Discouraged "new" flight instructors

[tractor747]

Just some points from a new instructor's point of view,

Yeah, when it's time to teach that PGI in front of a class 1 acting like a 'student' It frickin takes me minutes to collect my thoughts, make sure I got my notes out, pens, markers, etc. I stumble because I feel that pressure to perform well and I screw it up until I get the hang of it and then it gets 'better'.

And from what I am reading here, my true honest opinion is if you want to be a flight instructor you either need to have like 1000 hours in command so you know what the hell you are doing in the airplane or you can only teach rec and private until you get through like 10 or 20 students then you can advance to something like multi, ifr, and commercial.

I have flown with 2 class 1 instructors that helped me with the instructor rating that when we jumped in the airplane he started the plane up and started taxiing before I plugged my headset and seatbelt on! Who stole the checklist!! If you want me to learn from you the class 1 shouldn't you perform the task right the first time according the FIG.

And when discussing matters with the class 1s each and everyone has a different method of doing things, holy s*&t what the hell am I supposed to do when there is more than one way of doing a forced landing.

my two cents for whatever they are worth.

[iflyforpie]

Graham Chapman did the best PGI evooor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1oMhMwUbgc#t=0m35s

[sidestick stirrer]

"Personally I'm getting worn out from the process, though I can say that I've been instructing people on various activities for longer than I've been doing it in aviation. People seem to be getting dumber, or I'm running out of patientce."

I don't know why but this struck me as quite funny, perhaps there is some truth in it?

Also, Colonel, I appreciate you categorizing the types of instructors "roughly" as there is a very-minute category not mentioned:retired fixed-wing pilots.

This seems rare in the fixed-wing world ( I'm the only one that I'm aware of locally) but is the norm in the rotary world.

It is quite the adjustment to go from long-haul airliner flying to folding up into a 152 for Attitudes and Movements but no-less rewarding.

Having just completed NavPath's excellent Instructor Refresher Course, the rueful observation mentioned several times during it was how any instructor would like to have his first ten students back...to do properly!

[sidestick stirrer]

While I wish that more pilots like me would instruct part-time after retirement, I can understand why they wouldn't.
The cost and effort to get qualified or requalified is substantial and the timeframe to recapture that is very-long with the abysmal pay in the fixed-wing side.
It could be considered a different kind of risk. While I only declared one emergency in 41years of commercial flying, I did three times in the two years since retiring although one was on my own airplane.
I flew with many crew members who built time instructing and not a single one didn't enjoy it.
Don't know why I'm here now but I do enjoy it after being shut out of all overseas jobs due to being over sixty.
A true professional goes through three stages: Learn, Earn and Return.
I like to think that I am on the last stage and enjoy doing my bit for the young 'uns.

[Colonel Sanders]

there is a very-minute category not mentioned:retired fixed-wing pilots

I have never met (or even heard of) a retired airline pilot renewing/getting his flight instructor rating, and then getting a job instructing on a full-time basis at an FTU or puppy mill.

I'm not sure, but you might be category #3: soup kitchen volunteer

[Shiny Side Up]

Having just completed NavPath's excellent Instructor Refresher Course, the rueful observation mentioned several times during it was how any instructor would like to have his first ten students back...to do properly!

I'd just like to have those people back because they were excellent students. My first half dozen or so were a piece of cake. Smart people, all of them did stuff like actually read their material. But then when I think about it they were all farmers and truck drivers. Even the kid who had the unnerving habit of saying "oh shit" before every landing (even though they were good landings) was a breeze to get through. Everyone was 45 hours like clockwork. Then the students started changing. Sign of the times I suppose.

I don't know why but this struck me as quite funny, perhaps there is some truth in it?

Funny some days, depressing others. I miss the old students. There are still good students, but something has changed.