The Quality of your Instruction…
I am getting on with my PPL training (I have two Instructors at the club btw), but I have had several things happen which have made me wonder whether I am receiving the best tuition I could get. I thought I would share a couple of these with you folks to see whether this sits well with your own experiences.
1. My first solo was one circuit. My second solo a few days later was about 10 circuits. Then, I was sent out by Instructor #2 on a 50 mile solo navigation in what I now think was highly questionable weather. As I flew towards the first point, the weather closed in behind me and I could no longer see the airport. Ahead was appalling cloud and rain. So I aborted, couldn’t turn back and so headed towards the only clear bit of sky I could see, which was North of the area of the second navigation point. I had little idea of exactly where I was. I was getting quite a buffeting throughout too. I circled for about 15 minutes, hoping the weather would clear. It shifted slightly and I could then see the second town, and headed towards it. As I flew over it and then south, the weather became bad again, with rain, very low cloud, lightning flashes just above me and heavy thunder - in fact I had the distinct feeling the lightning was being aimed directly at me. As I got away from it I could just see where the airfield should be, headed towards it and landed. I was a little shaken inside.
2. I was recently sent on my XCQ. It was a very clear day, although with a strong cross-wind at my home runway which also meant a heavy cross-wind at the two away runways. I landed at the first airfield after making a silly mistake and turning onto base too soon (but then I was by then on a very extended downwind - traffic was heavy; also I am not sure they knew I was a Student Pilot (although they had been telephoned), not that that should necessarily have mattered of course). So I got ‘Satisfactory’ for airmanship; ‘Good’ for the landing. On my second leg, I got a little lost en route, but got back on track again; and by this time the runway in use at the second airfield had changed to the opposite direction as the wind had shifted. But I couldn’t find the airfield and flew past it. It would have helped if I had been taught how to use the ADF and the VOR/DME. But I had no knowledge of any navigation equipment at all. I was given a QDM by the ATC but at that time I had no idea what it meant. In the end, the ATC ended up saying things like ‘fly a heading of 3 o’clock’ and so eventually I got there and landed. I was given ‘Satisfactory’ for airmanship and ‘Good’ for the landing. So I passed; but hardly at the standard I would have liked. When I got back, the Instructor #2 who had sent me on the XCQ was very surprised to learn that I had never been on a fly-away before and so had never done a solo landing at another airfield. A week or so later, #1 was talking to me and was saying about how I must push on for the XCQ, and so was pretty surprised (and pleased, it’s true) to learn that I had done it already and got it.
I had not been told I should be getting the written exams under my belt during the flying training, and in fact was not directed to do any at all. I think this is a mistake; at least I would have known about some navigation equipment. I have, now, recently done two written exams, HPL and Air Law, and got 100% for both. I am not stupid, and actually can fly pretty satisfactorily I guess as students go; but I sort of approached this business of learning with the attitude of ‘they are the tutors, I am the student, I am totally under their wing/s, I trust them, they know what they are doing and I will follow and do what they guide me to do’. Well, with hindsight, I am not convinced this was smart. I don’t think I should ever have been sent up on that first short solo nav flight in those weather conditions; and I certainly think I shouldn’t have been sent on my solo XCQ - as a navigation flight - without a) having landed on my own at at least one other airfield, and b) without having been trained in the use of the navigation equipment on board.
There are a few other things as well which I won’t go into. But I wonder whether all this amounts to a high standard of tuition? Certainly #1 likes things done in a different way to #2. It seems to me that a bit of co-ordination between them as well might help.
Do you folks feel this is normal tuition and these things happen all the time? And, of course I would be very interested to hear of any of your own experiences about your tuition.
The Phoenix