How to give a good discovery flight as a CFI

[pilotpat]

That way, you can get the dang bird in a cross-control stall. That'll keep 'em coming back for long time.

Why flame the guy? So, at speed and altitude if you're inputting a bit of rudder while someone else is turning, you're gonna cross control stall?? You have no idea what you're saying. Let these guys talk about the topic instead of trying to pick apart their ideas on how to get more people interested in aviation, you tool.

BTW, when I did intro flights, it was always more fun than "normal" lessons to me. Having someone come in who had no idea about flying and your job was to get them interested was always a challenge. Obviously, if they came in for the flight, they were already interested, however, a good instructor could shape that into a full time student. As above, the guy showing off with 60 degree banked turns, is the absolute worse thing you can do.

First ~ you have to get the cleanest airplane in the fleet. I had a choice of 152's, 172's, and Katana's. I'd let the prospect take a look at all 3, give them an idea of each capability, and allow them to make the decision. A ton of them went for the Katana simply for its looks, and then they were really sold in the sky with the visibility of the canopy. I'd allow them to ride along on the controls during take off and landing, and like most have said, at altitude let them fly as much as possible. You don't need to do anything "daring". They're flying for possibly the first time....daring enough for them! Be enthusiastic when talking to them. I don't care if they're in their 50's or older, sound like a kid when talking about learning to fly. Chances are, their flying dream began as a kid anyway. Answer every single question you can positively. DO NOT BS. Especially, when they ask about cost. If you have the ability, try to always...always put cost off to the person in charge of the flight school. You are a CFI ~ not a banker. Let someone else deal with the money issues. If they ask how much you paid, give them an idea but always remind them each student is different.

The look of an intro student is usually priceless. We had a camera and would take a pic before take off, and the front desk person would download it and print it out for them to take home at the end of the flight. Treat them well, and you could find another student on your roster very soon.

P.S. I always took the intro flights, because a lot of the other CFI's thought they had too many students and didn't want to be bothered...then at the end of the month, they always wondered why I sat atop the list of flight hours of instruction.