Fellow veteran CFIs, I need some advice

[pilotkppsg]

Now, I know good and well that most every CFI gets tired with instructing, so don't take this post as a rant or a plea for a pity party because it is NOT THAT, I’m looking for constructive statements. I'm a gold seal CFI (96% pass rate out of 25 checkrides) who's been doing this about 2 1/2 years now and I’m starting to get worried that I’m developing bad habits out of sheer boredom in the cockpit. To help, please read this analogy, it might better illustrate how I feel.



Ok, have you ever seen the commercials for the Universal Studios Theme Park? Do you remember the big robotic King Kong ride? Ok, now imagine that tour guide on that King Kong ride; he's been doing this job for years: every day for 8+ hours a day he sits in front of the tour bus and gives his spiel. And when it comes time for King Kong to "attack" the little trolley, he's like "oh no, it's King Kong and he's gonna get you!" But there's a problem...he's done this so much that his enthusiasm is going quickly because he's seen it so many times before and he's gonna see it 15 more times tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day...... So, to relate it to me, I do the EXACT SAME engine kills, instrument approaches, maneuvers and whatever else day after day after day after day and I'm losing the enthusiasm I had two years ago and I’m worried that I’m getting careless in the cockpit which could lead to disaster. What do you other guys do to break this habit or at least become enthusiastic again about doing this b/c I have longer to go before I reach my career goals?



Thanks,



pilotkppsig

 

[LewisU_Pilot]

Well I am not a fellow CFI yet! However I would say it is time for you to start sending out resumes. Time to move on to bigger and better things. With 2 1/2 years of flight instructing I would think you should have enough time to meet the requirements for another job.

On another note if you are burnt out after 2 1/2 years of the exciting life as an instructor how do you think you will feel after 10 years with the majors? Just a thought.


Just my .02

 

[Cows Go Moo]

I think you said it yourself... you're doing the exact same maneuvers, approaches, etc. day after day. Stop doing that. Introduce some variety.

I instructed for 3+ years before getting on with a regional, and I loved it. If only it paid the bills a little better I probably would have done it longer. Anyway, aside from the occasional challenge of getting students to learn material, sometimes you've got to try to make things a little more exciting. Do soft field work at soft fields. Have commercial and private students fly a point to point route of airports using nothing but pilotage and a chart. Bring your instrument students up in IMC as much as humanly possible. Spend time with students in the hangar talking to mechanics about the aircraft. I used to (in the pre 9-11 days) bring students to our airport's control tower when we couldn't fly due to weather. There are lots of ways to add just enough spice to get enthusiastic about the job again.

 

[Bluecruiser]

Well I am not a fellow CFI yet! However I would say it is time for you to start sending out resumes. Time to move on to bigger and better things. With 2 1/2 years of flight instructing I would think you should have enough time to meet the requirements for another job.

On another note if you are burnt out after 2 1/2 years of the exciting life as an instructor how do you think you will feel after 10 years with the majors? Just a thought.


Just my .02

In all fairness, there is a huge difference between instructing full-time and many other 135 or 121 jobs. The first that comes to mind is that you can pay your electric bill on time. Remember, no career is perfect. A "good" instructor does a lot more than just show up after the student (with 8 hours) does the preflight and then sits flying for an hour. Many of us have found ourselves flying with very questionable equipment, constantly trying to re-motivate lazy students, and generally putting our butts on the line each day....why do you think your life insurance costs less when you are not a practicing CFI? Instructing is a heck of a lot more fun now that I don't have
to do it full-time and I can have a choice about where and who I fly with.

For someone with 300 hours, you have hardly done any flying yourself. Don't rush to get on his case quite yet....he's probably an excellent instructor and teacher...this business isn't always about going to the 'majors.'

 

[hydroflyer]

I too instucted for over 2 years and have nearly 1800 dual given so I can kind of relate. Maybe the first thing that would be good is to take a couple of extra days off, assuming that you can afford it, and go relax.

Are you teaching 61 or 141? Is there another instructor there that you can swap students with for a flight? We used to do this at our flight school in the event someone hit a brick wall in their learning and just needed a new perspective to get over the hurdle.

How many students do you have and are most or all of them working on the same certificate/rating? Is there a way to get a bigger variety of students on your schedule? That could help to break the monotony and make things more interesting. With 2 1/2 years instructing, I would imagine you would have some seniority and maybe the chance to pick some students.

Are there any local airports that you haven't been to? Go head to those. Even the traffic pattern doesn't have to be stale. I could go up with a student and on 9 patterns, do something different everytime, from go-arounds, forward slips, short/soft, and landings at each flap setting.

The suggestion of visiting a tower or even FSS is good as well. I was at a non-towered airport, but on some foggy days, I would call up the tower (class D) that was a 20 minute drive away and see if we could drive over for a visit. You know if it is foggy, they will have plenty of time to talk and it helps to give the students confidence when talking on the radio. Also going to see the mechanics and having your student talk to them helps out. See if they can identify the parts of the engine. If they can't have them narrow it down by where the lines attach (such as a pump), where it is located, etc.

When it comes to ground instruction, instead of just telling the students what the answer is to many of their questions, show them where the answer is located. They may forget the correct answer over time, but knowing where to look seems to last longer. When they plan a cross-country flight, ask them to tell you what classes of airspace they will fly thru and what altitudes they will change at.

Hopefully these suggestions will help and even stir up new ideas for you. Good luck.

 

[LewisU_Pilot]

In all fairness, there is a huge difference between instructing full-time and many other 135 or 121 jobs. The first that comes to mind is that you can pay your electric bill on time. Remember, no career is perfect. A "good" instructor does a lot more than just show up after the student (with 8 hours) does the preflight and then sits flying for an hour. Many of us have found ourselves flying with very questionable equipment, constantly trying to re-motivate lazy students, and generally putting our butts on the line each day....why do you think your life insurance costs less when you are not a practicing CFI? Instructing is a heck of a lot more fun now that I don't have
to do it full-time and I can have a choice about where and who I fly with.

For someone with 300 hours, you have hardly done any flying yourself. Don't rush to get on his case quite yet....he's probably an excellent instructor and teacher...this business isn't always about going to the 'majors.'

I never claimed to of done a lot of flying or to have the knowledge of a 10k plus pilot. I was simply stating my opinion. Hence the .02. I never said he was not an excellent instructor and I was simply using the majors as an example. So please do not put words in my mouth. Thank you.

 

[pilotkppsg]

I usually do 141, but I get the occasional 61 commercial guy and the multi is done 61. Ive got multi kids, a few IFRs and some Comm. ASEL guys too, i'm gonna take a few days and go fish. I think I need to find a hobby completely unrealted to aviation and exploit it for a few days.

 

[PropsR4Boats]

Thats the thing to do. The guys that do the King Kong rides don't eat sleep breath King Kong Ride. So you shouldn't do that with Airplanes. Go fishin and have fun! Don't worry about the other guy, there are no other full time flying jobs that are as brain draining as CFI'n.

 

[Goose Egg]

For me, getting to do a little glider instruction helps to break things up. It's really cool to see them catch their first thermals. Also, I'll take my students out for real-life spins, where they intentionally induce and recover from the spin (I usually demonstrate one or two just to help the learning process.) They usually really enjoy it.

And it also helps a lot to have some hobbies that have nothing to do with flying (golf, surfing, drawing/painting, and I'm dying to learn how to sail). Remember, even though we love flying, it is still a job and it is important to have a good work/life balance. I usually take at least a couple hours a day to be by myself and get my thoughts in order. Time spent at the airport doesn't count.

One other thing, if you continue to be as bored as you have been, then maybe it is time to try something new. There are definitely other "time building" flying jobs to be had besides instructing. Do you have enough time to freight dog it? That'll be something new!

-Goose

 

[JediNein]

I know one CFI that would use a different voice on the radio for each radio call, really was tough on the controllers.

I've been instructing for over 5 years. Each student is still quite different. I may be teaching the same GPS concepts to 20 different people in a week, but it is 6 different GPS units, and they have 200 different ways to not understand whatever concept. My primaries see the "impossible turn" maneuver. The IFR guys get GPS approaches in IMC which has a constant threat of a real missed (at the FAF). The GPS guys typically have high performance piston retractables, so we may fly for 20 minutes to wherever they want to do the approach.

I have one 'constant' series of cross-country trips I do with the glass cockpit transitions. Each day we visit at least three new resort destination airports. Nothing helps get the significant other interested in flying when the honey comes home and tells of his three landings at three resorts that would take 6+ hours to drive to just the first one.

Other clients have me serve as 'safety pilot' while they fly their family to wherever location. Three kids, one dog, the significant other, and the pilot make for keeping life interesting, especially when one of the kids has a low-grade ear infection.

I don't have to, nor do I, fly junkers. I don't put up with old narco or collins 'maybe they work, maybe they don't' radios. If someone doesn't like my rate, there is plenty of other flight instructors at the field that'll take care of 'em.

Hobbies are only good if you can afford them. I recently took up photography. My k-mart special was getting on my nerves, so I dumped a month's worth of work into a camera-store special. Most of the time, when a photo is bad, it's the photog's fault. Other times, it is the equipment. Not that I'd ever need to, but if required, I can tell if the pilot's and co-pilot's watches are synchronized on the GV on final when I'm on downwind.

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein