firing a flight instr.

[KATL8R26L]

How do you give a flight instructor the boot that is waisting your time and money in this field.


iam sick of flying in general, and going up with this person is wasting not only my time but also money , and it looks like this field has more inert problems than any one one cares to admit to,

any ideas????????????????????

 

[PennEagle]

Presumably will all those certificates and ratings, you're doing your CFI-A? There again, maybe you're not.

First, decide what your sick of: flying or your instructor. If it's the former, then stop wasting your money and time. If it's the latter, just talk to him and if you can't resolve the issue(s), find a new one.

 

[jdog78]

Flight training is very expensive and most people can't afford to put up with a bad instructor. Even without knowing the nature of your problems with him, it's probably best that you just find another instructor. Just tell him that you've decided to continue training with someone else. He can't do anything about it.
I know from experience how one's opinion of flying can sour just by having a sh!tty instructor. I hope your new instructor will help heal the damage caused by this experience.

john

 

[bigD]

You don't really give any specifics about the situation, but unless this instructor has been an outward ahole to you, I'd recommend talking to him about what upset you. Just dumping all your lessons with a note to never call you again is a pretty "low road" thing to do, IMO.

 

[Timebuilder]

Does anyone think this is a lttle like a call to Dr. Laura?

One side of a problem, no real specifics, and a thirty second solution.

Real life doesn't work this way.

Consult with someone you respect in aviation, and give specifics of the situation. Be honest about your abilities, and consider that if you have received criticism, that it may be warranted. It may be a personality conflict, a teaching style (as Jedi suggested), or a learning plateau that is the culprit.

Maybe, as you metioned, you just don't like to fly very much. This can make ANY instructor seem like a jerk. After all, if you don't like flying anymore, who could possibly teach you in a way that you'd like?

I have met some students who really just want to go up for an afternoon of flying for pleasure, rather than learning. If that's the case, just let your instructor know that is what you want. Most people will be happy to let you drill holes in the sky all afternoon, if that's what you want to do. If not, most people will be trying to turn you into a pilot.

Becoming a pilot requires dedication. It may not seem worthwhile to you, and that requires introspection and a frank conversation.

 

[tarp]

Commercial, Multi, Instrument and 737 hours.

And?

Like was said - no info on what has you steamed. How many instructors have you had before? Just one? And this guy is your second? Most people have seen about 5-6 instructors with your ratings and time.

There are good and bad instructors, there are good and bad students. There are often cases when students and instructors don't see eye to eye.

Letting a CFI or student go is a very easy affair. You have a face to face discussion where you calmly point out the differences in your approach to flying and then you terminate the relationship.

If you are going for YOUR CFI rating now, I will point out that this seems to be the hardest rating to teach or for the student to accept. It's tough to turn to someone and say "well you basically know everything for this curriculum because you've already done it - except for the teaching part". The biggest problem I've had is that there isn't much air time but a lot of ground school. People with advanced ratings seem to want to fly and think they are done with the books. I'm not about the books per se, but I have to evaluate how this candidate is going to teach - this requires ground school time and tedious non-flying related stuff. Sorry, it $ucks, but I always ask people are you going to teach or is this just a rating. 90% answer they want to teach others to fly. Well, if you're going to teach others to fly, then I have a moral responsibility to make sure you are going to be a good and disciplined "teacher". This means FOI and working on your people skills not your flying skills. I probably can get a trained seal to fly an airplane (although the fish smell is tough to get around). But a teacher requires some work.

Hope you get your problem resolved - when flying ceases to be fun, it is just a tedious affair.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

iam sick of flying in general, and going up with this person is wasting not only my time but also money , and it looks like this field has more inert problems than any one one cares to admit to,

Take a break from flying. Try a vacation or something. For whatever reason you're obviously soured. I'm not sure what you mean by "inert" problems in aviation. Right now the industry is in the crapper and will likely take some years to recover. There are typically plenty of pilots and not so many jobs at any given time so it can take many years to get a decent job and seniority at a good airline. The late 90's were a fluke. It wasn't this bad during/after Gulf War 1 but we had quite a downturn then as well.

 

[bobbysamd]

Firing a Flight Instructor v. A Positive Attitude

iam sick of flying in general, and going up with this person is wasting not only my time but also money , and it looks like this field has more inert problems than any one one cares to admit to

(emphasis added)

Are you sure that all this is your instructor's fault? I have to question if it is you who has the problem.

If you are as sick of flying as you say and you feel that aviation has all the problems that you allege, perhaps the business is not for you. If either or both are the case, no instructor in the world will be able to reach you.

Just like the others, I gather that you are going for a CFI rating. Accordingly, I'd suggest that you reread the section in the FOI about the Law of Readiness and the section about defense mechanisms. Perhaps they apply to you - for whatever reason(s) - and you're projecting onto your instructor.

Good luck with whatever direction you choose.

 

[jetdriven]

just fly with another flight instructor and see if he fits your learning style better. If so, then take your current CFI aside, and, politically, tell him that "jim fits my learning style better and I would like to fly with him from now on."
It happened to me as a CFI a few times and there are no hard feelings. I have a certain way of teaching, and if the student doesnt "get it" with me I will send him with anothewr CFI and usually it worked for the best.

 

[C425Driver]

I had a student who said he was sick of flying. I had noticed his declining enthusiasm, attitude and performance and asked him about it several times before he finally admitted that he was sick of it. We sat down and talked about why this was and we explored all possible options, including any problems with me. It turned out that he was burnt out on training. He studied aviation in every free moment and spent long hours at the airport and it caught up with him. The remedy that he decided on was to take a break from training. Go up and do some fun X-C's for the $100 hamburger and come back when he was ready and slow down the training schedule. I offered the option of switching instructors and he chose to stay with me. He came back a month later with a renewed enthusiasm and he passed his commercial checkride about 6 weeks later. It was four years ago and we still stay in touch.

You say that you want to boot your instructor, but you are also sick of flying in general. Your instructor might just be one part of the problem. Take a look at yourself and see if part of the solution lies with you. Your training environment should be comfortable yet challenging for you. I don't know your specifics, but hopefully the scenario above might help a little.

Good luck,
C425Driver

 

[kabz]

Hard to believe you haven't sussed how to deal with all this stuff yet ... I learnt the hard way about bad and good instructors, and bad and good schools ...

You shouldn't ever 'dump' or badmouth an instructor, as the aviation world is just too small.

I kinda just flew with different people for a bit in the early days, and tried to sort out what I needed. I ended up working with a great instructor who did it just on saturdays, cos he loved instructing.

Do you ever take people up and let them fly a bit, cos single handedly building hours, by yourself, in a 152 can suck. Put a friend in the RHS/LHS and the situation can be transformed.

Good Luck, but flying should never suck. After all, you are an aviation god !!!!! (But stay humble)