Am I unprofessional? Instructor/Airline pilot opinions
Hello Everyone, this will be my first post on PPRuNe.
I'm just finishing up my single engine land CPL, and my flight instructor has been kind of slacking lately and giving me assignments merely 1-2 hours before a flight rather than a day or two's notice, which i feel is more professional and quite frankly less stressful. Here is my latest situation as of last night, I need to know from a professional pilots stand point if I am right or wrong:
My instructor texted me at 12 midnight telling me to have a flight plan ready by the time we meet at 12pm. I woke up at 8am, went for a two hour workout, and got back home around 10am, then i saw the text. I was expecting a local flight lesson today which i can prepare for within a 2 hour time frame (10am-12pm), this includes having the plane pre flighted and ready to go, weight and balance complete, all the weather charts laid out and ready, also my shower, breakfast, getting dressed in my pilots uniform and driving to the academy I study at, which is a 15 minute drive aswell. My instructor then texted me back at 10.15 asking if i could have all the above done AND a vfr flight plan for a 2 hour flight and back. So in the middle of my usual routine he asks if i can have extra work done in my usual preparation time frame, and i run a tight schedule from the moment i get in the shower to handing the planes keys to my instructor saying "im ready to go" on time.
He then proceeds to text me back apologizing for the late text (finally...) and then asks why I, as an upcoming commercial pilot, can't have a 2 hour VFR cross country flight planned in under an hour, and have the plane ready to go with all the other work on my plate done as well. He asked why I couldn't have 6 checkpoints on a piece of paper in less than an hour, and that right there looked rushed in my eyes, which we all know has a potential to be very unsafe. I have been rushed into cross country flights at the last minute in my private training, and when i got in the air if i missed one frequency i was immediately to blame. When i plan my cross countries, I'm very detailed. I don't just write down 6 checkpoints and tower and ATIS frequencies on a piece of paper. I write down frequencies for every airport along my route for emergency situations, I print and read every NOTAM for every airport along my route again for emergencies. I get FBO phone numbers/frequencies, fuel prices for every FBO, I call ahead of time to ask if there is space on the ramp for me to park at such and such time. I'm specific and detailed, and now im being blamed for being unprepared and that will most likely be marked down in my canceled flight today, which can someday be read at an airline interview if they are looking for my flaws.
The worst part is, my parents who fund my training, immediately took my flight instructors side saying i should have seen the text at 12 midnight and been up planning the cross country then went to sleep, yet in all my ground schools i'm lectured about the importance of at least 8 hours of sleep and the effects it has on safety, and I have flown with less and I underperformed, and it felt horrible.
So, with all of that being said:
Am I an unprofessional student pilot?
Or
Is my flight instructor not giving me enough time of notice for my lessons?
Sincerely, Chris Kennedy