New to the job!

[Penguina]

Hello all,
Haven't been on pprune for a while, but now I'm back and need to change home forum. :) I started working as an instructor 2 weeks ago and so far have had:
*aircraft on runway during take-off roll
*student on first ever lesson feeling sick and going a very alarming colour just as I had to put in the power to go around (thankfully he held out)
*alternator failure (thankfully on ground)
*jammed ptt button (thankfully spotted immediately)
*aircraft stuck in mud and blocking main taxiway, requiring tugging out before anyone else could get to the holding point and take off.
Marvellous job!!
Seriously, I'm loving it so far and have had some satisfying lessons already. Just thought I'd show my face here. I'll be needing advice... :ok:

[VFE]

Hello Penguina!

Welcome to the fold. I too am a newbie having only qualified this summer. It has been very enjoyable for the most part so far and the flying experience and people skills gained after just a short while are immeasurable.

On a good day it's the best job in the world - on a bad day it's just another boring job (and boy have I had my fair share of those!) so personally I cannot grumble so far (not had any major scares apart from the odd air prox!). Loving the privilage of giving instruction on something very special to genuinely interested and interesting people. The shared feeling of achievement when a student grasps a new skill is wonderful and some days I have to pinch myself on the way home to remind myself how freakin' lucky I am! :ok:

VFE.

[QNH 1013]

Welcome ! Life is never dull as an instructor as you are finding out. Do watch out for the students who will try and kill you. Enjoy your new position; you will meet some very interesting people.

QNH 1013

[FormationFlyer]

Indeed welcome.

Wow. What an eventful time...its taken me years to get that many anecdotes...although MT at RAF Benson seemed determined to add to these...ho hum.

Airproxes...ah. yes. eeek. Too many to be healthy I think....

And my most important piece of advice to you is ...Enjoy it, but whatever you do always make decisions unselfishly with purely the student's interest at heart and youll go a long way :)

[Whirlybird]

Penguina,

Congratulations, and good to see you back on PPRuNe. :ok: Yep, best job in the world, innit?

[Penguina]

Thanks all and, yes, Whirly & VFE, I'm still enjoying saying 'I'm going to work,' meaning that I'm heading for the airfield! :cool: :cool:

And it's funny, when I was a civil servant I used to dread the question 'what do you do?' at parties, but now I'm trying to induce it in people! :ok:

I have to say that I'm finding the sudden need to deal with commercial pressures at the same time as safety/operational considerations a bit of a learning curve, though.

[VFE]

I have to say that I'm finding the sudden need to deal with commercial pressures at the same time as safety/operational considerations a bit of a learning curve, though.
Yeah, that part I could live without too!

VFE.

[Whirlybird]

And it's funny, when I was a civil servant I used to dread the question 'what do you do?' at parties, but now I'm trying to induce it in people!

Ahhh. That part will wear off after a few....months or years, believe me. I now try to avoid telling people what I do. It suddenly becomes the only topic of conversation!!! I might have been talking about something totally different, but suddenly I'm no longer an ordinary person - I'm a celebrity. It becomes, "Have you met Whirly; she's a helicopter instructor you know". I'm beginning to understand one of Bristow's North Sea pilots, who now tells people at parties that she has a part time job at the airport!!!!

But enjoy it , Penguina; it's fun for a while.

[PAPI-74]

That's funny. I have the same problem. I never raise the subject because someone always over hears the conversation and I end up starting all over again. I don't mind, but how can you really explain what we do in passing conversation. You can't put into words giving a person the privilege of seeing the rad. fog rolling through the low ground in the morning, or glancing at their face when the student finally learns to flare and hold off properly.
As fellow instructors, you guys just know.
It's similar when someone is about to embark on their IR. How can you tell them, that every emotion and inch of their body has got to do what you tell it, when you tell it. When they have done it, nothing then needs to be said, you just know in their eyes how much it took for them to achieve it.

[long final]

Congratulations Penguina. Really good to hear things have worked out.
:)

[Penguina]

Thanks LF. What are you up to these days? I somehow managed to lose touch somewhere along the line, didn't I? :O

[VFE]

One of my students landed the aircraft on his own without any interuption from me yesterday..... told me he would be grinning from ear to ear for the rest of the day.....! Christ, he even said I was a "good instructor"....!

My thoughts? 'Have I got time to eat my sandwiches?'

VFE. *remember to remind yourself* :ok:

[long final]

Penguina, will send you a PM to catch up.

[the dean]

penguina,

welcome to the fold.hope you will always get the same enjoyment from it...:D

after 15 years instructing i still do....though there are those days...and do'nt let the fact that by and large people make the same mistakes so it can become a bit hum drum...but the funny part is that not always the same words for one will cure the problem in the other...:ugh: but thats the challange...and remember students will always try to invent new ways to try and kill you...so that certainly does not make it dull.

remember when you hear ( while looking in a different direction...the student thinks..!!--to try to take the pressure of him/her) you hear a switch ''CLICK''..its because ..IT HAS :eek: ...now you have to figure out which one..!! :}

gear up..:ok:

the dean.

[gingernut]

Hi Penguina, well done !!

ginge:ok:

[Mordacai]

Hi Pen!

First time I have posted here for a while as well! Great to hear that you are enjoying life as an instructor! It surely is fabulous - I started with a view to gaining some hours for that seemingly fabulous airline job! But! I loved it so much I actually abandoned that ambition for the time being! I've been living in Florida for the past three years, and working for a well known US FTO whom I will not mention here. I have recently gone through the process, and become the newest JAA FIC instructor in the USA! Its been a great life for me, and I love it. In over 2000 instructional hours I have yet to see an real alternator failure, so that would be a novelty! I have however experienced the usual plethora of comms failures, aircraft on the runway, sick students, hideous weather, commercial pressure, burn out, fatigue, and one devastating accident which changed the way I look at aviation for ever. I have been blessed with some great students, private, commercial, instrument, and Instructors - experienced the ultimate buzz of sending a student first solo - as well as the nemesis of waking up and thanking god that I don't have to fly today! 99% I thank god for the priviledge of allowing me to live my dream everyday - just experience the final approach to runway 27 at Ft Pierce at sunset without saying a quiet thank you!

Good luck Pen, when the days get long and tiring, just pinch yourself and say thanks - its wonderful!

Iain.

[PAPI-74]

MARK IX

I couldn't agree more. I always wanted to dive straight into a jet job once gaining my FATPL, but failing to get work after 5 months, I decided to instruct. Don't get me wrong, instructing was part of my master plan, but only once a had regained the capital outlay of the training.
I am really glad a ended up instructing first though. I love raw flying and that is what I do, in fact, it is changing the way I look at my career path. I now feel that I want to teach aero's, maybe get into the display scene and maybe coastal research flying. There are so many paths to follow that branch out from instructing and as you have pointed out, I still look forward to the alarm at 07:00.
Speaking to other Airline Pilots, the change seems to hitting the entire industry. Now every operator is cutting back on the perks and working pilots the way they are, the appeal has gone in my eyes.

[triple_2]

I couldn't say more positive things about the instructor job!:ok:
If only the weather was a bit better in northern europe.:( Maybe off the topic but I'm a PPL instructor, 150 hours instruction on 450 hours TT and looking for a place where people are actually flying in this time of year. Ideally a place where there is more flying going on then only instructing (photo/scene/research). Anyone has some ideas?

Thanks!

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Anyone has some ideas?
Vancouver Island? - they claim to fly 365 days/year there.

Mind you, they have a different approach to some things than we do over here. I've seen a takeoff (for a visual flight) where there weren't many gaps visible through the fog banks (or grounded clouds if you prefer) with a cloud cover over the top at a couple of hundred feet. ("We only fly in weather like this when we know the route." And of course they were wearing floats so could put down on the sea any time they lost the picture or the engine.)

[Kit d'Rection KG]

And it's funny, when I was a civil servant I used to dread the question 'what do you do?' at parties, but now I'm trying to induce it in people!

Don't worry, if you move on to the airlines, your roster will mean the party invitations dry up, and the problem will disappear!

I would heartily recommend that you consider that, in light of your own recent experience, and that which is probably ahead of you, you adopt the aproach to life of a catholic husband...

...and hope that all your problems will be little ones...

[PAPI-74]

Cabair in Spain. Valencia. They pay a salary. Go through CCAT at Cranfield.

[BlueRobin]

Penguina, how long did it take from commencement of applications to landing a job? Well done btw :)

[Penguina]

Got the jobs through people I know, BlueRobin, so not very long - just an interview & check flight. A couple of weeks, maybe.

Thanks for some lovely comments everyone.

[sidtheesexist]

Penguina - may I add my own congrats to those of other posters! I would second many of those earlier comments. I instructed for 2 1/2 yrs full time before getting my lucky break........Though it was hard work and by the 5th day of each wk I would be cream crackered, I realise NOW what wonderful times they were!! I look back with great fondness on my FI experiences - most importantly, I learned how to fly an AC!!! My FI rating is about to lapse - must try and find time to get it revalidated. Good luck and enjoy. :ok:

[Mach44]

May I ask,

What's the average pay for a PPL FI?

[Mach44]

anyone? no?

[PAPI-74]

Depends where and who.
I'd say from about 10k - 22k

[Bravo73]

Mach44,

Look at the ad currently running at the bottom of the page for Truman Aviation @ Nottingham:

£12k basic then £20 per flying hour.


By what I've read on here, that might be slightly higher than average.