First Day as a CFI

[Tinstaafl]

Some general principles & guidelines that work(ed) for me (I rarely instruct now) or I would often see in inexperienced instructors (when I was the Chief & teaching to instruct... )


1. New students have **very** limited capacity. They can either fly the plane....or listen to you. Not both.

Don't try to 'teach & explain' too much in the air. Explain prior to flight, demonstrate in flight, give *short* instructions to direct their actions eg one or two words at a time. YOU fly while you talk a bit about the next thing to be done.


2. New instructors tend to talk too much. You know that 'Far Side' cartoon about 'What the dog owner says: <long list of various commands & conversation>' vs 'What the dog hears: Blah blah blah, Rover. Blah blah blah blah blah, Rover, blahblah? That's also a good analogy to students.

Remember they're operating near/at/over their maximum capacity. There isn't much left over to attend to your epithets.

Too much talking also can make the student feel pressured, distracted & annoyed. They don't always need a noise in their ear while they practice a manouvre.

3. As someone mentioned: Always have the controls within reach near/on the ground. Not applying pressure though. I keep my feet *just* touching the pedals so I can feel whether the student is using them correctly or at all, and my hands in my lap.

In general, there are common mistakes that most students make in particular lesson in the syllabus HOWEVER every student will make a mistake that is wholly unique...

4. Try watching your student. If they're having a problem you may find the solution in where's s/he is or is not looking.

5. Following on from earlier, unload the student. Part of your job is to relieve the student of extraneous workload so they can focus on the task at hand ie devote all their necessarily limited resources to it and not dilute them with other items.

As their skill & capacity improves through the lesson - and through their course - then hand more & more back to them.

6. Be creative. Try to isolate what particular aspect of an overall problem is causing them difficulty, eliminate other tasks while those one or two items are practiced eg x/wind landings: provided their normal landings are OK - ie landings aren't an underlying problem - then what could be stopping them from using a x/wind technique effectively? It's only an overlay on top of the more fundamental landing skill. Not enough skill at slipping? Go to the training area & practice a few then come back. Also do them in the circuit pattern. Not enough time (for the student) to establish an appropriate amount of x/wind correction in the flare? Start it earlier. Not getting the drift controlled? Fly level above the runway & have them follow through while you maintain the centreline --> slip upwind to the RWY edge --> reduce the correction to move back to the C/L --> move downwind to the other edge --> back to the C/L. Then get them to do it. If necessary you control power while they concentrate on the slipping task.


7. Think 'chaining' ie how to break up a manoeuvre into smaller chunks for initial learning, then join the chunks together to make the whole manoeuvre.

8. Don't fly if you don't feel you can handle the conditions OR teach the student effectively in those conditions. On the other hand you need to 'stretch' your abilities a tiny bit so you can improve. Just don't stretch them too much at any one time.

Whilst students can get disappointed if they don't fly if the weather isn't appropriate for that day's lesson, they'll be much happier in the long run after they've learnt you're not wasting their money for them.

They'll also carry the lesson that there are times when choosing to fly is NOT the correct decision.

9. Always, but always, demonstrate your own good standard of airmanship. DON'T talk about the rules & safety then ignore them. Monkey see, monkey do...

10. Enjoy your student's successes!!!! It's truly a wonderful feeling to see your student's happiness after their first solo, flight test etc. Especially knowing that your own skills were part of that success.

 

[Alchemy]

I definitely need to work on keeping my talking to a minimum with student pilots......I find myself talking non-stop while we're in the air, but in the back of my mind I know the student is only comprehending a fraction of what I'm saying. I like the suggestion that I should be flying the airplane anytime I'm trying to explain something.

There is an overwhelming quantity of information for a new student pilot to absorb. Driving home after my first flight as an instructor with a zero time student, I started to wonder if I would ever be able to teach somebody EVERYTHING they need to know to be a good private pilot. I began to realize, that unless a person is highly-self motivated, there is almost no way I can make them a pilot. I just hope I can find some students who are willing to read and study beyond the scope of what I tell them during our lessons.

 

[Tinstaafl]

You *can't* teach them everything. None of us know everything, for start. Nor can you turn them into clones of your own skill level.

The best you can do is assist them to develop a modicum of skill in relative safety, emphasise the 'Do not go here.' things and encourage them to self critique & develop good airmanship through your own adherence to such things. At least then they'll have a good grounding from which they can go away & develop their skills themselves.

Don't be afraid to cock up a demo but NEVER, EVER try to fudge that it was OK. Admit it wasn't a good demo, explain why & how you'll correct it. You're not expected to be perfect. A balls up in a demo is a golden opportunity for the student to learn from since they'll have had some spare capacity to attend & observe the situation. Especially if you comment while it's happening. It also shows self critique & analysis in action.

It also makes you appear a bit more human & less godlike (to them) which is itself no bad thing.

 

[bobbysamd]

More on being positive and demonstrations

Be careful with the tone of voice you use with your students. Some people always sound annoyed, even if they are not. If you always sound annoyed, your students will think that you are always annoyed with them. At times, you will be annoyed with your students and you should say so.

Having said that, you must still exhibit a positive attitude. You will do so naturally if you enjoy what you are doing. I did. Yes, there are people who are aces and naturals, and they make great students, but the masses also can learn, with many of them eventually becoming excellent pilots.

You do need to push your students, especially in a 141 setting which might have have limited training hours. Some students, especially professionals and the highly intelligent, resent an intense approach. It matters less under most Part 61 programs, but, if they are training under Part 141, they need to understand that they do not have unlimited training hours, that being pushed is really for their own good and must meet you at least halfway to facilitate their success.

Finally, don't do much demonstrating. Let them do the flying. Show something once and let them try it. You can repeat a demonstration if they aren't getting it. One other thing you can do is let them play flight instructor. Tell them to describe what they are doing as they are doing it. They may not be as verbose as you, but you can at least determine if they understand what you want them to do by hearing them say it as they do it.

My flight instructor told me twenty-two years ago when I first started flying that the instructor-student relationship is an intense one-on-one relationship. His statement proved to be very true.

 

[pilotjww]

I'm with Alchemy on needing to find a tighter talk-squelch setting. Also, I think it's impossible to teach everything, the infinite goal. You just want to cover the basic fundamentals, expose them to as many scenarios as they have time and money for, and then trust their prior experience and good judgement will carry them through the learning experiences they are bound to have on their own. Instructing in airplanes is so fascinating, given the skills, risks, and personal responsibilities required.

 

[BoDEAN]

Great thread
I'm about 130 hours dual given since last September, I'm still learning!

 

[Lead Sled]

You guys have left out the first and most importent rule of flight instructing...

"Do what I mean, not what I say."

Seriously, you don't have to know it all to be a good instructor, you just have to know where it find it all. Remember, in any teaching situation, it's always the teacher who learns the most. The same thing applies in aviation. Getting your CFI and actively instructing for a while will teach you things about flying that you will only learn through instructing.

In my case, I had an ATP and over 3,000 hours before I got my CFI. I thought that somehow I had "dodged a bullet" by being able to go directly into Part 135 (charter) flying after I got my commercial and instrument rating. I was wrong. I ended up getting my CFI certificates so that I could keep my hand in flying while I went to school full time to finish up my degree. I learned a lot and to this day the lessons are very valuable and useful. Becoming a CFI, in my opinion it is one of the most important steps you can take in your aviation career.

This leads to the question - How much time do you need to spend as an active CFI? That's a very good question. My personal opinion is that you'll probably get about all your going to get out of flight instructing after 500 to 1000 hours. Remember, there is a big difference between 1,000 hours of experience and 1 hour of experience repeated 1,000 times. Flight instruction tends to fall into the latter category.

Enjoy it, but make sure that you're giving your students what they hired you to give them. When (or if) the time comes that you aren't, then step a side.

Lead Sled

 

[taloft]

Remember to set limits on your own abilities as an instructor. Don't worry if other instructors have higher personal limits. Make sure that your limits match your abilities, the abilities of your students, and that they always know they are in a safe environment for learning. It will take some time for you to figure out what you're comfortable with. Start with a low crosswind number and work your way up. Remember, you are learning too.

Take over the controls when you feel you need to. You can work on it later if you're being too "handsy", but you MUST take control of the aircraft when the situation demands it. As an instructor, you have a safety margin that must be maintained and sometimes it's measured in minutes, sometimes seconds and sometimes split-seconds. When you're working in the seconds to split-seconds range, you must always be on your toes. As you start teaching multi students, you'll find that the safety margin can shrink even more quickly. Know what your "reaction time" is and never cross the line.

 

[labbats]

Great thread
I'm about 130 hours dual given since last September, I'm still learning!

BoDean. MOVE. Move now!
130 dual given in over 6 months is awful. Seriously. I realize it's winter in the midwest, but even I made 30-40 hours a month at the worst of it. In the south, you'll make double that monthly. You've got no strings tied to you, and at this rate you would have 135 minimums in 2007.

As for centerline, I've got a bunch of weird analogies.

I give them one where they are from L.A. and are one of those weirdos who live in Venice Beach. So naturally, being strange they have a giant sail attached to the top of their 1984 cadillac. As they drive down the freeway, they have a stiff wind from the Ocean. As they drive South, they have to turn the wheel to the right to counteract the stiff wind on their car-sail. As they speed up, they need less and less right correction because of their forward momentum, etc. Then, being in L.A., they naturally hit traffic at a standstill. As they slow down, they need more and more right correction for the wind. The same holds true for an airplane on final. You need to add more and more correction as you slow down and flare to hold centerline.

If that still doesn't get them thinking right, they usually understand starting a takeoff in a Xwind, with full aileron into the wind and less as they speed up. I tell them to imagine me videotaping their takeoff and then playing it back to them in reverse. One of the two generally gets the job done.