaded up on 20% interest credit cards.
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Sad. But makes sense.

Dead Stick said:
OK, that begs the question to each pilot on this board...



When was the last time YOU read the entire POH/AFM, cover to cover, of the aircraft you fly (including ALL of the equipment supplements)? My bet is that the majority never have.
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Every aircraft at least once, My aircraft, usually every two years or so I read through it again. It's not nearly the tome a modern 182 has, though.

Dead Stick said:
I didn't say anything about memorizing it. I bet not one pilot in ten has read it cover to cover, including all of the supplements. Pretty sad really.
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You're getting a pretty good list of people here who have. :)

Ghery said:
I would bet that the book that came with your plane is a lot thinner than the books that came with our cars. :D
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I reed those too. I don't read the maintenance manual cover to cover though. :) Plus, even though I like a factory maintenance manual, the Internet these days usually has someone doing it in a video, which is usually primary research, with the book as backup. Cars just aren't that complex.

Airplanes of the small variety usually aren't either, but they're unforgiving of the limitations that are different between each one. You find those scattered throughout the book and the really important ones *usually* are on the checklist, making the checklist the primary research tool for a new type, with the rest of the book the supporting depth behind it.
 
denverpilot said:
You're getting a pretty good list of people here who have. :)
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Uh, not really. Including me and you so far there's another 3 or 4 guys who said that they've done it. Compared to the number of guys who have posted on and/or have read this thread, that seems to be keeping my assertion alive and well. I base that assertion on having given countless BFRs, ICCs and aircraft checkouts over 35 years (so far) as an active CFI.

There's a lot of good info hidden in those manuals, handbooks and supplements. They really out to be looked at at least every couple of years.
 
Weird thing in my AFM:

If I have two (adult) passengers, I am not allowed to have both of them in the rear seat.

Which is odd, because I am still within W/B if they are.
 
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