Instructor Stories.....

[flyby_kiwi]

What good stories have the instructors out there got?

1. What would you have done differently as a newbie instructor?

2. Whats your scariest moment?

3. Whats your most talked about tale if it not to do with #2?

As im only a student I wont be able to kick off the topic tho Im sure it would have been thanks to me and a few other individuals that my instructor could reply to the above :D :eek:

[GT]

Scariest moment was seeing the wages!

Regards, GT.

[whisperbrick]

Well don't know what category this falls under but:

how about the student who had a recent blow to the head and when asked by ATC to climb, simply wound up the QNH to get the relevant altitude...............

or the walter mitty who declared he was an RAF tornado pilot who had ejected and was staying at the local RAF hospital (hit his head on the canopy apparantly as per goose in "top gun")and came from a totally imaginary squadron in cornwall and wanted a trial lesson.....but wouldn't take control and kept going on about 'scuds' but when we called the hospital there was noone of that name there......two weeks later the police rang the school cos he had run off with all his girlfriends cash....

or the instructor who came under "ground fire" from pikies with an airrifle who put a pellet through the canopy on short finals..

Or the laddish BMW whealer dealer who on an introductory flight said,"go on son, show us what this thing can do...its a bit tame"
and I subsequently spent half an hour cleaning the kidney beans he had projectile vomited out of the flap selector....

just an average day at the flying (school) circus.....!

[FlyingFowl]

Most scary moments do not come with the students.

The are are all busy trying to to the best they can.

Your scary moments come from PPL's who have learned to fly.

eg. cross winds no I've done them. There is no need for me to practice them.

[FormationFlyer]

FlyingFowl - second that one m8! Especially @ night ! :eek:

The other good one is the student where you say ca'can you show me a clean stall please recovery when I say'..stupid of me really..it was all my own fault - I assumed they would perform HASELL checks close the throttle and start recovery when I said..instead they did no checks went full power and pitched violently upwards.. :eek:

After further explaination they became the second person to flick a pa28 on in two days having had no incididents in 5 years!

Scariest moment - that sinking feeling @ night when the student has flared to high, has dropped the power and the nose now covers the runway end lighting but you still have a sinking feeling and a thought 'this is gonna bend something'.......oddly enough it didnt but nothing ahas worried me that much yet...

[Chuck Ellsworth]

F.F.:

Next time try looking to the side and ahead, at the runway, then you can "see" the aircraft sinking. Feeling it sink just ain't the way to judge what it is doing. :D :D

Cat Driver:

...............
:D The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no.:D

[MJR]

I remember being in a flying school when someone rang up and said are you doing a trial flight with a certain person from a band called "Napalm Death". They suggested it was a bad idea as he had suicidal tendancies!

[Chrisdahut1]

Great oppurtunity to post some "so there I was..." stories on the net. Always fun to read :-)

Here's one that happened to me on 2 occasions as a newbie instructor, with a newbie student: Student makes first OK landing semi-assisted) a few lessons into the private course. Tower instructs student to "turn left when able, contact ground on 120.45". Apparently the student hears "Turn left IMMEDIATELY on the taxiway you are just passing, contact ground on 120.45". Student practically slams on left brake, nano-seconds after touching down. The subsequent near total loss of directional control comes quickly, and sure gave me some heart pounding seconds. Fortunetly the day is saved without incident and student gets a little ground on proper braking technique :-)

Not so scary, more annoying- had a student once turn the radios off as we were flying inbound to KFLL for touch n' go's. Apparently found it hard to hear me over all the ATC chatter. Little more ground work when back on the ground on Class C operations :-)

[Balance!]

Here's one lesson I learned (and it's a fling wing thing) - cover the right pedal at all times (R22).
Early/low time student, first attempt at an auto. Briefed it, demo'd it, joint flown it, now left to Bloggs to do it (with me covering controls). "Practice Auto, 3, 2, 1" followed by huge bootful of left pedal (it should be right), whereupon machine does beautiful 360 at approx 70kts and instructor's life flashes before him as well as the countryside at 2500ft!

[foxmoth]

When I asked a student why he had not put the gear down before landing (I called go around at 100'), his reply was "I could not think because of the noise from the horn going off" - this was of course the gear warning horn!:rolleyes:
Another was the same student, he had his own (retractable) and had finally reached solo X country stage. Wx was marginal but he was VERY insistant about going, finally told him the ONLY way he could go was for him to take a school aircraft and I would follow in his (faster) a/c - but he would not see me. After a thorough briefing, including what to do if lost (turning west he would hit the coast without infringing anything) he set off and I tucked up in his 6. It is amazing how you can tell from a following aircraft the EXACT second when someone loses themself! I finally pulled up alongside about 2 miles before he infringed the LPL control area - he should not have got closer than 10 miles!:eek:

[tacpot]

Foxmoth - can you describe for us the external indications that occur when a Pilot has become 'lost'. I'd be very interested to know what they are.

I've been 'temporarily uncertian of my position', and didn't like the sensation and can somewhat imagine the gyrations that the a/c must go through as the Pilot attempt to locate themselves in time and space.

Thanks

[Mister Geezer]

A bit off topic but it turned out to be a convincing wind up!

A certain flying club receives a request from a daughter of a very elderly lady who wanted an hour in a C172 as a 'last request' before she passes away due to a complicated illness. She was in a wheelchair and had an Nurse that would accompany her (hence the 4 seater C172) and needed help to get in and out of the aircraft, the daughter also said that her mum had an array of electrical medical equipment that she would have to carry on board!

The chap in ops takes her details knowing fine well that she would not be fit to fly. He does not catch on to any familiar names etc etc and sits there not having the courage to phone back to inform the daughter that her mum could not fly!!!!!

The cover was then blown as it turns out that another person who works at the flying club did the spoof call!

MG

[vancouv]

Here's a story I heard from someone....

Student is flying approach, and is very high. Instructor waits for the inevitable go-around, but it doesn't come. Eventually, with runway running out and still vey high, he says 'I think you better go-around'.

Student pulls out mixture, and engine stops!!! Fortunately instructoe manages to take control and land without bending anything.

[foxmoth]

tacpot - from memory, the a/c ahead was flying a nice straight line it then started to move 10 degrees or so either side, very obviously trying to find something recognisable. certainly very plain from outside the guy was lost!
vancouv - most instructors I know would have had the mixture back in WELL before the engine actually stopped- if the prop is still rotating, not usually a problem.

[FlyingFowl]

MG

reminded of air ex with partial sighted punter.

In the pre flight brief she could not see the white board from six feet. Brief took place with her nose nearly touching the board.

In the aircraft she did well, again with her nose nearly on the instrument panel, until half way through flight she got excited and decided to fly the AH back on to the index aircraft. Took aircraft off her passing 80 deg bank, her asking have I done anything wrong, hate to think what she would have thought if she could see out of the window.

Also air ex with very small male librarian type (goatee half rim glasses). Asking lots off intelligent questions.

In flight quick recap of the primary flying controls. Followed by you have control let’s try the elevator,

Students response full control column forward resulting in the only time I remember needing a lap strap in a C150 (straight and level to vertical nose down) with some neg G.

Lesson learnt, How to keep your instructor awake on a Sunday afternoon.

FF:eek:

[HolyMoley]

The most frightening thing I did......
I once had a student close to solo standard, but on the day he couldn't quite get it, so I thought 'just one more circuit' (several times). Eventually let him go with just under 1/4 tanks indicating on the gauges. He landed, happy, taxied to the tower and filled the tanks with 5 litres more than their nominal capacity.......

[I. M. Esperto]

I instructed in T-34's at NAAS Saufley 1959-62. I loved it, BTW. Completed 75 good men.

I recall taking a man up on his first FAM flight, showing him the local designated flying areas. They had all been briefed to study the charts in advance, and be prepared to identify them.

His name was ENS. Grady Pearman. Everything I asked him to identify, he did, precisely and immediately. I was impressed.

He then started pointing out little bits of info. I was not familiar with.

About 5 hops later, I gave him a high altitude emergency over the area. We were over southern AL. He picked out a reasonably good corn field, and did a nice job down to 100' where I took over.

We climed out and I told him he did very well, but I asked him just why he chose that particular field, of many. He replied "That's my Pappy's farm, sir." Then he showed me where Pappy's still was.

[expedite_climb]

Pre landing checks -

Brakes - Off
Undercarriage - Fixed
Mixture - LEAN ? Aggggh !!

[The mole]

The only time I sh@t myself (so Far):

Middle-aged PPL student prior to first solo practising circuits. We landed on RHS of (wide) runway at Cranfield. He had just learned to ski, and started pressing the right pedal to take us towards the centre of the runway. Not a word of a lie, that 152 was on two wheels, and I don't mean the landomatic mains. After that , leaning the mixture in the circuit is a piece of cake, or trimming the wrong way then letting go of the control yoke. Happy days....

[big pistons forever]

My first instructing job was when I was hired to help teach a class of Air Cadets on their sponsored 6 week PPL,s. I had three students, the best was a young women who was a natural pilot if somewhat strong minded. The worst part of the course is the fact that if all students start at the same time everyone winds up
in the circuit at the same time which made life very hard for ATC. The young women soloed first and was doing well . A few days later I sent her off on solo circuits while I continued to fly dual circuits with my poorest student. The circuit got busier and busier and then the poor controller got the order of the planes mixed up. Confusion reined untill he finally did a roll call and got everybody sorted out, the only problem was my girl. She was now on an about a 10 mile extended downwind. The controller somewhat crossly said " I thought I told you to turn base " . Her reply was " I won't turn base untill you get your SH-- together ! " The ensuing stunned silence from ATC was broken by her next transmission , when she added " My instructor ( giving my full name ) warned me about you guys !!!."

Over 1000 hours of instruction for the PPL/CPL produced no scarey momments . Training for the multi rating sure did though. I had one student so mishandle a engine failure in the overshoot exercise that he stalled the airplane ( a PA34 ) which immediately snap rolled. When I took over we were inverted with a 40 deg nose down attitude. I recovered by pulling through in a split S . If I had not insisted on a minimum of 4000 feet AGL before these exercises I would not have survived the flight. Another student got the black and blue knobs confused on short final and pulled both prop levers into the feather position. I was able to smash both props to full fine just in time. :mad: