An interesting topic came up during the AOPA conference:
http://http://www.avweb.com/news/aopa/AOPASummit2010_Training_Needs_Tuneup_203603-1.html
and the audio interview:
AOPA Study Says to Accentuate the Cool
Basically, they're saying that CFIs could have a more far reaching effect on retaining student after training and thus on the number of total pilots. Which, of course is a good thing.
I totally agree: the quality of the average CFI at your typical flight school is pretty awful. I am fairly typical of most recreational pilots in that I started training, stopped, had breaks etc for many years before finally getting down to it and getting my license. Throw in some BFRs and endorsements and I have flown with and known probably a couple of dozen instructors in my life. I would say out of those, the majority were just plain BAD instructors. I am not talking about their flying skills here, but their instructional - and motivational - skills. In the AOPA interview they mention that most CFIs would rather be doing anything else than teaching people to fly and this is totally true. The instant they get offered a different kind of job they are out of there.
The lack of professionalism is addressed in the interview too; this does not mean fancy white shirts, in my opinion. It means actually showing up for a lesson with a lesson plan ( I have never seen an instructor with one) not with "OK, what are we working on today again...?" It means not playing with your fancy cell phone during flights. It means not just sitting there looking out of the window and spouting instructions pulled from rote memory and going through the motions. I could go on and on. Not one instructor ever mentioned such a thing as the Practical Test Standards to me. Nobody ever showed me an actual syllabus of the training required. Nobody ever figured out why I was having trouble with judging my flare height; they simply sat there until I worked it out for myself. Etc etc...
It's a pretty bad state of affairs and I have no doubt we lose many pilots to such indifference and incompetence. The Fundamentals of Instructions exam is widely regarded by CFIs as a pile of erudite nonsense that has no place in the real world - if they actually applied some of the principles in there, they might become better instructors. But they have no real incentive; all they want is to get out and get a "better" job. if I had to do my training all over, I would look long and hard for somebody who actually enjoys teaching flight and save myself a lot of frustration.
This is one of the many reasons I am working on becoming a CFI myself; I can see few things more rewarding than making somebody into a pilot and if we had more instructors out there with a better attitude we might reduce that 70% drop out rate a little.
Thank goodness there are some exceptions still out there.
http://http://www.avweb.com/news/aopa/AOPASummit2010_Training_Needs_Tuneup_203603-1.html
and the audio interview:
AOPA Study Says to Accentuate the Cool
Basically, they're saying that CFIs could have a more far reaching effect on retaining student after training and thus on the number of total pilots. Which, of course is a good thing.
I totally agree: the quality of the average CFI at your typical flight school is pretty awful. I am fairly typical of most recreational pilots in that I started training, stopped, had breaks etc for many years before finally getting down to it and getting my license. Throw in some BFRs and endorsements and I have flown with and known probably a couple of dozen instructors in my life. I would say out of those, the majority were just plain BAD instructors. I am not talking about their flying skills here, but their instructional - and motivational - skills. In the AOPA interview they mention that most CFIs would rather be doing anything else than teaching people to fly and this is totally true. The instant they get offered a different kind of job they are out of there.
The lack of professionalism is addressed in the interview too; this does not mean fancy white shirts, in my opinion. It means actually showing up for a lesson with a lesson plan ( I have never seen an instructor with one) not with "OK, what are we working on today again...?" It means not playing with your fancy cell phone during flights. It means not just sitting there looking out of the window and spouting instructions pulled from rote memory and going through the motions. I could go on and on. Not one instructor ever mentioned such a thing as the Practical Test Standards to me. Nobody ever showed me an actual syllabus of the training required. Nobody ever figured out why I was having trouble with judging my flare height; they simply sat there until I worked it out for myself. Etc etc...
It's a pretty bad state of affairs and I have no doubt we lose many pilots to such indifference and incompetence. The Fundamentals of Instructions exam is widely regarded by CFIs as a pile of erudite nonsense that has no place in the real world - if they actually applied some of the principles in there, they might become better instructors. But they have no real incentive; all they want is to get out and get a "better" job. if I had to do my training all over, I would look long and hard for somebody who actually enjoys teaching flight and save myself a lot of frustration.
This is one of the many reasons I am working on becoming a CFI myself; I can see few things more rewarding than making somebody into a pilot and if we had more instructors out there with a better attitude we might reduce that 70% drop out rate a little.
Thank goodness there are some exceptions still out there.
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