"Young Instructor ordered to milk you"
I havent read an Australian Flying Magazine for years. i bought a copy of the November-December issue and finally got around to reading it over an early Sunday coffee.
In the "letters" section Jim Davis makes a number of derogatory comments that require a public response as they are obviously so detached from reality and inappropiate.
Basically he is addressing a query about an overly exhaustive Aeroplane Flight Review. It was 2.2 hours by the way. Jim, although i doubt it would ever happen, please make sure you NEVER set foot in any Flying school i am attached to.
He "reminds" the readers that an AFR isnt a test and cant be failed. Wrong! An AFR is an opportunity for an appropiately qualified instructor to assess that you are operating safely, have the required knowledge, and that you have a darn good chance of bringing your passengers and yourself back safely. If your not safe, trust me. You wont pass an AFR. Remember the pilot is putting his name to it.
He then suggests that the customer "tell" the flying school what will be involved. Hey Jim, how about a discussion between the two parties and coming up with a mutually agreed on, plan of attack. If a customer contacted me and started "telling" me how an AFR was going to be conducted, he wouldnt get very far.
This particular pilots last AFR had been completed in about one hour as had his previous ones. The new flying school then gets taken to task. They covered off on weight and balance, performance charts, a written questionaire, flightplanning and a 2.2 hour flight with 6 stalls demonstrated, forced landings, diversions etc. Very thorough by the sound of it. Probably quite wise of the flying school to pick up on the previous "tick in the box AFRs" and to actually meet their legal obligations and actually display some concern for the customers welfare.
Then the comment that gets the blood boiling "sounds like the young instructor was under orders to milk you". Jim, do you seriously think that the "young" instructor conducting an AFR. Who, by the way must be at least a Grade Two instructor with 400 hours instruction really received an order to that effect. I have been in the training industry for 20 years, worked beside about 150 different instructors, in organisations in Australia and overseas. That is without doubt one of the most ridiculous comments that i have ever heard. Do you seriously think that a CFI would seriously talk to a Grade Two like that, and that a Grade Two would launch an aircraft with that mindset. If you made that comment about my school in a public form, there would be lawyers involved.
Further comments by Jim, "a good instructor can tell before you takeoff whether you are OK". Most instructors will be able to have an idea but thats another ridiculous statement.
To anybody doing an AFR, please read through the CASA CAAP on AFRs and look at the massive responsibility and accountability that CASA puts on instructional staff to complete an AFR. Its impossible for an AFR to be ticked off in one hour unless the student and instructor have flown together extensively in the previous two years.
Jim, those comments dont enhance safety in any way. When you walk into a flying school make sure you have a good understanding of the responsibility that the flying school has. Treat the process with the respect it deserves.
Instuctors are universally hopelessly underpaid and have far more responsibility and accountability than the average punter can even comprehend. For those of you that want a proper AFR track down that instructor that completed the "disgruntled" pilots AFR. For those of you looking for a 1 hour AFR maybe contact Jim and see if he can point you in the direction of the 1 hour AFR.
Jim, you have enormous experience. You put out some trully brilliant material. I could be wrong but i will bet London to a brick you have negligible, if any civilian instructing experience in Australia. Your comments are dangerous and detrimental to flight safety.
How about you send one of your journos out to a flying school (not mine) and spend a week with an instructor to really find out what they have to do, and the responsibility that they carry.
In the school i work at now, we are dealing with a pilot who has had these previous "tick in the box AFRs". He has a great attitude but is paying the price of substandard AFRs that have made him "unsafe"
Fortunately, the vast majority of candidates presenting for an AFR display an exceptional attitude and it could just be that the letter writer and Jim are really just that little bit better than the rest of us. But i sincerely doubt it.
Next Sunday i will buy the Herald Sun for some more high brow reading.