PPL course: how many flight instructors?

[alexka]

This question perhaps is too naive and picky, but nevertheless....I am currently choosing training school for PPL course. My friend is about to finish the course at one of those I would consider for myself too, and he told me that he had something like 5 or 6 instructors teaching him during the course, which he found somewhat tough. Indeed, every instructor might have different teaching style, different "tolerance level" towards student's mistakes, explain same things differently etc. For that reason my friend finally had to ask the school to "assign" him to three particular instructors.

What is the "normal" number of flight instructors teaching a student during PPL course? I would "generally" think that it is always better to minimize number of teachers virtually in any kind of training, or even better find ONE instructor that you come along well with and "stick" to him. Is that applicable to flight training?

Thanks for your comments/suggestions.

[Whirlygig]

There are two schools of thought as to whether one instructor throughout is better than a few instructors.

I had three - one main instructor for 75% of the time and two others who took over. I found that beneficial as each had different viewpoints and different ways of explainnig things.

However, five or six? I think that might be counter-productive!

You definitely need one instructor through the early stages as you need to maintain consistency and build a rapport with them. However, if you don't get on, there is no shame in asking for another instructor.

Cheers

Whirls

[Say again s l o w l y]

The odd change is no problem and as already put, can sometimes be beneficial to the student.

Having a constant rotation of instructors is not very good however. You should have one person who is your "main" FI and you should only really change if there is a problem or if your FI thinks it would be advisable.

Obviously, things like holidays and days off can get in the way but these changes should not be a regular occurrance.

Try and book further in advance and specify who you wish to fly with, having constant changes is a very bad practise on the schools side, but you can try to minimise it by requesting the person you wish to fly with.

If the school still resists, then kick up a stink with the CFI. It isn't good for your training in the long run as alot of things can get easily missed along the way if you are instructed in this manner.

[Saab Dastard]

Until you go solo, my opinion is that not more than 2 instructors is best for continuity.

Once you have more experience, and are doing Nav-X's and more advanced handling, it can actually be useful to have more (and I didn't find it a problem at all), to pick up different ideas, get different criticism, help get through a stumbling block etc.

Where it is useful to have just one again is when you are close to doing the GFT - you need the continuity for preparation.

That's my thoughts, anyway

SD

[kookabat]

I had no less than NINE instructors for my first 30 hours or so.

Wouldn't recommend it - though it did solve the 'nahh instructor's not there that day' problem.... I just went up with whoever was around!!!

[MyData]

Eight in total, each forced upon me by circumstance (i.e. availability) with a degree of structure...

One for the trial lesson, who I never saw again.

One who got me to solo, and congratulated me and also said it was my last lesson with him as he had a new job with the airlines.

One who did my PFL, low level flying, slow flying.

One to get me through some more circuit bashing, and to complete my dual-QXC, then he left to join the airlines.

Changed to a different school, as the one I was at was no longer doing PPL.

New instructor to get me ready for my QXC.

One to show me instrument flying

One to ferry me between airfields (the one I trained at didn't allow solo student operations so I had to be flown 10 mins to the nearest available airfield). This was actually quite good practice as I was effectively operating solo but with someone to watch over me - it wasn't a lesson per se.

One to give me a few hours revision before the GFT.


All of them were good chaps, no personality issues. I learned something from each of them the built on something previously learned, or noticed where I was having a problem and explained things in a different way and I got it immediately.

I'm quite pleased I did it this way, even though it was more by accident than design. Unless you are changing instructors on each lesson I would heartly recommend having some variation.

[foxmoth]

As has been said, the odd change of instructor but using one main one is OK, I should ask before starting though about standardisation, if you are going to fly with a few instructors it is important they teach the same thing - even if they put it over in a different way (which can be a good thing)- some schools are good at this and try to ensure that all their instructors teach the same things - others can be terrible with one instructor contradicting what the last one said.:ooh:
Students can help on this by first discussing the differences with both instructors and if needed getting the CFI to decide who is right.

[Julian]

You should have one instructor all the way through your course - unless of course you are unhappy with the one you are first given in which case change them straight away!

It can be worth doing an hour every, 15 hours with the CFI to make sure your progress is going as expected.

Dont let flight schools bounce you around between instructors though just to fit in with them. Its your money at the end of the day and your progress can suffer as instructors will insist on doing things different ways and you will end up going backwards instead of forwards.

Ask when go to see a school the instructor/student ratio and training with a single instructor. Obviously you wont be able to allow for instructors leaving and you having to take on a different instructor but will be a firm starting point.

Julian

[FlyingForFun]

Unfortunatley, instructor changes are a fact of life, especially if you are doing a PPL part-time over many months (which is the norm).

There will always be the odd week here or there when your instructor is sick or on holiday, and you need to fly with another instructor.

But instructors also move on quite quickly - and the bad news for you is that, with the airline industry slowly picking up, instructors are starting to move on quicker and quicker.

Two things which are worth pointing out, though. First of all, one sign of a good school is that the instructors are, to some extent, standardised, i.e. all teaching similar techniques. Of course there are so many different ways to skin a cat that no two instructors will teach exactly the same, but by having regular meetings to discuss differences, and keeping up to date records on all their students, a good school will ensure that swapping instructors has a minimal effect on your training.

Second, one sign of a good instructor is that he knows that there is more than one way to skin a cat. When I come across someone who does something differently to the way I normally teach, the first thing I ask myself is whether it is safe. If it's not, there's no question - I will show him another way of doing it, and insist that he does it my way. But that's very rare. More likely, what he's doing is perfectly safe, just a little different. In this case, I need to ask myself whether showing him my method would benefit him (more tools in his toolbox so he can pick and choose) or confuse him (too many different contradictory ways of doing things). If I think it would confuse him, I just let him get on with it the way he was taught. On the other hand, I often tell students I will show them a different way of doing things, the advantages and disadvantes of each method, and then let them decide which method suits them best. I wouldn't insist on them using my method if they prefer the method they've already been taught.

Annecdotal evidence suggests that, unfortunately, lots of instructors out there aren't quite so flexible, though.

FFF
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[foxmoth]

Thats what I was trying to say but FFF put it much better than I did and I think this is the best post I have seen on this subject.:ok:

[kevmusic]

During the course of my long and laboured attempts to get a PPL (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=216764 for the whole boring story:hmm:) I have had many instructors. All I can say is it's a bit like being brought up from child to man not by flying parents but by a flying village. All the common sense gets repeated over and over from so many different people that it can't help but stick. Different idiosyncrasies and the rationale behind them become clearer too. However, I wouldn't recommend anyone taking my route to flying:eek:.

Kev.

[Cricket23]

Certainly agree with FFF and the general view that to some extent 'the more the merrier'. But this wasn't always my view. I thought that for consistency and relationship building etc that fewer would be best.

However, having had a couple of forced changes thru the instructor moving on I have definately changed my view, for the reasons given ie different ways of doing things etc. Overall, I had 5 instructors, and whilst it possibibly added a few hours to my instruction, I'm satisified, and I hope that I'm a better pilot for it.

One final point is that I benefited from having instructors who themselves had differing levels of instructor hours. ie teach it by the book, or apply some common sense experience.

C23

[modelman]

I changed flying schools early on and have now stuck with the same FI. I am now ready for my first solo and as my FI is not unrestricted,I will use another FI who is and can send me solo.I then plan to resume with my regular one.

Modelman

[DRJAD]

I had several instructors during PPL training, and my personal opinion is that it was very beneficial. However, my preference always was to approach each lesson having read the texts on that part of the syllabus, and having reviewed in my mind what I wanted to get out of that particular segment of learning experience. The necessity was to be very certain about what I wanted.

If you do this, again, a personal opinion, based on experience, then I believe you will have no difficulty with changes of instructor.

This approach is congruent with the commercial arrangement to which you have agreed with the flying school, to wit, that you are paying for this instruction - it is therefore reasonable for you to take steps to direct the lessons to your requirements within the syllabus.

[alexka]

Thks a lot all for your helpful posts. The issue is much clearer now. :ok:

[MarcJF]

I had 8 instructors, and still managed to get my PPL within 6 months over the winter. Would not recommend, it's usually a sign that the club can't keep the staff.