Instructors

It makes little difference if the instructor is a civilian or in the military, male or female. To train another person to fly an aircraft to a standard or licence level, is a real achievement.

But training another human being to fly an aircraft is a two-way street. A lot of people express the desire to want to fly, but not all of them have what it takes. The student has to put in time and effort to get to the testing stage. They have to want to get that ticket as much as the instructor wants them to get it. It is sometimes called fire in the belly.

Along the way there can be many a slip between a trial instructional flight and testing time.

Ground school studies can slow students down as much as having a problem funding the training. Learning to fly was never cheap and having to spend up on other things deemed essential can take priority over flight training regardless if for the private or commercial licence.

These days we seem to be more time critical. It has to be said that the more often a student flies the greater the likelihood they will do well at testing time. The student who flies infrequently has a good chance of failing. The student learns a skill but losses it with time and not using that skill. I for one recommend that a student coming up to licence time go and do some flying, preferably solo, in the days before the test. Then it seems that it is just a brief break between flights and oh, this fellow, an ATO, needs to fly with you to see how you are going.

Then there is the instructor. Is he or she serious about instructing and wanting to see students pass or just hours in the logbook before they move on to something else?

Both my student passes merit comment. One student, Jay, had done a bit of flying as a private pilot before he ended up on my doorstep wanting a commercial licence. He was a part-time student as he had educational studies elsewhere. He and I flew the training aircraft on hot days and cold days. We flew on good weather days and not so good weather days. We tried to fly on some days where the weather was unflyable in safety. We had bookings on at least four or five days where it just rained. As a result I called him ‘Rainman’ and wanted to
advertise his services to farmers wanting rain for their crops. The advert banner was to read something like ‘Book me to fly in your area and I guarantee rain will fall’. We landed on grass runways, we flew legally low. He did diversions and PFLs until he was tired of them. We donned lifejackets and flew over water. I would create a charter scenario and he had to meet the times and weight and balance, and have enough fuel for the mission. All good fun, but typical of a working pilot’s schedule.

One time he said to me that he wondered if he was up to getting the licence. I told him there were people out there with commercial licences that I would not trust with my lawnmower, so if they could get a CPL so could he. That shut him up and spurred him on. He passed the flight test and got his CPL.

The other student, we will call him Es, was a tad older than my CPL student. Es has been in a sector of the public service but then opted out for something where could be home for dinner each night with his kids. Es wanted a private licence. He persevered and finally, after a bit of frustration along the way, made the grade.

The ATO said ‘congratulations you are a private pilot’. I told him that he now had a licence to learn.

And indeed that applies to all pilots. Regardless of how many hours they have or how much experience they have, they will never know it all. No one can.

A pilots licence is a licence to learn, learn a few more skills to be able to exercise the licence level that they have achieved, in safety.
Those that reckon they know it all do not always pick up their superannuation.

“The ATO said “congratulations, you are a private pilot.” I told him he now has a licence to learn.”

Pilots who instruct and continue to do so do it because they enjoy the task of passing on flying skills to others. May they continue to do so in the face of an ever-changing industry and the challenges that beset it.

For me I went home with a smile on my dial. Two licences in one day. Yes. I felt good.

Contact Dave by email: [email protected]