cecil chapman

I've had my current instructor for both my Primary and Instrument training.
I've started to wonder, as I go on for my Commercial and then my CFI, if it
would be to my benefit to experience other instructors in my ongoing
training other than the one I've had through the bulk of my training?

What do y'all think (especially CFI's)?


--
--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil
PP-ASEL
Student-IASEL

Check out my personal flying adventures from my first flight to the
checkride AND the continuing adventures beyond!
Complete with pictures and text at: www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -

dudley henriques

Yes.
The CFI and II differ from the other ratings in the context that they're
both teaching ratings. Although it's important you know the mechanics
that will allow you to do this teaching, you can learn maneuvers and
procedures from where you are entering the instructor syllabus
considering the experience you already have, from just about any CFI
who's any good at all.
However, your personal emphasis on your training from this point onward
should be on learning as much of the good and the bad in the techniques
used by various instructors as you can. You already know this about your
present instructor. Stay with that instructor by all means if you so
desire, but at least try on a few additional CFI's during your training
just to "compare" techniques.
You will be amazed at how much you will learn about teaching from
observing other instructors. What you want at this point is to begin to
develop an extremely personal teaching technique that is yours alone. By
seriously observing other CFI's and how they do things, you will begin
to "borrow" some of what you observe and "eliminate"
some of what you observe.
The result should be a gathering of do's and don'ts that you will
eventually whittle down and rearrange into your own "personal" way of
presenting information and technique to your own students.
The students themselves will serve as an ongoing classroom for YOU as
well as themselves. THEY will teach you, if you are any good at all as a
CFI, more about how to better yourself as an instructor, than any
textbook you will ever read on the subject.
Bottom line on your question is that it's only as good as you will make
it, whether you do it with your present instructor or if you switch.
Basically speaking, the more exposure you get to other CFI's at this
stage, and going for this specific rating, the better all around
exposure to what you REALLY need to be learning, you will have.
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired

For personal email, please
replace the at with what goes there and
take out the Z's please!
dhenriquesZatZearthZlinkZdotZnet

greg esres

<<if it would be to my benefit to experience other instructors in my
ongoing training other than the one I've had through the bulk of my
training?>>

Depends. If your current instructor is exceptional, then the odds of
getting another like that is nearly zero. How many BMW owners go out
and buy a Chevy just to get a little variety? ;-)

On average, though, you have an average instructor, and switching will
leave you no worse off, and seeing what else is out there does have
some value.

hilton

On average, wouldn't you have a median instructor?

Hilton

flyin8

Only the ones that want real performance from a real car.

rmg1

At some point in your training your CFI should send you to ride with
another instructor for at least one flight. Its a good double check to
ensure the CFI hasn't forgotten anything and for both CFIs to get the
benefit of checking that they are teaching the same way. Your CFI
should hand select this CFI because there are some CFIs out there that
have their own PTSs that do not match the FAAs. The military
requires this swap of instructors. They refer to this as "off winging"
students. This is usually done before a checkride. Some of the local
DEs around here will ask CFIs if they've "off winged" when the CFI
goes to schedule the student's checkride.

-Robert, CFI

andrew gideon

I did my primary with four or five different CFIs. It was annoying, but it
did have it's good points.

I did my instrument with one CFII, and I think he's very good. I've been
doing commercial work with him as well, but circumstances have had me
flying with several different CFIs over the recent past. These have all
been of the older/experienced variety of CFI, mind you.

Each has taught me something new.

So my recommendation: even if you stick with your CFII for your commercial,
branch out every so often. It's a good checkpoint on your flying, you'll
get new perspective, and the possibility exists that you'll find someone
better.

I'd not have found my CFII - and learned how much I value experience in a
CFI - had I not read here that one should "shop" instructors.

- Andrew

usenetreplies

It's a good idea, especially if you're going for the CFI. That
guarantees you will learn something from every CFI you fly with - even
if it's only what not to do.

Michael

bob gardner

I definitely favor the more-than-one approach. We see from newsgroup
postings that some instructors have really weird ideas and interpretations,
and there is no other way to expose these things than by comparison with
others.

Bob Gardner

jim burns

I know I have learned different things from each of the instructors that I
have flown with over the years. Sometimes all you might learn is that you
never want to fly with the guy again, other times you'll fly with an
instructor that puts things in a totally different light making things so
easy to understand it's almost like learning through osmosis. Attach
yourself to this guys hip!

No matter what instructor you fly with keep in mind how well you learn from
him/her. This is more important whether or not your personalities match or
clash. It may be worth putting up with an irritating instructor if you are
actually learning more from him than your best buddy CFI, as long as he
doesn't discourage you.

Figure out what you need or want to learn and find a CFI that matches your
immediate needs.

When I finished my Commercial and started with my CFI, I was fortunate
enough to know another CFI that actually was a college Professor. What he
taught me was how to TEACH, not how to fly. I don't claim to be the world's
greatest pilot, but what I needed at that time was not a CFI, it was an
instructor that could give me instruction on teaching.

As far as your Commercial, find a CFI that can show you how to fly
sooooooooper smooth, not just someone that can teach you the maneuvers.
This may very well be the instructor you are currently flying with, or maybe
not. The biggest thing that I learned while preparing for my Commercial
checkride was to fly smoothly and become one with the airplane. All of the
other material for the commercial can be learned from a book (like Bob's),
but to learn how to fly smoothly, be patient and how/when to anticipate
takes an instructor that knows those things and knows how to pass them on to
you, many don't.

Jim Burns


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.744 / Virus Database: 496 - Release Date: 8/24/2004