Are all "good" pilots good instructors?
 

The answer to the above question. IMHO is no. Recently it would seem that some excellent pilots are not necessiseraly good instructors. I remember many years ago I bought a share in a taildragger and asked the very capable pilot to teach me how to fly it. After a full day of trying, I was still at the same piont as I started. I thought to myself that I had made a mistake and that I was not capable of flying a taildragger. I did, however get someone else to show me how it was done and within a few circuits I was, at least, able to get the aircraft on the ground in a safe manner. Since then I have only flown taildraggers . As I said earlier, the first "instructor" was an extremely good pilot and a very capable person in everything to do with aviation, (and is in fact my boss) but as a teacher he is hopeless. Maybe people here ask questions that, to the experts seem not worthy, however, maybe a helpfull answer is more worthy of an experienced person rather than scorn. What do you think??

Frustrating, isn't it? :}

I know some instructors who are in GA, and they are some of the most arrogant and stupidest pilots you will ever meet.

But to answer your question, no, I'm not an instructor and I'm a fantastic pilot. Probably the best pilot ever. Im not tooting my own horn here, its just my mum says I'm the best, and mums do know everything.

I would make a brilliant instructor then!:}

even today I was a bad pilot.....and I admit it!.....minor oops at YBAF:sad:

I agree though.......and some instructors will be better with some students than others, and there is another dynamic to consider................."When the student is ready, the teacher appears"

There is no correlation between a experienced pilot and an experienced flying instructor. Good instructors are as rare as hen's teeth. Experienced pilots are dime a dozen.

Teaching is an ability few possess.

Tee Emm

he said good not experienced... I know some experienced pilots who arent good either.. but generally you would expect to get better, just begs to ask how bad they used to be when they used to be inexperienced...

agree though.. I found a very good instructor who was so fickle, eventually I followed him as he changed through at least 4 schools through the course of my 250 hours of training with him. Of course they all slowly got more expensive as we went, guess he slowly got paid more as word spread too...

If you can have the knowlege and apply it perfectly, you're a good pilot,
If you can have the knowlege and impart it effectively, you're a good instructor.:ok:

+1

In university I found the worst instructors were the brilliant professors. They would constantly ramble through theory at lightening speed and then get frustrated often saying things like, "come on people this is dirt simple we can't spend all day going over this stuff." Basically they were just to "smart, good, talented, whatever" and they couldn't understand why the rest of us couldn't pick things up quicker. It was frustrating for the prof and for us students.

I found the same when I got my pilots licence. My first instructor was a class 3 and did an excellent job of teaching me. He didn't have loads of airline or bush time but he understood why I was having a hard time with some concepts and thus he was able to find the right technique to get me past my trouble spots.

Later on I've had 1 or 2 checkouts with "very good / experienced" pilots and the checks were horrendous. One guy did a demo circuit in a 185 at 300 feet and cut the x-wind at the edge of the departure and the base at the end of the approach. I guess he wanted to show off his awesome skills but needless to say it was a very painful experience trying to learn from someone who thinks it's all child’s play and has very little paitience for new pilots who are just learning.

Ah......that ol' chestnut!
Don'tcha love sweeping generalisations (i.e. "all")?
People, there are good instructors that are not very good pilots; good pilots that are not very good instructors, not very good pilots and instructors, and finally, yes there are those that are both good pilots and instructors.
It's remarkably similar to any other profession you may care to mention.
Now can we please put this infantile discussion to bed!:ugh:

NO...just have to look at some airline training and checking staff and you can see the vast differences in the ability to impart knowledge and get the best out of staff. AND yes Ive seen bad instructors and good pilots who have the abiliy to inspire the best out of people.:ok:

One guy did a demo circuit in a 185 at 300 feet and cut the x-wind at the edge of the departure and the base at the end of the approach. I guess he wanted to show off his awesome skills but needless to say it was a very painful experience trying to learn from someone who thinks it's all child’s play and has very little paitience for new pilots who are just learning.

Unless he was flying wrecklessly Sarah a three hundred foot circuit is quite safe and is something you should be comfortable with if you are going to be flying in the bush or on sea planes. :):)

Goes right up to airline level as well. Had a training captain who was an excellent pilot, knew the systems inside out BUT his idea of teaching involved screaming and abuse. Was even worse in the simulator where he could do what he liked.

I would be quite happy to be a passenger while he was handling an emergency, but he should never have been in the training department.

Good pilots that are instructors?

There are not many - cause all the good ones leave!

The experienced instructors that are left are usually bitter because they missed the boat for whatever reason or were late career starters that think they should have been an airline pilot and think they know it all.

A guy in TAC at JT (who I know reads these boards) is a classic example.

To attract and keep good instructors the pay has to be sufficient to make it worth their while to instruct as a career.

Last time I checked flight instructors are the lowest paid pilots in aviation.

A good flight instructor should be paid equal to an airline captain.

Chuck

I agree that good instructors should be paid alot more than what they are but you would have to charge guys $1000 per hour dual to fly a clapped out C152 to be able to afford them:}

Flight instructor pay is the problem. Pay is linked to income generated for the operator, so instructors will always be at the bottom of the food chain. So, on the way up most do it do build hours for a better future. A few within those ranks are dedicated and do a great job, for as long as they are there. Sadly for students and flight schools, these are usually the ones that the airlines will eventually take.
This is NOT saying that there are not some good career instructors. I was very privileged to have been mentored in my early days by just such a guy, now passed on to the big hangar in the sky.
But is a good pilot a good instructor? Not always. Sometimes a pilot is so good he /she just does it naturally and so has a hard time understanding how anyone else could find learning to fly or upgrading to new levels in flying a difficult task for many lesser mortals. But if an instructor can't demonstrate mastery of whatever is being taught, that's no good either.

I don't believe a "bad" pilot can be a good instructor regardlss of how well he imparts his knowledge. A good instructor needs to be able to demonstrate the task he is teaching, not simply spruik on with theory.

A good pilot is definitely not always going to be a good instructor for some of the reasons above.

Yes the rate a school would need to charge would be higher.

However the time the students take to get what ever license, rating they are training for would be less.

I don't know what you people make down on the other side of the planet but in Canada the instructors make around $25.00 an hour on the average.

It also takes about double the minimum time for PPL's to get their license so if the hourly wage was raised to say $100. 00 per hour the instructor could actually live off the money they made and the student would get far better training.

The industry would soon sort out who the good instructors are by their product.

When I was doing type ratings on the PBY I was charging 250 Euro per flight hour and was never out of work, so it can be done.

I have been retired for almost four years and am thinking of doing some more instruction...maybe on the new Husky Amphibian I am looking after for a friend of mine. :E

Teaching is something people go to university for. Its not just something you can decide to do overnight. Personally I think C & T people in at jet level should have at least a certificate IV (tafe) in workplace training and assesment. Of course most employers wouldn't dream of this sort "expense" which is actually an investment.

In 15 years of flying I've come across 2 people that were absolutely brilliant instructors. They didn't have any formal qualification from memory but were just outstanding professionals of the highest order.

So to answer your question: Are all "good" pilots good instructors? My answer is NO but they certainly have the potential given the right training.