Why are some instructors boring?

[soaringhigh650]

I'm kinda wondering why some instructors don't seem to have any scenic routes or suggested places that they like and recommend other people flying to?

I guess an instructor would have acquired substantial experience in their own private flying before moving onto teaching.

I don't think they were hiding anything from me. They are nice guys and great when they show me general handling skills etc. But has frequent flying taken the 'fun' out of them such that they really don't have any suggestions for private pilots to visit, or new places to explore?

[Jan Olieslagers]

Perhaps their fun is of another kind than yours? They might even enjoy flying for the sake of flying, whatever the destination. I wouldn't be surprised if some found your question hard to understand, thus of course hard to answer too.

[SNS3Guppy]

I guess an instructor would have acquired substantial experience in their own private flying before moving onto teaching.

Why? Since when has that ever been a pre-requisite?

Would you much rather have an instructor with considerable time as a private pilot, or one with thousands of hours of flight experience in as wide a variety of flying backgrounds as possible?

I'm kinda wondering why some instructors don't seem to have any scenic routes or suggested places that they like and recommend other people flying to?

You're not looking for a flight instructor. You're looking for a tour guide. Try a travel agency.

A flight instructor exists to help improve your airmanship, to assist you in achieving pilot certification, to help you read an aeronautical chart, to give your recurrent and advanced training, to teach you to fly. Not so much to tell you where the best tourist spots are. You can probably figure that out on your own.

As for why an instructor might be boring; there are instructors, and there are teachers. Seek teachers.

Instructors administer a syllabus. Teachers teach. The instructor does only the former. The teacher can do both, but more importantly, doesn't teach the bland world of the syllabus, but teaches you.

[FlyingForFun]

Every instructor will of course come from a different background. I can only speak for myself. But I wouldn't have had answers to a question like that from my PPL students, especially when I first started working as an instructor.

I learnt to fly at White Waltham. Before becoming an instructor, I flew around the south of England lots, knew the best places to go, and had some great experiences. Some of my best flying experiences, though, were when I went to Arizona to do my hour-building. I've always been more than happy to share those experiences with anyone who cares to ask (and sometimes with people who don't care!)

I then got a job flying out of Blackpool airport. I'd never been to Blackpool airport before. In fact, I'd never even used the North of England VFR chart before! It's a long way away from either White Waltham or Arizona. In the 2 years I worked out of Blackpool, I did only a very small amount of private flying (PPL instructors aren't paid well enough to do lots of their own flying). I did, over those 2 years, learn about the most common places that people liked to go. Every now and then, I'd get to go to these places myself. (Two friends each booking a 60-minute trial lesson in a 4-seat aircraft is a good one - you can get one friend to fly you somewhere, have a bite to eat, and get the other friend to fly back.) But mostly I picked up what the local pilots talked about around the clubhouse, even though I rarely got to go to these places myself. Kirkbride was one of the most popular places to fly to - but because it's unlicensed, I couldn't go there with students at all.

So there you have it - one instructor's story as to why he is so "boring"! I'm sure other instructors have similar stories!

FFF
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[FlyingKiwi_73]

wow for such a flammable post i'm surprised at the measure responses.

maybe an instructor should post a counter thread "Why are my students trying to kill me"

Before people bag instructors, try seeing from their point of view.....

[Gertrude the Wombat]

What some instructors found to be 'fun' flying would not necessarily be what they would recommend to their PPL students.

Such as, competitions between fast jet pilots as to who could carve the prettiest patterns in the desert sand with their wingtips at 300kts without actually causing enough damage to the aircraft that their bosses would get upset.

(No, I've never done any flying like that. Yes, I have had instructors describe it to me.)

[thing]

Got to agree with Guppy there, there's instructing and there's teaching. I've been lucky in having great teachers apart from one who I did some field landing checks in a Grob with once. He was bloody hopeless. No doubt a great pilot etc but not a teacher. In fact when we landed I tore him off a strip for his lack of teaching ability and I passed the checks with flying colours. (I'm a teacher myself). I left him with his jaw hanging on the ground.

[fernytickles]

You're not looking for a flight instructor. You're looking for a tour guide. Try a travel agency.



Great response :ok:

[cats_five]

Your idea of 'boring' and mine might not be the same.

[Lister Noble]

I think they are given the responsibility to enable you to fly safely and responsibly.
What you do and where you go after that is up to you and,your imagination.

Give it a try;)

[AfricanEagle]

If your instructor were to show you all the interesting and fun places to fly to, there wouldn't be anywhere interesting and fun to fly to once you gained your licence and you would end up bored.:rolleyes:

[Big Pistons Forever]

I'm kinda wondering why some instructors don't seem to have any scenic routes or suggested places that they like and recommend other people flying to?

I guess an instructor would have acquired substantial experience in their own private flying before moving onto teaching.

I don't think they were hiding anything from me. They are nice guys and great when they show me general handling skills etc. But has frequent flying taken the 'fun' out of them such that they really don't have any suggestions for private pilots to visit, or new places to explore?


Most flying instructors are instructing as a stepping stone to an airline of corporate job. They will in general not have any spare cash for "fun" flying on their own and so almost all of the hours in their log book will be training for their own licenses and instructing time which will all be in the local area.

For a new PPL pilot who only wants to fly as a hobby the best thing IMO is to join a club with a large roster of recreational pilots. The "fun" is not just going to new places it is being part of the aviation society and sharing the experience. I was a PPL for 10 years before deciding to get the higher licenses and ratings and pursue a professional flying career. During that time I belonged to an active club and some of the funest times were when 3 or 4 of us would rent a C 172 and go for a day trip with each of us flying a leg. When asking for good places to go we never asked the instructors we asked a couple of the long time and experienced club PPL's for good places to go.