Hard aspect of Instructing?

[Okavango]

What do experienced instructors find to be the most challenging part of the role? (excepting trying to live on full time pay!)

[172_driver]

When your student absorbs your teaching like a sponge and everything goes on rails - job is easy

When he/she is stuck and progressing slowly, be innovative and come up with a different approach to get over the barrier - for me that was mentally struggling. You cannot go on forever when they're paying by the hour.

[Big Pistons Forever]

After 27 + years of instructing full and part time the only thing that bothers me are students who are not interested in being the best pilot they can be. Instead too many just want to do the minimum to pass the test :ugh:

Fortunately I have a well established local reputation as a fair but very demanding instructor. This scares away the lazy and unmotivated students and attracts the ones who want to excel. :ok:

[pineappledaz]

Not getting killed..mostly by the type of student described above, who is more interested in taking photos/selfies and looking good with stuff on the shoulders. Good ways to sort them out though :eek:

Seriously..in the start..letting the student have enough rope to make mistakes and allowing sufficient time to correct them before deciding to intervene.

[oldbeefer]

During my time instructing in the military, I'd say the hardest thing was deciding if a student was ready for his 4 solo EOLs on the Whirlwind. Nail biting time in the tower, watching them at Ternhill!

[Ascend Charlie]

Oldbeefer,

When did the Powers That Be decide that the training value in this exercise was way less than the cost of repairing the damage from solo EOLs??

Never heard of student solo EOLs, except on Instructor Course.

[Whopity]

Trying to stay abreast of the continually changing rules, requirements and nonsense surounding our activity. Change creates the illusion of progress; there has been little if any measureable progress in the last 30 years.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I'm not an *experienced" instructor, but hopefully an experienced pilot who does some instructing.

Firstly, asking what the hard bit is suggests there's an easy bit - well if there is, I've still not found it.



But doing odds and ends of specialist instructing - conversions, currency and the like, I find the most intellectually tough bit determining the actual training needs of any particular student.


Close behind that is trying to make safe, private pilots who have been taught badly then re-inforced those bad habits through a few years of solo flight.

G

[18greens]

Got to agree with that. I still can't understand why a 'Basic' service is more understandable than 'Flight Information'

Whopity

Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Europe
Posts: 4,522
Trying to stay abreast of the continually changing rules, requirements and nonsense surounding our activity. Change creates the illusion of progress; there has been little if any measureable progress in the last 30 years.

Got to agree with that. I still can't understand why a 'Basic' service is more understandable than 'Flight Information'. Dear sir can I have some basic information, vs Dear sir can I have some Flight Information.

Other than that the threat of being sued by hot shots wife and kids because he crashed and it must be your fault. The useless pay. The useless aircraft we are asked to fly. The way we don't do it the 'American' way. They fly night ifr everywhere all the time. We don't go out until it's 9/8 clear sky ( because you might die in any other conditions.

Oh and the fact plumbers get paid more....actually plumbers might be onto a good thing, they certainly meet more women.....:-)

[172510]

The way we don't do it the 'American' way. They fly night ifr everywhere all the time. We don't go out until it's 9/8 clear sky ( because you might die in any other conditions.
If we don't fly at night in the UK, it's not only because of the bad weather. It's mainly because GA airfields are closed at 6pm.

[18greens]

If we don't fly at night in the UK, it's not only because of the bad weather. It's mainly because GA airfields are closed at 6pm.

That's another reason...:ok:

Oh and don't forget that pointless EASA rubbish.

[DB6]

EASA :mad:

[Clare Prop]

Pushy parents who want to know why Little Johnny hasn't gone solo after 3 hours not believing Little Johnny really, really isn't interested in learning to fly.

Yuppies who think that to get a licence you just have to hand over a wad of cash.

When your star student announces his wife is expecting thier first baby and you know that they will only be doing one more lesson then gone for good.

That actual teaching is the easy bit!

[pineappledaz]

Too true Clare Prop..too true

[Simon150]

The most challenging part of the role for me is keeping to a very tight schedule; 15mins on ground for 30 minutes flying for half hour slots and 30 minutes on ground for 60 minutes flying for hour slots, while still providing quality and 'unhurried' briefings, de-briefings etc. Especially when students arrive a little later than they had planned, aircraft need fueling, tech issues crop up etc. Very very easy to end up rushing briefings too much to try and keep on time....

The most challenging part of the air-exercises (for me) is teaching landing and in particular flapless given our short runways, obstacles on approach etc and limited go-around margins...on a hot light wind day.

[fireflybob]

Not so much a challenge but being humble enough to admit that you're running out of ideas with a student who is struggling and passing him/her onto another less experienced instructor who gets said student solo after a couple more details.