This part seems to get lost a lot. What I see too much of is, “This guy was an asshole and I learned a lot, therefore if I’m an asshole…”
Correlation =/= Cause
I've seen a lot of this. For a while it seemed I was getting sent taped or videoed examples of flight training and asked "is this normal?" where you wonder if the instructor takes a breath in the endless stream of berating the student receives.
I mean the one thing I remember from my own flight training that I didn't like was when the instructor felt the need to go on about something. I like to let my students fly the damn airplane in peace. Which I feel is the best praise you can give them if they're doing well.
The details of my life are quite inconsequential...
“I like to let my students fly the damn airplane in peace. Which I feel is the best praise you can give them if they're doing well.”
I tell students the less I have to talk the better they are doing. That being said the challenge is to provide direction when it is obvious that the student is missing something important.
But I believe the intervention should be very directed rather than a big diatribe.
So say “more right rudder” rather than “do a better job of controlling yaw, the airplane is not coordinated !”
If you have to keep saying “more right rudder” than as an instructor you need to figure out why the student keeps on missing this.
Great thread. My most memorable check ride was with Stan Miller for my CPL. Most 22 year old, bearded, Blunstone wearing, backpack flight bag, Seneca grad-Jazz FO's won't know who the hell he was, nor care. Stan was a WW2 Lancaster pilot. He was known for closing his eyes and resting his chin on his cane while you flew. In the debrief he would remember every little thing you did though. When the check ride was over he asked me how old I was. He responded "you're doing a great job young fella. I was about your age and your experience level when they sent me loose to fight the war!"
I quit Air Canada (after they laid me off) during the pandemic. When I was sim instructing though, they were all about be kind and gentle. "How do you feel the sim session went?" "As an instructor, do you feel I could have done a better job?" Blach blah. I'm sorry but if you f@ck up and crash the sim, you shouldn't feel good. You should learn from what you did wrong and don't do it again. Sheesh.
