I started flight training last spring. I intended to be done no later than the end of July. I soloed in June and flew less after my solo than before. The reason for it was I soloed at about 16 hours and was only really prepared for prefectly calm days, which are rare at S10, not to mention the cliffs and other gust and sinker causing stuff we have. I was pretty much scared to fly on my own and new I was making mistakes.
I was having trouble with my instuctor. I would go to him (had to physically go and find him on his farm) for advice or words of wisdom and get "You've got books, look that up yourself" Ok, I can read, but it is not the same as talking it over with an experienced person, and since I am paying for his experience, I expected him to offer the information to me in a pleasant, patient, and understanding way. I even got yelled at by the old f&%k&r several times for asking something to be clarified that he thought I should have known.
So, I didn't fly. I even started thinking maybe I wasn't going to be good at it and it was better to just quit than die because I wasn't good at it.
Then I started talking to a few people around the airport who were too affraid of the guy to warn students away from him. I got some good stories about just what an asshat the guy is (along with a few about finding him passed out drunk on his farm which borders the airport) and that there is a recently laid off pilot (FBO closed) who was going to take on students at my airport.
Turns out I don't suck. Today I reached a new level of confidence in my approaches, and did it on runway 02, with a gusting crosswind. No more feeling like I am going to die 100 feet before the end of the runway, no more over correcting, no more POS alcholic flight instructor with a bad attitude that smells like pesticides.

Whats my point? My point is that if you are doing training and you are not 100% impressed with your instructor, get a new one. Also, if you know a student is using an instructor that he or she is not meshing with, advise them to move on before they waste money, get hurt, or get dead.
For what it costs to fly, it should be fun, filled with information, and safe. I wish I would have dropped the guy the first time he yelled at me instead of teaching me (I guess I was just suposed to know how to taxi down hill with a tail wind)
I now have an enthusiastic new instructor who is willing to help me get to my check ride within two weeks, and I am confident that I can safely do my cross country flights even if I get into some windy conditions at my destination.

P.S My Champ is also about a week from having paint!!!!! So hopefully I will have a flying airplane in a month, and my new instructor arrived today in a Citabria and is looking forward to signing me off to fly my Champ.

D.

Well, you have learned a valuable lesson. You got into this to learn new things didn't you?
Anyway, glad you have a great new instructor. There are a bunch of old curmudgeons around every region. They drive away the new guys and give a bad impression overall. You made the right move and not a minute too late. In time, you won't fear the wind. In fact you might look forward to it and go out just to dance with it. If you get stiff... and let fear dictate your next move... it will bite you.
Sometimes an instructor will have a hard time talking at a pace that keeps up with changing conditions. Particularly in the final moments of gusty landings. You gotta just keep at it and dance with the machine. It will come to you. And when that day finally comes, nobody can ever take it away from you. Not some old fart that yells at you, not the government, not the economy. When you have mastered the machine and expanded your limits, you will truly be a pilot. Forever. Best of luck!

flightlogic wrote:Well, you have learned a valuable lesson......................
.....................You gotta just keep at it and dance with the machine. It will come to you. And when that day finally comes, nobody can ever take it away from you. Not some old fart that yells at you, not the government, not the economy. When you have mastered the machine and expanded your limits, you will truly be a pilot. Forever. Best of luck!

Zane, can you ad a "like" button just like Facebook has? Cause I like what he said.

Nice post. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Remember, the whole point of flying is to have fun.

Unfortunately, there are instructors out there who just shouldn't be instructing. Maybe they were good once, maybe not, but for whatever reason (assholes, poor teachers, lackadasical, whatever) they just shouldn't be doing it. We have a couple instructors around here that shouldn't.. one is more concerned with showing off to his students than with teaching them. And another just doesn't seem to care if they make progress or not -- some people need to be pushed a little in their training, and this guy just won't do it. He's had several students just sorta fade away & drop out. He sent one guy off for his checkride, finally, and then it turned out the guy was a hair short on his hours (not sure if it was solo time, nght flying, or just what). The examiner kinda got on his case about it, I guess it really discouraged the guy & he just said to hell with it. From all I've heard, this DPE is kind of an asshole too-- don't know why he gets any repeat business but he does. Those kind of attitudes don't do much to further aviation IMHO.

David,

Go read Moondog's Academy of the Air and Other Disasters. Things could be a lot worse!

And then read some CloudDancer Vol I or II to rekindle the sense of fun.

Best of luck finishing up- it sounds like you're on the right track now.

-DP

DavidB, just forget the old butthead and enjoy the rest of your training. You guys are right, some teachers will teach you how to fly a plane and others will teach you how to stay alive flying a plane!

I went for an introductory ride with a CFI from the school I did my ground school with in a Diamond Eclipse. He said "watch this". He pulled up into a stall and then just let go of everything. The plane dropped the nose, leveled out and started flying straight and level. Then he said "that's why I love these planes". I just looked at him and didn't say anything.

I doubt I will ever be flying a plane like that, and I sure as hell didn't want someone to teach me to fly in a plane that does that. My CFI was an older guy with a few crashes, lots of miles and a great attitude. Here are a couple of things he said that I really like. "I'll show you why you don't want to get close to these ridges" and "don't get many days like this to learn to fly in the wind".

We are still friends and we still fly together. I'm still learning from him! Like was said before, it's supposed to be fun! Good luck!

DavidB. wrote:Whats my point? My point is that if you are doing training and you are not 100% impressed with your instructor, get a new one. Also, if you know a student is using an instructor that he or she is not meshing with, advise them to move on before they waste money, get hurt, or get dead.

Any student I talk to, including my own, this is basically what I tell them. I tell them that the goal is for them to learn to fly, not who teaches them. They are the customer and have the right to find a new instructor if the one they have isn't working...and that includes replacing me!

Good luck!

Unfortunatly the instructor I had a problem with takes students who quit him personally, which is weird bacause it almost seems like he wants to run them off. He also owns all the property on one side of the airport and is always around. I will just continue to smile and say hi, and he will just continue to give me evil looks and act like an ass. Oh well.

I had been wanting my entire life to fly when I sold my house and decided to finally commit and take the first ride.

My first instructor was a furloughed Alaska Airlines pilot and had been flying since she was 14.

It was one of the worst customer service / educational experiences of my life. She hated instructing and she let everyone know it. Every other flight was spins. We flew something around 20 hours together and she would put me up against all the things she hated to prove a point that it wasn't fun. I never did solo with her mainly because I was scared to death the time we went to the practice area near Goose Bay and we were doing spins and what I *think* was a Q700 passes across our bow at about 1 mile away. When I freaked out and leveled the spin and dove down and to the right, she berated me to my face, then did the same again when we were in the flight school in front of a tour group.

She finally got fired... and the flight school went out of business. I sort of feel like it's a shame because some of the people made it a totally enjoyable experience. Some of them made it feel like hell.

I didn't fly again for 9 months when my loving wife encouraged me to look on Craigslist and I found someone who is now a great friend of mine and a wonderful instructor. He taught me so much in life and flying. We learned a lot together both as instructor/student and as friends.

My point is that I think it must be a natural part of the flying experience to have more than one person to teach you. I kinda think its a prerequisite because of the different teaching styles.