Do schools teach people to be pilots?
I must admit: aerodromes with a bar have an advantage there. Some instructors, but alas not all of them, are easily persuaded to stay for one more drink and tell a few stories more. Even if some of their stories have become so ubiquitous as to be part of legend, and others have nothing to do with aviation, still it is always worth its while. But mind you, one does not need to be an enlisted student to enjoy this extended learning.
Luckily, most fields over here have a bar, generally a quite good bar even. But there are those instructors who can't get out of the plane and into their car quick enough, to drive home; more's the pity!
Luckily, most fields over here have a bar, generally a quite good bar even. But there are those instructors who can't get out of the plane and into their car quick enough, to drive home; more's the pity!
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Many PPL FIs are low time hour builders with not much experience outside of teaching the basics to others.
How can people become instructors with barely three hundred hours?
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It's the 'adequate' experience bit that makes me wonder. I wouldn't have wanted any of my instructors to be merely adequate. They were all crusty old ex CFS with a trillion hours apiece. I would have thought that a couple of thousand hours would be more like it. It would stop people becoming instructors just to hours build as well.
Avoid imitations
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I had just under 1500 hours (most of it as captain of a single pilot, 7 tonne helicopter) when the RAF, in its wisdom, sent me kicking and screaming to be a helicopter instructor. I said I knew almost nothing about flying helicopters and didn't want to go but they threatened me with a ground tour. So I gave in. But I was right, I knew nothing. I soon wished I'd taken the ground tour....and so did my students. 
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There is a lot here about the instructor being willing to spend the time here, often though, when the weather is good it is a case of 30 - 40mins brief and preflight, hours flight, 15 mins debrief and then next student - often you would run late, which is why most instructors/ex instructors bolt their lunch! In this time any decent instructor WILL try and instill as much airmanship etc as they can. What the students need to do is come in when the weather is actually too bad to fly, this is when the instructors have the time to sit and chat more, unfortunately most students see this as a waste of time.
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Foxmoth. Agree totally. Although a PPL, my teaching experience was in Driving Instruction [39 years of sitting next to pretty girls.] Parallels can be drawn. It is very much a question of time, pressure with the next student waiting etc. Anybody out there really keen on learning to fly will have the books out, eat, sleep, and breath the subject before and after the lesson. I used to sit in an armchair after my wife had gone to bed, and flew circuits etc. ad nauseam until I had it off pat. This is very easy to do, as is writing down your queries, trying to find the answer in the books, and then tackling someone in the know. Very, very good advice to go to the airfield when flying is not possible. Instructors, driving and flying, teach you to pass exams. Wether or not you progress from that point is ENTIRELY up to your own enthusiasm!!.
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There is a lot here about the instructor being willing to spend the time here, often though, when the weather is good it is a case of 30 - 40mins brief and preflight, hours flight, 15 mins debrief and then next student - often you would run late, which is why most instructors/ex instructors bolt their lunch! In this time any decent instructor WILL try and instill as much airmanship etc as they can. What the students need to do is come in when the weather is actually too bad to fly, this is when the instructors have the time to sit and chat more, unfortunately most students see this as a waste of time.
I sense that back then we were aware that to get the most 'bang for buck' we had to take all such opportunities (which only cost the price of a coffee!), and to steer our training to what we felt we needed to learn as we also had many different instructors. In other words, we were 'in charge' of the situation rather than being led by the hand.
Doesn't work at a 'flying school' with no such facilities.
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Doesn't work at a 'flying school' with no such facilities.
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I don't think it's the school's responsibility.
I think it's the student's.
I think it's the student's.
When I trained for my helicopter license, I deliberately trained to not achieve a helicopter PPL for a few years - for what I wanted to do with a helicopter, a PPL in one was a liability, not an asset. The school and I agreed, and I was a student for years, happily taking the training I specified (which went way beyond the minimums in some cases), but I did not finish the license for years. Finally, it was foolish not to, and I did, but I have not flown a helicopter solo since - hence my wanting to remain a protracted student.
The student can say "just train me to pass the tests", or they can say please train me to fly ........ [type pf aircraft, type of maneuvers, type of operations.]. I was type training a new owner in his 182 amphibian a few weeks ago in Norway. He told me what he wanted for training. I did that training, as asked, and filled out around the edges of the subjects. He is a PPL, and flies fine. He flies better now.
Students, you tell the school/club what you want to achieve. If it's "just the license" than that's about what you'll get, and then you can continue to work toward being a pilot from there....
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Mind of a Pilot
whatnext...
I've been around about 40 years and I do think there is the mind of a pilot.
Sadly, many who fly for a living don' t have the mind of a pilot.
Some of the better books by real pilots begin to touch upon the mind of a pilot, but only obliquely.
Example of not a mind of a pilot would be the copilot flying the air france 447.
Wolfgang Langweische writes that flying is done largely with the mind. Pushing buttons is not of the mind.
Ask yourself who the great pilots were? Lindbergh, Wilbur and Orville Wright, Doolittle and others. Begin to understand the mind of a pilot through books or real interaction with other pilots.
I could speak of a pilot named Bill. No one here is likely to know him, but he could fly and his mind was fine for flying.
I could speak of EK Gann and some beautiful words, perhaps some of you will know the book and chapter...Eastern Pilots are singularly determined and clever...
so whatnext, sorry you haven't picked up on the mind of a pilot.
teaching someone to fly is one thing...teaching them to think like a pilot is something else.
I've been around about 40 years and I do think there is the mind of a pilot.
Sadly, many who fly for a living don' t have the mind of a pilot.
Some of the better books by real pilots begin to touch upon the mind of a pilot, but only obliquely.
Example of not a mind of a pilot would be the copilot flying the air france 447.
Wolfgang Langweische writes that flying is done largely with the mind. Pushing buttons is not of the mind.
Ask yourself who the great pilots were? Lindbergh, Wilbur and Orville Wright, Doolittle and others. Begin to understand the mind of a pilot through books or real interaction with other pilots.
I could speak of a pilot named Bill. No one here is likely to know him, but he could fly and his mind was fine for flying.
I could speak of EK Gann and some beautiful words, perhaps some of you will know the book and chapter...Eastern Pilots are singularly determined and clever...
so whatnext, sorry you haven't picked up on the mind of a pilot.
teaching someone to fly is one thing...teaching them to think like a pilot is something else.
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Quote:
Doesn't work at a 'flying school' with no such facilities.
I have not yet come across a school that does not have an area that you can sit down and chat with the instructors when the weather is duff, may be a lounge, briefing area, bar, or somewhere else, but it can be done in most schools/clubs if the student and instructor are both willing.
Doesn't work at a 'flying school' with no such facilities.
I have not yet come across a school that does not have an area that you can sit down and chat with the instructors when the weather is duff, may be a lounge, briefing area, bar, or somewhere else, but it can be done in most schools/clubs if the student and instructor are both willing.
The 'big airfield' flying schools did have a lounge area but it was sterile in comparison. A bit like a pre-bookable meeting room at work. As I say, not the same thing.
If one turned up at Barton and couldn't fly, or if one flew and had put the aeroplane away, one would partake in the conversations and camraderie in the clubhouse or the hangars. If one turned up at the 'big airfield' schools and couldn't fly, or had finished flying, one went home as there was no other alternative.
Mind of a Pilot
While pilots come from all walks of life and have a myriad of reasons for wanting to do what we do, I would hope there is something that could be described as the mind of a pilot in all of us. For me that would be about pride in flying safely and accurately while enjoying myself. Flying safely is about a mindset that flight safety starts at that first lesson and then never stops. It is about continuous learning, whether that be from talking to instructors and other pilots in the club/school, keeping up to date with regulations (even if they are unfathomable sometimes!), learning from other's mistakes, knowing one's own limits and having a plan for when you reach them, knowing the aircraft's limits, etc, etc, etc. Flying accurately is about not getting on the slippery slope of accepting 'close enough for government work' as we used to joke in a past life. Fly the heights/altitudes/levels and headings accurately and have pride in doing so. If you're using a radio, know the correct phraseology and be succinct. And in all of this, enjoy the experience and have fun doing it.
We all come from different backgrounds but I would sincerely hope that we all have the mindset of a pilot. Of course, every time I fly my hopes are dashed a little by both my own performance and that of others but it doesn't stop me hoping!
We all come from different backgrounds but I would sincerely hope that we all have the mindset of a pilot. Of course, every time I fly my hopes are dashed a little by both my own performance and that of others but it doesn't stop me hoping!
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I could speak of EK Gann and some beautiful words
I would hope there is something that could be described as the mind of a pilot in all of us.
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I had a copy of that. Beautifully written book that I lent and never got back decades ago and can I hell find a copy now. The chapter that sticks in my mind is the one where he is just sitting in the cockpit on the ground describing the potential of his aircraft. Another one of Bach's that I have which is very good is 'Stranger to the Ground.'
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