Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Aircrew Forums > Flying Instructors & Examiners
Reload this Page >

Relationship with students

Wikiposts
Search
Flying Instructors & Examiners A place for instructors to communicate with one another because some of them get a bit tired of the attitude that instructing is the lowest form of aviation, as seems to prevail on some of the other forums!

Relationship with students

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 22nd Feb 2008, 14:37
  #21 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: Lurking within the psyche of Dave Sawdon
Posts: 771
Received 3 Likes on 2 Posts
IMHO it's very important to build a good and supportive relationship with the stude. I usually also offer to provide email support with things they may be struggling with and am easily persuaded to stay in the bar (or a pub) after the day is done.

Teaching your kids - yes, done that. My eldest son had one of the best pair of hands I've seen but was never able to find time to do the studying and exams so didn't get his licence.

HFD
hugh flung_dung is offline  
Old 22nd Feb 2008, 17:35
  #22 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Hotel this week, hotel next week, home whenever...
Posts: 1,492
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Been flying the kids around for a while, thought I'd offer my eldest daughter the chance to learn......"Wot wud I Wanna do that for?"

Times they are changing!
Duchess_Driver is offline  
Old 22nd Feb 2008, 18:25
  #23 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Down South, preferably inverted
Posts: 235
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
IMHO it's very important to build a good and supportive relationship with the stude. I usually also offer to provide email support with things they may be struggling with and am easily persuaded to stay in the bar (or a pub) after the day is done.
Kept me on the ground, rather than bouncing off the walls, for the last 2 days..... . Two words......... Density Altitude...... He'll understand.... . And YEP!!!

Can't dispute any of those 3 statements....






and now he'll be ............
Mad Girl is offline  
Old 22nd Feb 2008, 18:53
  #24 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,815
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
HFD I seem to remember in another thread discussing if you should be payed extra due to the additional stress involved teaching someone of the oppersite sex.

Any luck?

Or is the post work pint your only benefit?



The last student who I gave my email to procceded to fill my account up with girl on girl porn vids.
mad_jock is offline  
Old 22nd Feb 2008, 21:35
  #25 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 25
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The last student who I gave my email to procceded to fill my account up with girl on girl porn vids
Maybe he was hoping for a discount...
flybmi is offline  
Old 23rd Feb 2008, 19:46
  #26 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Down South, preferably inverted
Posts: 235
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Mad Girl
Kept me on the ground, rather than bouncing off the walls, for the last 2 days..... .
mad_jock
HFD I seem to remember in another thread discussing if you should be payed extra due to the additional stress involved teaching someone of the oppersite sex.
He's been a star..... and I somehow think it's NOT because of my gender......

Just had my skills test binned for the 2nd time in 3 weeks...
Mad Girl is offline  
Old 23rd Feb 2008, 23:23
  #27 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,815
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You stick at it girl.

He wouldn't let you even attempt it if you wern't good enough (and prob a wee bit to spare)

To be honest if he is anything like myself he will be more nervous than you. He knows you know your ****. He knows you are fit for it. But you could bollocks it up on the day due to being a fanny.

Take a few quid extra along and get your bloke to drive him home afterwards.

MJ

PS don't mention doing an IMC on the day give him a couple of day of grace before you land that one on him.
mad_jock is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2008, 09:23
  #28 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Down South, preferably inverted
Posts: 235
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
But you could bollocks it up on the day due to being a fanny.
If I were a bloke would I bollocks it up by being a dick????

Take a few quid extra along and get your bloke to drive him home afterwards.
He'll be looked after........ Hopefully - IF it's flyable (& I pass!) - we can arrange for Mrs HFD to be there so that we can pour him into the car .


Getting this thread back on track....... sorry!

My instructor is very sociable and extremely supportive and I regard him as a mate.....a platonic friendship (If some of you understand the word ).
I can, and do talk to him about everything.. He knows when work is stressing me out or I'm not sleeping as it DOES affect my flying.... so he's been known to cut lessons short or change things around to do the "fun" stuff so that I'm STILL making progress, as being assertive doesn't always make me up my game...

The other instructors at the club are equally approachable - even though I'm not theirs - and I'd even regard some of them as friends....
But my school is also a club... and everybody knows everybody else so maybe it's different in a professional school. (That wouldn't be half as much fun in my book)

There's nothing wrong with being friendly with your students...... They're learning to fly for themselves..... but if they ALSO don't want to let YOU down, they will try harder to get things right..... and it's easier to get things back to "normal" if you've just had to let loose with a torrent of abuse..... (NOT something HFD does by the way)

I do think that the romantic side is a bit off though..........

Students have to have total trust in their instructor and I can see where it would be very, very wrong.......... abuse of power (but maybe that's an older "girly" perspective!).
Mad Girl is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2008, 10:28
  #29 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: I'm right behind you!!!
Posts: 469
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Heard it explained best by another instructor in a bar after his student called him "sir"

He said: "At the school, its sir. In the bar, its <first name>"

No reason you can't be mates with your students as far as drinks after a hard day go. There does definitely have to be a distinction between flying and beer o'clock though.

As for the romantic thing, well wouldn't know. But definitely would be giving them to a different instructor to fly with methinks.
Cap'n Arrr is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2008, 17:41
  #30 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Down at the sharp pointy end, where all the weather is made.
Age: 74
Posts: 1,684
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
He said: "At the school, its sir. In the bar, its <first name>"
No, I'm sorry, in this day and age, I just can't get my head around that!

I always ask for a first name and give them mine. I'd be most put out to be called 'sir', though I hope I'd be gentle in politely reminding them that I have a name. The ONLY time it's remotely appropriate is when meeting a customer as a stranger for the first time i.e. they walk into the school 'can I help you, sir?'

TheOddOne
TheOddOne is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2008, 21:22
  #31 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: I'm right behind you!!!
Posts: 469
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
I agree completely with you OddOne. At the school he was at, the students were mostly from overseas, many of them insist on calling you sir. Some of them refuse to sit in an instructor seat in a briefing room. It was more to demonstrate that there is and should be a distinction between work and play. In this case he was responding to a student calling him sir outside work, not to being called "bob" at work.


Arrr
Cap'n Arrr is offline  
Old 25th Feb 2008, 20:37
  #32 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Down at the sharp pointy end, where all the weather is made.
Age: 74
Posts: 1,684
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
At the school he was at, the students were mostly from overseas, many of them insist on calling you sir.
Ahhh, the penny droppeth!

Would this be from a culture overly reliant upon deference, that does so much damage to the concept of CRM & MCC, so vital to in-flight safety?

I expect my students to speak up if they feel something isn't right. I've currently got 12 students myself who aspire to careers as airline pilots. Though it's sometimes a bit embarrassing, I welcome feedback on my own performance from them, especially if it serves as a useful learning point. I hope that they respect me for my desire to share my knowledge with them rather than any 'authority' that I might appear to represent.

TheOddOne
TheOddOne is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2008, 17:38
  #33 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,815
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
That cultural element was brought home to me at OAT when I watch 6 blokes kicking the hell out of a fellow student ripping his clothes punching him to the point of black eyes. By this point a copper who was doing the brush up ground school with us went off down stairs to nick the lot of them. But got stopped by one of the Instructors

Apparently its tradition to get your head kicked in on doing your first solo in some cultures.
mad_jock is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2008, 22:13
  #34 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: I'm right behind you!!!
Posts: 469
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Um, What?!?!
Cap'n Arrr is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2008, 22:14
  #35 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Birmingham
Age: 32
Posts: 231
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
That cultural element was brought home to me at OAT when I watch 6 blokes kicking the hell out of a fellow student ripping his clothes punching him to the point of black eyes. By this point a copper who was doing the brush up ground school with us went off down stairs to nick the lot of them. But got stopped by one of the Instructors

Apparently its tradition to get your head kicked in on doing your first solo in some cultures.
Are you kidding? That's terrible if it is as bad as you described.
Put1992 is offline  
Old 27th Feb 2008, 21:32
  #36 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Chedburgh, Bury St.Edmunds
Age: 81
Posts: 1,175
Likes: 0
Received 7 Likes on 5 Posts
I taught people to drive for 39 years, and flew for 10 as a PPL. The relationship between teachers and pupils is always slightly tricky. I found that girls [and ladies] looked up to and admired you and it was, in driving, VERY easy to get into a romantic relationship. I was perfectly happy for this to happen, until I married a beautiful young girl who was NOT my pupil and I made it quite plain from then on that , whenever it seemed, from the pupil's side, to be heading towards rather more than friendly, then I made it plain that it stayed friendly, but no more than that. When I was learning to fly, my main instructor, a high ranking R.A.F. Officer, fell for one of his pupils, left his wife, and, as far as I know, pupil is now his wife. Commonsense and maturity play a large part in teacher/pupil relationships, and I had to terminate peoples lessons for them getting too close on several occasions. The situation is no different in flying instruction than driving. Use your head, stay clear of married women who show too much interest in you if you are married. They tend to be the worst offenders when it comes to wanting more involment
JEM60 is offline  
Old 28th Feb 2008, 11:18
  #37 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Aus
Posts: 70
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
As a student, I always had a good working relationship with both of my instructors during my training, and while we socialised outside of the school (where I also worked on the reception) everything was very professional inside the plane. I have retained those friendships, a few even becoming work collegues once I completed my instructor rating.

As an instructor, up until now, most of my students at my previous flying school have been Indian students and it I have always ensured that I maintained a strictly professional relationship and that contact with my students did not continue outside of work - but despite my efforts, upon leaving that school, one of my students began stalking me, leaving me love letters, emails sms's etc for three months until they finally took me seriously and stopped, after I threatened to charge them with harrassment!

At a different school, I plan to keep in touch with most of my current students and some of my former students with whom I have developed a few good friendships. Many still see me for advice, just like I still regularly call up my old instructors and have a good old chat!

Try not to date your students! It doesn't look good for either of you! I have known of a few relationships that occurred between instructors and students and very few of them lasted - the others usually just became gossip that is scrawled onto the scare chairs - which usually develops into a poor reputation for that instructor or student!

Cheers,

Mo
Capt Mo is offline  
Old 28th Feb 2008, 12:36
  #38 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 342
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Poor reputation could be the least of your worries if the romance has any additional complications (like say a very pi$$ed off husband )
As one South coast rotary instructors Porsche Boxster can testify

Flingingwings is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.