Annoying things instructors do
What are the 11 most annoying things flights instructors do? Obviously, flatulence in the cockpit would be a big no-no.
“Sorry about that. Let’s crack open the window for just a moment.”
Apparently, though, that wasn’t one of the Big 11 as posted by flying students on Reddit.
If you don’t know what Reddit is, it’s akin to an online bulletin board. A social networking site, it allows users to post questions, and then it allows people to respond.
Wish I would have thought of it. It kicked off in 2005; the brainchild of two University of Virginia roommates. They later sold it for millions to Advance Publications. Today, it gets 3.4 billion page views per month and is worth an estimated $240 million.
Recently, someone posted the question: what’s the most annoying thing your flight instructor does?
Reddit then listed the top 11 most common complaints.
Here they are, in no particular order:
1) Excessive cellphone use: Here’s a tip, if you’re a student who has a CFI (certified flight instructor) who’s using his/her cell while teaching you how to fly, whether taking personal phone calls or playing games while in the cockpit, open the door and push them out. In other words, dump them. Provided, of course, he/she has already taught you how to land.
2) Quitting in the middle of the course: This separates the true flight instructor from the worthless one. It’s easy to tell the difference. The flight instructor who enjoys what he/ she does shows an eagerness to teach. The instructor who’s there just to build time so he/she can move up the ranks to charter/corporate/airline work, will seem disinterested in the lessons — ho-hum. As soon as they get a better offer, they’ll move on. Try to find an instructor who seems eager to teach.
3) Smoking or eating garlic before a flight: This is akin to flatulence in the cockpit. A bad smell in a confined space is always a bad deal. Suggest that your CFI switch to an e-cig (no smell) and give up on the garlic. If he or she is eating too many beans, suggest they switch to a diet with less fiber.
4) Gum smacking: This is truly an annoying habit in the cockpit, especially if they’re doing it into the mic. Smack, smack, smack. Once when I was 10, on a vacation from Chicago to California, in an old Plymouth Signet, my dear departed mother made the mistake of teaching me how to pop gum while I sat in the back seat. Bad move on her part, considering it was about a three-day drive each way. “Gregg, can you please stop popping that gum? Please” “Sure, mom.” Ten minutes later — SMACK. It was something new I found hard to resist.
5) Not fessing up to mistakes: Like all human beings, flight instructors make mistakes. Students, from day one, are expected to make mistakes. Flight instructors refer to students as “those people who are always trying to kill us.” Not intentionally, of course, but flying is a somewhat complex endeavor. The trick is, knowing when to take back the controls from the student before things get out of hand.
6) Pretending to know everything: CFIs are expected to know everything, but sometimes a student will throw us a curve ball — a question to which we don’t know the answer. I didn’t have any problem admitting, “I don’t know, but let’s go inside (the flight school) and look up the answer.” Apparently, according to the Reddit posts, there are too many CFIs out there who won’t admit to not knowing “everything,” and just make something up. Which seems dangerous, to say the least — passing on erroneous info to a flight student.
7) Overcharging: Apparently, according to the Reddit comments, too many CFIs are overcharging for post-flight briefings. I never charged. After the flight, I’d talk to the student about the flight while walking into the FBO; talk to them while signing their log book; maybe spend five minutes after that with a combo plane talk and simple shooting the bull, about football, whatever. Ground school, however, is an entirely different matter. It’s cheaper than a flight, but it should be done in 1-hour blocks and charged accordingly.
8) Talking too much: None of the instructors who took me along my two-year journey from complete pilot novice to certified flight instructor were guilty of talking too much. They were probably too scared with me at the controls.
9) Not talking enough: There are some people in life who are men/women of few words; laconic. But that’s not the personality conducive to teaching. To instruct well, one has to talk — a lot. The trick is finding the balance between too much and too little.
10) Riding the controls: Again, there’s a fine balance between too much and too little. As the flight instructor, depending on what procedure you’re teaching, you have to have your hands close to the dual controls to take over quickly if things start to go bad. Teaching crosswind landings is a case in point. So is instructing the student on how to land and take off. Apparently, though, according to the comments posted on Reddit, too many CFIs always have their hands on the controls. Hard to learn how to fly unless your instructor lets you do most of the flying.
11) Being overprotective: Again, another fine balance. To learn how to fly, the student has to be allowed to make mistakes. Then you teach them how not to make the same mistakes again. The trick is, for the CFI, to determine how far to let them screw up before taking back the controls.
The biggest thing about teaching someone how to fly, from the CFI’s perspective, is that you can’t ever let down your guard. You have to be ready to take over the controls when things start to get out of hand, while letting the student make mistakes up to a point. It’s the only way they can learn how to fly.