Flight Instructors, are you having problems teaching or need guidance or advice from an experienced flight instructor to help you using real life flight training experience and not just FAA textbook stuff?
Student Pilots, are you struggling to understand and searching for the information that will make sense of it all? Are you feeling overwhelmed and wondering if you’ll ever be able to get your private pilot license?
If you have flight training questions or comments, let me know! I want to give you good information. I want to write about what you want to read. It makes it hard without feedback. There are a lot of people visiting this site and only a handful that communicate. You can comment on any of my posts so that others may learn from your questions. Many send emails but if you use the comment section under each post then it will give others more to read and learn about.
Student Pilots:
Are you a student pilot struggling to understand something?
Do you not understand what your instructor is trying to tell you?
Are you looking for an easier way to remember things?
Are you unsure how to prep for your private pilot checkride?
Flight Instructors:
Are you a new CFI and not sure how to get started?
Do you have problems communicating your message to your students?
Have you run into a problem with a student that you don’t know how to solve?
Do you struggle making things easy to understand?
Not sure how to prep private pilot students or how to use scenario based testing?
Do you know how to prep a student pilot for their private pilot checkride?
I’m open to pilots too that may have questions. I just need your feedback so I know what you guys want.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Take Care,
Joe
Hi Joe,I am working on my CFII as my initial CFI, and I am having a really hard time to pull it altogether. I don’t know what is enough, now that the responsibility lies with me to instruct.I am going step-by-step through the PTS, but my lesson plans have turned into lesson outlines/my own crutches… I procrestinated so long that I have to retake my FII and FIA (24 months), which I’ll this coming Monday.I am also frustrated, because if I am in the airplane they tell me that I am the boss man and tell them my plan of action. When I watched the DVD’s from Jepessen it was a whole different story. Joe, I am an older guy still wanting to make a career out of flying but I feel that nobody really wants to mentor anymore… I guess making money at all cost is more important than to help a fellow human being succeed. Well you got a story out of me.Take care Joe.Herman.
Hey Herman, I actually just responded to a similar comment on my “suggested subjects” page. You should read it because it applies to you too. I haven’t seen the DVD’s but I can tell you that you are being tested on your teaching ability and you have to be able to do that while flying to commercial standards. Sometimes you will fly and sometimes the examiner will fly. It doesn’t matter who is flying, you will be teaching the entire time.
He will tell you what he wants to see but you will be the one teaching how to set that up and giving a demonstration as if the examiner is a student. He may fly it too and make mistakes on purpose and all you have to do is talk him through a better way to do it. Read the other post for more detail.
If you feel that nobody wants to mentor you, it is probably because they are inexperienced or don’t know how to do it. It is an instructors job to be able to get the message to the student in a way they can understand. If your instructor is not doing it and you are having a hard time getting a clear picture of what you need to do then you should probably talk to him and explain how you are feeling. The more you communicate, the more he will realize that he is not getting through to you. Communication is important between both of you. If this does not help, then you need to find another instructor. Let me know if you have more questions on this.
There are a lot of instructors out there that are just there to build hours to get a job somewhere else. Some just don’t care as much as they should. This is why there are many bad pilots out there. Instructors aren’t in it for the money because there isn’t a lot of money in instructing. It’s about building hours. When you interview potential instructors, I’d suggest a mature adult with experience in teaching (preferably between 1000-2000 hours of instruction given). These are the guys you can learn more detail from. Ask about their pass rate too.
Find a good CFI and stay motivated. Study every day and fly at least 2 times a week or more until you get it done.
I hope this helps! Take care and thanks for the post!
Hey Joe,Thank you very much for the reply! You are absolutely right. I see your point. My plan of action is as follow: took and passed my FII, now I am finishing up my lesson plan/outline library including keynote presentations. I have to go back to work this week so I have only time to finish the lesson plans and then I will start working on the flight profiles and armchair fly them (and teach), use the sim and put to practice in the airplane. I have a feeling that this might work for me. Let me know if you want some more input for your site. I have to say; it’s sad your not in Florida… You are a very dedicated individual, I enjoy my conversations with you. Keep up the good work… Your students will benefit a lot!!!
Thank you!