There is a lot of amazing self taught pilots out there
Once the dripping sarcasm is wiped off that statement ... actually, there are.
I know that I taught myself:
- the instrument rating (seriously)
- aerobatics
- low altitude aerobatics (very different than vanilla acro)
- formation
- negative G formation
- formation aerobatics
- negative G formation aerobatics
- turbine engines
- TCA ATPL
- FAA ATP
and checked myself out on many funky types. And to tell the truth,
I am merely an average pilot, that just probably works harder at it
and maybe reads a bit more about it than you do.
I have spent thousands of hours over decades instructing, and I
honestly think that the primary job of an instructor is to stop
the student from killing himself (ok, and damaging the aircraft)
while he teaches himself how to fly.
The cockpit is a truly horrible classroom. If you want to, you
can talk about what you're going to do before you go flying,
in a quiet classroom, and maybe afterwards, you can talk a
little about what happened, also in a quiet classroom. But in
the airplane, the student's brain is probably at 100% and isn't
really receptive to much more information.
It is a humbling lesson for an instructor to learn that:
- sometimes no learning takes place during instruction
- learning often takes place without any instruction
Crap away.
PS Anyone remember the Barefoot Bandit? He did pretty
well, without a single minute of dual instruction, as far as
I know.
