Oh Ma Gawd!

[Whirlybird]

What I am having a very BIG problem with (and this is not the first time this has manifested iself) is that I cannot seem to treat my instructor as a student and have trouble treating the 'give back' sessions as real lessons. I have never been good at artificial scenarios and perform far better at the real thing. The result if that the whole experience is far too mechanical and I am not able to relax.

Ah yes, that takes me right back to my course. There I was, trying to take seriously the fact that I was supposed to be teaching the effects of controls...to a 30,000 hour instructor who flew helicopters better than I ever will (he'd started in his teens and was around 60; I started too late in life to ever get that kind of experience). Sure, it's crazy and unreal. And you're not the only one who hates role-playing. But it does get you used to flying and talking...and listening out on the radio and noting where you are, all at the same time. Because what happens once you're doing it for real - at least it did for me - is that the flying and teaching goes OK, but you get lost and miss radio calls! So a lot of what the FI course is about is just learning to go through the motions of doing more things at once than you ever believed a human being could....and without someone possibly trying to kill you as well (that comes later).

Sounds like it's going well. Keep telling us about it. If it's any help, I did a diary thread about my FI course a few years ago. It's on Rotorheads somewhere, but it's hard to find because it got incorporated in another thread later on....come to think of it, maybe just as well, from my point of view.

[FlyingForFun]

2close,

Do you have any notes you take with you into the aircraft?

For each of the exercises, I used to have an A5 piece of paper which listed the individual elements of the exercise one by one, with some key phrases for the patter. I found that invaluable throughout my FI training and in the first few months as an FI, since it meant I didn't need to worry about remembering exactly what I was supposed to be doing!

FFF
---------------

[Flintstone]

2Close. It will come at its own pace and by the sound of it you're finding that already.

I too was a bit of a late starter and had trouble with the role play thing. I still do now, in fact I hate it. As for the patter I used to practise continuously, talk to myself walking around the supermarket, driving, whatever. Got some odd looks but it worked for me.

Don't be in too much of a hurry to ditch your own way of doing things (within reason) as it's the personal differences that make the lessons interesting. Flexibility too. As one who never got on well with formulae (translation: never understood them) I used to find it easy to reduce briefings and ground school to the lowest common denominator as that was usually me! Many students would look at me as if I'd lost the plot when I spoke of having three bananas of lift on one side of the equation and three bananas of weight on the other (often followed by the dawn of understanding). Who says it has to be complicated?

Good luck and I hope you enjoy it. Instructing was my most enjoyable flying if not quite the best paid.

[fireflybob]

Remember also that simplicity is evidence of the most advanced form of teaching!

[muffin]

A very interesting thread - as I start my own course next week. I also have not been in a training environment for more years than I care to think about, so I am keen to see how I cope. The FIC instructor warned me not to under estimate what I was taking on, and reading these comments seems to reinforce this view. I am however looking forward to it immensely as it will make a nice change from my normal routine.

[2close]

Well troops, the course is plodding along, albeit at a far slower pace than desired or anticipated but mother nature can be cruel, even when the earth dwellers think that "it's a byootiful spring day" so more time has been spent in the classroom practising briefings and going over groundschool time and time again.

But yesterday and today have been somewhat invigorating and encouraging and I felt quite comfortable this afternoon 'giving back' Stalling 1, even if I did invent a new symptom of an approaching stall.

Earlier this afternoon I played student for a fellow FI student whilst he gave back PFLs. Now I'm not sure whether this should be in this thread or the 'Funny Comments by Students' thread but having selected a 'suitable' field around which to demonstrate the circuit to be flown I questioned him for verification of the actual field, only be told 'the green one with the trees'. I burst out laughing - he looked at me quizzically then the penny dropped. What made it even funnier is the fact that, only this morning I said exactly the same when asked by my FIC to identify a suitable field.

What a pair of muppets!!

Is there any hope for our future students??????

[DRJAD]

Don't be in too much of a hurry to ditch your own way of doing things (within reason) as it's the personal differences that make the lessons interesting.

As a fairly recently ex-student (PPL-2002, IMCR-2003), may I add my encouragement and also endorse the point behind Flintstone's remark quoted above?

I had to privilege of flying with some really, really good instructors (in my view), as well as with some not quite so talented - though I might add, I flew with no bad instructors. Of course, with renewals, and checkouts, and differences training, type ratings, etc., one still has the benefit of instructor input at various times.

Some decry training with anything but one constant instructor. I am not one of those, I found the stimulus of the differing ways of doing and describing things from different instructors very valuable - and thoroughly to be recommended. Appreciation of difference is a facet of being human, and must be a vital component of any programme of learning, whether it be academic learning or the acquisition of a physical skill.

[corsair]

Funnily enough I had less trouble with the role playing in the air than the ground brief. I couldn't shake the sense that I was digging a big hole and my intructor was about to push me into it!

My biggest scary moment was during the ground school part where I had to stand up in front of everyone for a briefing. At that point the my future boss came in and stood at the back. He's a loud individual and I nearly melted. He threw in some pointed questions but in the end I parried him nicely and eventually sat down feeling like I'd got away with it.

After that, students were easy.