Flight Instructor Pay

[Hedley]

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[gaamin]

Edit

[Hedley]

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[loopa]

Interaction with more experienced instructors helps in that direction too

Absolutely! Any questions, ask your supervising
class 1/2 instructor - by CAR, you are supposed
to have one at your FTU, as a class 4.

Learn all you can about flying.

Learn all you can about teaching.

The two have nothing to do with each other.

Asking questions and educating yourself is far better than being a maacho

Of course if you ask what a magneto is and you're a PPL... then hmmm it might be better to shut up.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Interaction with more experienced instructors helps in that direction too

Absolutely! Any questions, ask your supervising
class 1/2 instructor - by CAR, you are supposed
to have one at your FTU, as a class 4.

Learn all you can about flying.

Learn all you can about teaching.

The two have nothing to do with each other.

Asking questions and educating yourself is far better than being a maacho

Of course if you ask what a magneto is and you're a PPL... then hmmm it might be better to shut up.

Heard at the airport

Instructor: What is a Magneto

Student: After long pause. Ah the really little size of those metal MAGlight flashlights ?

[iflyforpie]

HA!

I remember teaching AME apprentices what a 'mag drop' is. Take an old mag off the healing shelf, dust it off, DROP!!! Just please don't do it with the one that has the $1000 piece of paper attached.... Next up, compass swing....

[Dagwood]

Next up, compass swing....

Then after that we'll clean up with the Prop Wash

Anyone know what a tail wind is?

[Big Pistons Forever]

Thanks for the advice.
These are exactly what I have in mind towards "more efficient", since the first days of my FI training. It just doesn't come naturally (yet!) for some of the steps I teach, so I work hard towards that. Interaction with more experienced instructors helps in that direction too.

It is very nice to see somebody who wants be a good instructor. Efficency will come with practice and I second Hedley's comments. One of the things which IMO is not emphasised enough in flying instructor training is the importance placed on setting a good example. The only frame of refernce for the new PPL student is the instructor. They will do what you do , not what you say. So if you cut corners while in the airplane, rush through the checklist s, don't follow the yellow taxiway line, climb out with the ball not centred etc etc . In other words all the little things which represent a "good enough" attitude instead of striving for the best, well it will be perfectly mirrored in your students. It is easy to be sharp on the first flight, men get separated from the boys when it is hot and bumpy, you are running late and on your fifth flight. It will tempting to lets things slide. As an instructor you won`t get any respect from the airport know it alls, and you sure won`t make much money, but the good news for me was the satisfaction I found seeing my students flourish. It is something someone who has never instructed will ever understand.

[MichaelP]

Anyone know what a tailwind is?

Yes, I test flew one from Biggin Hill.

[Lurch]

Heard at the airport

Instructor: What is a Magneto

Student: After long pause. Ah the really little size of those metal MAGlight flashlights ?

During my PPL my instructor and I were watching a Dash-8 running it's engines and he kept saying how they were testing the mags and he was able to see each drop. I didn't know any better at the time and couldn't figure it out because I saw no difference. I hope he was pulling my leg.

I was talking to an instructor a while ago and they thought the plane had one mag for each spark plug, no he wasn't kidding.

Lurch

[loopa]

Asking questions and educating yourself is far better than being a maacho

Of course if you ask what a magneto is and you're a PPL... then hmmm it might be better to shut up.

Heard at the airport

Instructor: What is a Magneto

Student: After long pause. Ah the really little size of those metal MAGlight flashlights ?

AHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHAAHAHHA

[SAR_YQQ]

During my PPL my instructor and I were watching a Dash-8 running it's engines and he kept saying how they were testing the mags and he was able to see each drop. I didn't know any better at the time and couldn't figure it out because I saw no difference. I hope he was pulling my leg.

I was talking to an instructor a while ago and they thought the plane had one mag for each spark plug, no he wasn't kidding.

Unless this Dash-8 was flying with reciprocating engines, you won't find many turbine engines with magnetos and spark plugs. Turbines don't require a source of ignition after they have been started.

Back to Instructor pay - if you're a Class 3 or above and want stable work on nice planes - Allied Wings is always hiring a few each month. Salary, benefits, nifty nomex flight suits and your own office cubicle + phone. The only downside is that you would have to work with us green suiters.

Edit: plus one other obvious downside - you must also live in Manitoba.

[FlaplessDork]

During my PPL my instructor and I were watching a Dash-8 running it's engines and he kept saying how they were testing the mags and he was able to see each drop. I didn't know any better at the time and couldn't figure it out because I saw no difference. I hope he was pulling my leg.

I was talking to an instructor a while ago and they thought the plane had one mag for each spark plug, no he wasn't kidding.

Good ol' C.E. Don't forget about how Density Altitude decreases with increased altitude. haha He argued that was true with me for hours.

[Shiny Side Up]

Its unfortunate that more pilots don't make a better effort to become more mechanically inclined. Knowing when something's wrong will save your life. Contrary to popular belief, its not just gremlins which cause things to go wrong with airplanes.

[MichaelP]

make a better effort to become more mechanically inclined

That's because there's perhaps a certain amount of laziness, and the fact that by learning more than you need to you might be delaying your career.
Many people are in a hurry these days, and don't enjoy the learning journey so a dog leg to learn something mechanical might mean someone gets to your goal before you do.

[Shiny Side Up]

You're right Michael, I forgot the group of people I was talking about who generally prioritize getting somewhere fast, litterally or figuratively, over getting there not dead. Usually it has something directly to do with why they wanted to be a pilot in the first place, which might be sort of the essence of the problem. I guess I'm always stuck in the idea that pilots should be competent men and women.

[MichaelP]

The ideals of Ernest Gann, Richard Bach, and all those biographies of aviators who strove hard towards perfection are long gone perhaps.
Today's just in time philosophy is also just enough when it comes to how much you know.

This of course is the argument between the old CAA system of study much more than is absolutely necessary against the FAA learn the answers and write the exam method.

Do we treat our career as a profession or a job?
Are we artists or are we labourers?

[Hedley]

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[MichaelP]

Go down to Sean Tucker's school, for example - it's not far from you, just south of SF.

Manifest Destiny has not brought that sort of passion here yet.
Canada is losing a lot of its culture in its young as the education system and PC values change their upbringing.
I grew up in the Pointe Claire culture of the 70's... There were a lot of changes to the way children were educated then.
I think it is in some ways better now, but in some ways not.
Being competitive and being allowed to fail is important to what we do, I think.

Passion for flying is somewhat passe in a society which has become more and more a 'keep up with the Jones's" one.
IMHO with my past experience I would say that only a small percentage of students have a real burning passion to be a pilot.
And what is interesting is that of those few that have this burning passion, only 50% or so have the education/life experience maturity perhaps to be able to learn the new material well.
The schools are not producing many people with the ability to self study and imagine.

The flying training learning process is unfamiliar to many.
It is learning based on the old school system perhaps...

[Shiny Side Up]

I think it is in some ways better now, but in some ways not.
Being competitive and being allowed to fail is important to what we do, I think.

Not just being allowed to fail Michael, but realising that there is consequences and penalty for failure. Its not that people aren't failing these days, its that they aren't being held accountable for their failures. Its not to say that people can't occasionally fail at the task, but they must be prepared to pay the costs or deal with the consequences. People are becomming less and less equipped to do so. For most people I know, they have a singular method to deal with trouble these days - they call for help. With the advent of modern telecommunications its very accessible for everyone, their emergency kit for life consists of their phone. Because a wide skill set for dealing with problems is no longer necessary, people are increasingly becoming specialists - pilots for example endeavor to become very skilled at flying their airplane - occassionally this becomes very skilled at flying their airplane on a particular route or under a particular circumstance. They have an increasingly narrowed skillset which inhibits their ability to deal with problems. Heinlein was right, specialization is for insects.