IFT washout. How can I motivate this guy?

[aviator1978]

I have an Air Force IFT student who has to be one of the worst. He somehow convinced the AF ROTC to give him a pilot slot, however he first must get his civilian private license. He has been in and out of the flight school since last summer. The Air Force is picking up the entire tab, including books, plotters, etc.

I cannot get this guy to study. He constantly "loses" his books, plotters, etc, and has to get new ones (all on the tab). Although he's a decent stick, he knows nothing about regulations, procedures, aircraft systems. He always has lame excuses too....like: "Oh, well the plane I'll be flying in the AF will be turbine" or "What I'll be doing in the AF is totally different from what your teaching me."

I've tried various approaches to help this guy out. I've put him in group discussions with some of my other students, but he withdraws after it becomes apparant that the others know quite a bit more than he does.

He constantly cancels flights. As I've said, he's been doing this nearly nine months. And today, he called me up and said he must be done by May, but due to all his school work won't be able to fly until mid-April. He's a freaking psych major with no job. I'm sorry, it's not that hard to balance flight training with the school work.

I've finished 2 IFT guys before him with no problems, and as much as I hate to do it I'm about to call up the UPT program and tell them he's no good (effectively ending his military flying career).

Before I do this, any advice would be appreciated. Have there been any other AF pilot candidates "wash out" of IFT?

 

[TankerDriver]

Don't feel bad about ending his military flying career. We have too many people who shouldn't be pilots in the AF to begin with because they can't fly to save their lives, but got pushed through UPT by the skin of their teeth. Unfortunately, the AF doesn't promote people based on how well they fly, but rather how much BS is on their OPR's. He'll most likely wash out of UPT if he maintains that attitude about flying. He sounds like he's not serious about flying and again, we've got enough of those here and don't need anymore. You can save the government even more money by washing him out early.

 

[Mamma]

Ditto. Bounce him out. There is no shortage of candidates and maybe the next alternate is more hungry for the opportunity than he is.

 

[Pistlpetet]

Do you have any current or former military pilots that flight instruct around there? You could put him with one of them. They will gladly tell him what he does or does not think he needs to learn. Also, if a call needs to be made to the AF, it would hold a little more weight if it was some current or former military guy. They can speak the lingo.

If that is not an Option. You being the CFI are the one in charge. It is you who decides if he knows enough to be safe out there soloing. You DON'T have to sign him off to Solo, Go X-C, Take a Written, or Take a checkride. Telling a guy who thinks he is the Sh!T that he is not worthy of soloing a C-152, or all that other stuff I mentioned, should be enough of a motivator. As you said, if he does not get his private, he has no UPT hopes.

Make sure all the other instructors are aware of his issues, in case he wants a new instructor. Be a Dick to him, because that is one thing he WILL have to get use to.

 

[viper548]

Your tax dollars are paying for this guys flight training. Either talk to whomever he reports to get his act straightened or bounce him out of there

 

[Draginass]

It is your DUTY to wash this guy out. The USAF doesn't need lazy excuse makers and I personally don't believe in second chances for attitude problems. Guys with attitudes might straighten up a little just to placate you, but rarely do they take it to heart and really change.

If you pass this guy and he goes to UPT, it'll take the IPs there about 10 minutes to get this guy's number and it's going to come back on YOU as to why you passed such an idiot through. IFT is an enjoyable cakewalk compared to UPT. If you pass him through IFT with academic and attitude problems, you're screwing another good guy out of a UPT slot.

Color him GONE. Lots of other GREAT guys waiting for his slot that will take the program seriously. Don't think twice.

 

[Flyerjosh]

Agreed. It isn't your job to hand hold him through training. One of my biggest complaints is the military often holds the standard to lowest common denominator.

If the guy doesn't come prepared to fly- don't fly. If he hasn't studied. Don't fly. SEND HIM HOME, and call his ROTC commanding officer to document the issue. If he can't cut the mustard now, why continue to prop him up.

It's not your job to make the decision about his military career... it's your job to train him. Leave ending his military career to the people that are better suited to make that decision. You just provide the details. Besides, if he isn't excelling at something fun and exciting like flying, he probably isn't the ace ROTC candidate either.

If he's untrainable, he has no place flying a multi-million dollar jet- especially when we (the taxpayers) are picking up the tab.

 

[Huggyu2]

If your contract leaves the say up to you, then make the call. Consider calling his ROTC unit commander (called the P.A.S. or Professor of Military Studies), and let him know.
If he had poor hands, he can be trained.
But with a poor attitude and work ethic, he probably shouldn't be there.

 

[SIG600]

Fook him... if he dosen't have the motivation to do it when it's being GIVEN to him, cut him loose and make room for someone that will give 100%. You'll save his training command instructors the busy work of doing it.

 

[Tweetdrvr]

Thank goodness for CFIs who care about quality training and motivating their students. In the early days of the IFT program, candidates were only required to have 40 hours of flight training and a solo under their belt. No requirment to take the private written or complete the checkride. I saw plenty of students who had been taken for 40 hour joyrides by their flight schools. They were almost worse off than the ones who came to UPT in that brief period of time in the late 90s with ZERO flight time. Now that IFT requires completion of the private before UPT they are showing up more prepared and more knowledgable on airspace and rules.

This guy sounds like he has dug himself into a pretty deep hole and doesn't realize it. I don't know the conditions of his pilot slot or commissioning plan, but here is the reality he faces. The Air Force is in the middle of a so called Force Shaping. Lieutenants who fail to complete UPT for whatever reason, self elimination, academic or flying troubles are being given their walking papers to return to civilian life, if they are not academy grads or ROTC grads with engineering degrees. Trying to do IFT and normal college course loads at the same time was proably a mistake. But now that he is in the line of fire, he only has one choice--Yoda said it best in Jedi "there is no try, do or do not."

I read the IFT paperwork a few years ago, because I was going to try to be the CFI for a local ANG candidate in my area. My understanding is the private checkride is requirement for entry into UPT. Failure of the checkride would result in a loss of the UPT slot. There was language in there that allowed for a review by the candidates supervisor, if the candidate failed the intial but passed the retake, but my understanding was this was to be the exception rather than the rule.

It sounds like you have done everything right to motivate this guy. If he doesn't soon see the light, the light he eventually sees will be the train coming to run over his dreams.

If you can solo him safely, then do. If you think he is ready for the checkride, then sign him off. If not, then don't place your reputation with the local designated examiners at risk. It is ok to have a student fail a checkride here and there for the occasional bad day in the plane, but if they are solid on their knowledge of rules and regulations your reputation will remain intact, if you sign off a weak swimmer who doesn't pass, then the next student you send up will get grilled that much harder. No designated examiner is going to give him a break just because he is on his way to UPT. That private ticket still means he could go flying in a 172 with his mom, dad, sister, brother or girlfriend and do something stupid with potential deadly consequences.

I would rather see the Air Force spend $5000 now to find out people can't cut it before they come to pilot training, than to see them pay their PCS move costs to UPT, their move to their next duty station or civilian life after washing out, their lieutenant pay for six months, plus the JP8 it will take for the 12 or so flying hours it will take to really get the process rolling to get them out of pilot training .