PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - RAF Instructors - steely eyed or gentle and supportive ?
Old 19th Oct 2015, 07:28
  #10 (permalink)  
BEagle
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
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I thought that the 'Fighter Pilot' clip was actually a put up job for the benefit of the BBC luvvies and wasn't how that QFI normally taught students?

During my training, there were a few poseur QFIs and others who didn't want to be there. They came from the "I've told you how to do it, I've shown you how to do it, I can do it, the aircraft can do it - so why the hell can't you do it?" school of instruction.....

The better ones were those who hadn't breezed their own training and knew what it was like to struggle - so were more patient and helpful than some sky god longing to be back in his Lightning.

Gentle wit was often helpful - I got rather too low on a flapless approach in a JP and my QFI commented "Red/pinks are OK, red/reds make my bum twitch, but don't let's get down to green/greens again - OK?".

In my latter days of QFI-ing on the FunBus, the task kept increasing but without the resources to meet it, thanks to chiselling thrusters who wouldn't say no. Quite a few AAR FIs hadn't bothered to become dual qualified in both the AT and AAR role and some of the AT FIs weren't even qualified to fly in the AAR role, let alone instruct (I did like one co-pilot's comment "Watching D****n R**s flying AAR is like watching your Dad trying to programme a video recorder"). But the net effect was that the few of us who were dual qualified were working far harder than was reasonable and becoming tired out as a result - to the total detriment of the quality of instruction we were providing. I know that now with the benefit of hindsight - I just wish I'd realised at the time.
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