Starting out

[WX Man]

So you've got your FI rating (R) and get your first FI job. Is it something we all go through when we start out? Or is it just me? That is: doubting how good we are as an instructor, thinking "holy cr*p, how can I get the student to actually learn this stuff?".

Real students are not nearly as cooperative as FIC instructors during the 30 hour course.

I am sure we have all had, at one point in our flying experience, a bad instructor. Nobody wants to be that instructor. How can you tell if you are that instructor?

[bladewashout]

And for you rotary instructors:

Where do you get the confidence to believe you will be able to catch all the different ways the student will try to kill you ;)

BW

[hardcase]

I just try to be myself and not copy any past instructors style. I did learn lots when training but being yourself and making the lessons interactive and a fun learning experience works best with my students.

You know you are on the right track by how the students react to you, both in the air and the debrief afterwards....

[FlyingForFun]

Yes, definitely had that feeling for a while. Maybe I was lucky, though. All of my FIC instructors, and my FIC examiner, taught me loads, and all were even less cooperative than real students! They only thing they didn't prepare me for was some of the ways students try to kill you very close to the runway.

My advice: first of all, debrief every student after every flight. Very often during the debrief the student will highlight something which he didn't understand, and you will a) be able to clear it up for him, and b) find a better way of explaining it to the next student. Also, talk to other more experienced instructors at your airfield, especially those who know your students and maybe have flown with them before you. Third, when you mess up, explain to your student (in the debrief) why you think you messed up, and turn your mistake into a lesson.

After nearly a year of instructing I know I've still got loads to learn, and I still try to do all three of these.

FFF
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[homeguard]

Having been instructing for over 17 years and with almost 7,000 hours of it I would concur with almost everything that has been said. But please do not talk of killing! Flying is safe and if things should get a bit scary then look at yourself. A student has never hurt anyone, they don't know how.

All too often words mean one thing to the speaker but another to the listener therefore a correct demonstration is of paramount importance. Get it wrong then you must explain, ideally at the time, what you have done wrong and why. The student will learn with you and most important will not be left confused.

Far from being dissapointed in you and your piloting/instructing skills you will become a hero. "this guy can not only fly bloody well but can put things right at the drop of a hat." "He/she is prepared to tell me when they are wrong" and so, "i'm also happy to be honest with my instructor about my mistakes too."
Makes for a better relantionship.

Whatever, do not think back to when you were a student and teach them what you think you should have been taught. They are not you.

[OriginalNick]

I just started myself, and I find it very difficult to know wheter I really thougt the student what he needs to know and how to do the various manuevers. Another thing i find difficult is to get everything you should teach them done and up to standard in the very limited time you have in the air...

[huckleberry58]

Those are all good points. Try not to say things like 'kill' or 'crash'. In the debrief don't forget to tell them the good things they did as well as the not so good ones, you can really see their faces light up. I would assume that starting out as an instructor, you will be finding or given low time PPL students. I would suggest you not explain stuff to them in the air when you are pattering them through a manoeuvre, just tell them what to do. Keep the explanations for later in the debriefing room because they just have such limited brain capacity at that early stage. With more experienced students you may be able to explain more because their motor skills are much more developed. I have learned lots from instructors of all types and lots from students too.

[FlyingForFun]

Try not to say things like 'kill' or 'crash'Hmm, I've said, tongue-in-cheek, that people have "tried to kill me" for many years. The first time I used it was with the instructor who taught me to fly tail-wheels properly. I described him as "trying to find new and wonderful ways of trying to kill me every time we went flying." I meant that as a compliment in his case. It's never occured to me that it's a phrase which people might take offence at because it is so obviously tongue-in-cheek - but you are quite right, maybe I ought to find another way of describing students who, through no fault of their own, make mistakes which might injure me or damage my aircraft as part of the their learning process. Any suggestions???

Huck - you said to mention the good things as well as the bad things in the de-brief. I agree. And I usually try to end on the good things, too, so that the student goes away feeling pleased. :)

The exception would be when I know that the student hasn't bothered with this particular flight and can do better, in which case I will make sure he leaves knowing that he needs to buck his ideas up next time because it's his money he's wasting. I don't do that very often, and I only ever do it with those students who I know full well can and usually do fly much better. It can sometimes open up some interesting doors - like one student who had a particularly bad flight, and told me in the debrief when we were discussing why it went so badly that he had been in London on business the day before, but things had gone badly. He'd left London at 6am, driven 250 miles for his lesson and was about to drive back to London straight after the lesson. I suggested that his dedication was admirable, but if the same situation arose again maybe he should consider cancelling his lesson. Since then he's had ups and downs the same as any other student, but nothing as bad as that day!

FFF
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