Flying should be fun!

How many times have I said to my students the words  "flying should be fun"?.

Flying is only  fun when you are confident in yourself and your ability to fly your aircraft, when you receive your PPL this is the gateway to gaining  a lifetime of  experience and knowledge.Every time that you fly an aircraft you will learn something new from your flight.

 During my time instructing in France, I have had numerous students who have arrived here with little or no confidence in themselves.This is due to many different things,personality, insensitive instructors, or just too many different instructors all with slightly different methods of teaching.The other factor which can cause the  student disillusionment is that their lessons have been cancelled repeatedly owing to the weather or aircraft off line.They see other students improving and they are filled with self doubt why are they not moving forward more rapidly.

Every one learns at a different pace, some students solo in 7 hours but struggle with the navigation, others seem to take a long time before going solo but gallop through the rest of the course.

Gaining a PPL in 45  or 80 hours is down to numerous factors as mentioned above, the most important thing is that at the end of the training ,the student is a safe,confident pilot.

It is no good obtaining a quick PPL but being unable to have the confidence to fly to different airfields and perhaps try different types of aircraft.

It seems that learning to fly is rather like playing snakes and ladders, a student makes progress one week and gains a few rungs on the ladder only to slide down a snake a few weeks later.

Many instructors are excellent pilots,however they may not be good teachers, we all remember excelling in a subject at school because we were encouraged by a particular teacher.

I remember being near the top of the class in the subjects where the teachers were sympathetic and interesting however I just" switched off "when the teacher bored or frightened me.

My school reports were full of either "excellent" or "could do better "according to which teacher inspired me or not.

The same applies to training horses and dogs,"you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". I won many races on inferior mounts by using a little horse psychology on jaded animals.

Horses and dogs respond to kind ,patient training just as humans do.

We all need  structured training and each personality responds to slightly varied methods,some students are timid and some are  bold therefore it would seem beneficial to  teach each person differently according to their needs.

I was lucky to be instructed by a career instructor who not only imparted excellent knowledge in an understanding way,he took me out flying in very different  weather conditions which gave me valuable experience on which I rely today.

Sadly,many instructors are en route to the airlines and are intent on building hours rather than imparting lifelong knowledge to their students.

I have heard dreadful tales of trial flights where the experience has turned out to be terrifying rather than fun because the instructor was showing off his aerobatic prowess.

 

These last two weeks I have had the pleasure to teach two members of the same family Charles (15 years old) and his new step mum Patsy. I was approached by Charless father some time ago.He asked me if I could start his sons PPL training during the summer holidays and help him to gain confidence in the aircraft as he was very nervous particularly in turbulence.( His father is a very experienced airline and ferry pilot with thousands of hours under his belt).

I commenced the first flight with Charles and tried to allay his fears by explaining that an aircraft in turbulence is similar to a boat on the water they are both riding the waves,one on the water (we can see the waves coming towards us) but the other one is on invisible waves of air.

I showed him how to trim the aircraft and to sit with his arms folded and to watch how the aircraft handled the turbulence and that his plane was not going to fall out of the sky.In fact after a couple of days of training he was too busy to notice any turbulence.

We are all scared of the unknown and we feel more relaxed when we are in control.

I am not happy in a car driven fast with someone else at the wheel !

Happily, Charlie went from strength to strength during in his two weeks of training (15 hours) his confidence grew daily,the dreaded stalls and the terrifying unusual attitudes caused several groans at first,however within a short time he said to me "this is fun" !

I would have happily sent Charles for his first solo towards the end of this week, however as he attained his 15th birthday  during his training , he will have to wait for another year before he can write First Solo in his log book.

As mentioned in a previous article the FFA in France provide grants to aid  young students gain their PPL  http://www.francoflyers.org/2008/09/ffa-student-gra.html 

Patsy and my other lady student Gwen were not afraid of turbulence, they were initially  lacking in confidence in themselves, yesterday they had both "cracked the landings " and indeed we moved from the huge runway at Limoges( LFBL) to the tiny tarmac runway at Saint Junien (LFBJ) to practise short field take off and landings, always tricky with no wind, they both performed like professionals----- well done ladies!

Comments

[Les King]

Sue writes:

"I was lucky to be instructed by a career instructor...."

"Sadly,many instructors are en route to the airlines and are intent on building hours rather than imparting lifelong knowledge to their students"
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No offence, but this creates an unjusfied negative impression of many fine instructors who have used a flying club as a 'stepping-stone' to greater things.

When I did my IMC and Night Ratings some years back, it was with instructors who were hours-building towards a career in aviation.

Although the gents in question were about 20 years younger than myself, I had no problem working with them because they were highly-focussed and motivated professionals who knew rather more than I did.

Most importantly, they produced the results--IMC in 2 weeks and Night Rating in 2 nights.

There was nothing 'sad' about them or their teaching methods.

As I understand it, most club instructors in France are ‘bénévole’ (voluntary) which suggests that they do it for the 'love of flying' which is no bad thing.

When I visited AC Limoges earlier in the year, I arrived just in time to attend a rather pleasant soirée to celebrate the attainments of several French students who had benefitted from the skills of unpaid club instructors.

[Fragrant Flyer]

Actually, I would welcome some clarification on the question of whether French Clubs may. or may not, charge for instruction.

Aeroclub de Limoges, for example, don't publish a rate for instruction but the Aeroclub du Limousin (next door) do.

I have been told that French clubs may not charge for instruction but there are clearly some that do.

What is the legal and insurance position if I hire a club aircraft and pay the instructor 'on the side'?

[sue virr]

I totally agree with you there are many excellent instructors en route to the airlines-- I know several personally!

[Peter Cazalet]

I reckon your article was nicely balanced, Sue. Seems to me that what matters is the attitude of the instuctor, not where he/she is heading. Not just passing on the mechanics of controlling a plane, but doing this effectively - i.e. "to teach each student differently according to his needs"

[Fragrant Flyer]

Several articles on this blog suggest that Sue's elevation to the sainthood in due course is a 'mere formality'.

However, she did seem to be having a 'pop' at non-career instructors which, to be fair, she has corrected.

She didn't answer my question on charges for instruction but perhaps somebody else has the relevant information.

[Father Brian]

I'm not qualified to comment on flying matters (or much else) but I get worried when I hear someone described as "career".

Since the 1960s we've suffered from career politicians - people in it solely for their personal advancement and pecuniary interest, with no experience of real life and never having had a proper job.

My feet are fixed firmly to the ground but I shudder at the thought of being taught to fly by anyone narrowly focussed on their own commercial interests.

[Powerful Pierre]

Fragrant Flyer writes:

Sue didn't answer my question on charges for instruction but perhaps somebody else has the relevant information.
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I too found it difficult to get a written statement of prices from this 'career instructor' (as she describes herself).

As I understand it, the club enjoys some sort of tax-efficient 'non-profit' status and it's instructors cannot (in theory, at least) charge for their services.

This is apparently common in France and is designed to encourage more private flying by keeping the costs down.

I have no idea where charging for instruction under these circumstances would leave the matter of insurance cover or even the validity of the training.

If I am mistaken and the Chief Flying Instructor is allowed to charge, the club should publish the prices openly.

If the instruction is free, they should make that clear.

Don't get me wrong. I am happy to pay a reasonable price for instruction but I don't want to find myself 'on the wrong side of the law'.

[Stuart Morton]

Fragrant Flyer writes:

Aeroclub de Limoges, for example, don't publish a rate for instruction but the Aeroclub du Limousin (next door) do.

I have been told that French clubs may not charge for instruction but there are clearly some that do.

What is the legal and insurance position if I hire a club aircraft and pay the instructor 'on the side'?
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It must be a tricky one as both aeroclubs you mention are now operating under a common fleet agreement for their aircraft according the website. So is there a common insurance policy if one charges for instruction and one doesn't ?
Thinking out loud, I would have thought if an aircraft is insured for instruction by qualified instructors it wouldn't make a difference how much they were being paid.
I would have thought if an aeroclub decides not to publish it's fees on their website it's them who loses out on new clients as I am sure new pupils would carry on to another better presented one.

[Les King]

Stuart Morton writes:

Thinking out loud, I would have thought if an aircraft is insured for instruction by qualified instructors it wouldn't make a difference how much they were being paid.
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That's an entirely reasonable position but have you ever known an insurance company to pay-up if they can find an excuse not to?

And the potential claims arising from an aircraft accident could be quite large.

For example, if you drive a car in the UK without an MOT certificate or without a current driving licence, any current insurance would be invalidated (even if paid-up) so you might also be prosecuted for driving uninsured.

You might also find it difficult to obtain insurance cover in the future.

When I processed an insurance claim for a 'prop ding' for my old aircraft syndicate, I got a dozen-page form asking for such things as the pilot's medical certificate, recent log-book entries, pilot's certificate of revalidation, aircraft certificate of airworthiness and recent maintenance record.

Although this was a ground-based taxi accident where none of this seemed relevant, I imagine that the claim would have been refused if any of these items were not in 'apple-pie order'.

I think that the issue here is that the instructor is being paid at all, rather than how much, and whether that effectively invalidates their qualification.

Also, it's not unreasonable to expect that prices for anything are stated up-front.

If there is nothing to hide, why not publish the prices?

As I understand it, AC Limoges don't publish their charges for instruction because there aren't any, which is fair enough.

AC Limousin do publish their charges because they obviously have a different legal status but I am not clear that this allows charging for instruction on AC Limoges aircraft.

As a side-issue, I am not clear whether any JAR-licenced Instructor is allowed to give training on the AC Limoges N-registered Piper (unless they are also registered by the United States’ FAA).

I know of a high-profile helicopter instructor who was prosecuted by the Civil Aviation Authority for just such an offence.

What Fragrant Flyer seems to be asking is that the position is actually communicated to the customers.