Favourite/ Least Favourite Lesson

[GusHoneybun]

As an instructor, what the lesson do you give that you enjoy the most, and whats the most monotonous.
Personally, I get a big kick out of Ex19 and 20. Don't do nearly enough of these (especially 20 at the moment). Ex19, Licenced hooliganism if you ask me.
Most boring. Ex 10A. 2 hours of going backwards in any wind stronger than a gnats fart, listening to a stall warner blaring constantly cause you can't pull the circuit breaker, whilst waiting for any mishandling putting you in the inevitable stall/spin. Oh happy days. Never quite seen the point of it.

[Rhumb Line]

My worst has to be Slow Flight and Straight and Level. Usually enjoy Climbing and Descending and Instrument Appreciation.
Without doubt the biggest butt clenching has to be the students first ever circuits session.
Good ob we are well paid ;)

Cheers RL

[whatunion]

my favorites were lessons that no one else ever carried out.

par approach

formation flying

yes both on ppl

agree slow flying is a totaly boring exercise brought in by ron campbell after he read a book on learning to fly usa style

[drizzle]

.

Its nice of you to teach something that you enjoy but, is not part of the licence or SEP rating and, the happy student gets to pay.

Next time I go for a golf lesson I will ask my instructor if he can teach me how to knit, after all, it might be useful for the golf club cover thingys.


.

[whatunion]

Yes drizzle your right but as i was the owner and CFI and it was part of my sylabus.

I was given a student that no one could get first solo, i did an hours formation flying with him, 3 landings and 3 go arounds and sent him first solo. Everyone else had written him off but he turned out to be one of the best pilots of that year.

Whats the point of doing precautionary IF with someone if you do not let them try a PAR or SRA for real. If they do get stuck in cloud and some ATC unit has to get them down thats the approach they are going to use. Or would you rather the first time in anger be the first time ever. Or perhaps just blindly let down into high ground

Next time you go for a golf lesson ask your instructor if he just always copies what everyone else does without questioning it or does he spend time constantly trying to improve delivery and content.

[Send Clowns]

drizzle

I have recently drastically increased the range of emergencies I teach for. The reason is a chat I had with someone who works at the airport, about his PPL, plus a friend from PPRuNe about hers. Both were so impressed with the quality of he training because it went so far beyond te basic requirements. One even credits this with his continued life.

How many students have you given a stuck throttle to? A blocked pitot? Restricted-power climbout? Jammed elevators? Explained / demonstrated the aircraft's response to unequal flap? None of these are in the syllabus. All are potentially important skills.

I had never thought of using formation flight as a teaching point, but it is a thought. Love doing it too, so any excuse :E

[whatunion]

just to elaborate more on my silly bus

go around from base leg

engine failure from xwind, downwind

full flap take off and circuit

door open on take off and climb out

partial power take off and either full circuit or turn back depending on situation.

before first solo student has to take control from instructor after a heavy bounce with full flap and initiate go around

asi failure/ alt failure/ radio failure circuit

fire on taxyway

prop swinging and prop pre cautions

oval and square circuits

precautionary onto grass field away from base.

formation flying

30 mins under hood then 121.5 practice with traingulation fix then diversion with land away

par/ sra during if

other diffs
power checks not always into wind
always started against chocks at base
always used pitot covers and control locks between every flight
always folded harnesses away
always tied down a/c after last flight
always used check lists
always pax bfiefinf for fire ext, first aid kit and door opening, and harnesses removal.


just a quick run through of what i could remember after 14 years!!!!

yes no what you are thinking, 10 hours longer than standard syllabus, cant remeber if it was 40 hours 14 years ago.
so our average ppl was 50 hours

[Send Clowns]

full flap take off and circuitSo I take it you used neither the Cessna 150 nor the Robin 200? The former you'd be a tree ornament, having never left the deck, the latter your students wouldn't notice!

[whatunion]

i did full flap take offs with c150s but i cant remember doing a full flap circuit in one.

certainly did it in c152s

i saw a c172 take off at booker with full flap down, they were all killed a few moments later.

[ACW 335]

NB - I am not an instructor in the GA World
Instructors who give the not-no syllabus emergencies go down well in my books - Sort of things I have been given in my time:
Airbrake failure followed by engine failure on finals in a motor glider
Stuck throttle
Control colum failure (challenging flying a circuit on trim and rudder!)
Instrument failure (various)
Not to mention aerobatic emergencies (GA)

I have also been taught prop swinging for cold start.

Whatunion; majority of your syllabus is very similar to what is taught by QGIs in the VGS area - and i like it! Don't see enough of it in the GA world - too much sticking ridgidly to the syllabus. IMHO spinning should be shown and recovery practised - whats the point in being told it all forgotten if you don't actually know if you could recover because you have never tried?

We are taught to intiate turnbacks etc. right from the beginning. Balloon landings are part of every 1/4ly check (we land off them in the TMG) and we have to cover using 121.5. All this before you can have the capacity equivalent to a PPL holder (PAX carrying etc.) and then its covered every four months, and annully.

C

PS Slow flight is the most boring exercise as the student :p I hated every minute of it (not to mention the headache)

[Peeking Duck]

I have been flying for over 23 years and was instructing for 8 years, I always enjoyed EX 11 ; Spinning as was.

We flew from RAF Woodvale and used Cessna 152 Aerobats Great Club that had been in existance since the 1930s untill in the 90's combination of ministry cutbacks on building maintainance and local NIMBY's closed it down.

Still there is still a hard core of pilots that operate from there but sadley no intsruction:ok:

[Send Clowns]

You sure that was safe, whatunion? The only 150s I have ever flown had 40� flap and would not climb at all with full flap (bear in mind the last fixed-wing I'd flown were 260-hp T67s, climb well with 45�, that was a shock!), at least outside ground effect. Certainly the climb performance would be below that any normal obstacle-clearance figures assumed.