Bikes and airplanes.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Been thinking about the flight training industry and the way the industry is licensed.

So lets build this image in our mind.

We are at a school that teaches how to ride a bike and out side on the sidewalk are two bikes...one a tricycle and the other a two wheeler.

You tell the owner you want a class one instructor to teach you on your new two wheel bike and the owner of the school tells you none of his instructors can teach on the two wheel bikes, they are only qualified on the tricycles.


You would be a bit annoyed would you not?

Yet no one seems to wonder why so many class one flight instructors can only teach on the tricycles.

Remember these people move through four classes of instructor to get to the Class one but many can not even fly a simple tail wheel airplane.

What does that say about the level of piloting skills TC and the industry is satisfied with?

[Chuck Ellsworth]

One day I was sitting in my office in my flight school when the chief flying instructor of one of Vancouver's biggest flying schools came in with a student.

During our conversation one of my instructors went out to the J3 Cub I had in the fleet and started their wealk around.

The CFI of the Vancouver school said you don't have that airplane in your school do you?

I said sure, why?

She said how can that be safe to fly it is covered in canvas.

I was gobsmacked at her ignorance of airplanes and offered her a deal

I said tell you what, I'll bet you a thousand dollars my student flying that Cub can get in your Cessna 152 and fly it far better than your student can fly my Cub....in fact I doubt if you and your student can fly it without wrecking it.

Needless to say she and I did not get along all that great after that conversation.

Yup... for sure holding a TC Class One instructor rating really is a difficult thing to do.

[Four Bars]

What an awesome analogy!
Really puts the skill gap in perspective...

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Thanks four bars.

I have always tried to give the message that flight instruction is the highest endeavour a pilot can aspire to.

During the over half a century I flew for a living I was fortunate enough to have worked for some of the biggest companies in the world including Miramax Studios.

However my real accomplishment was giving advanced flight training because I had the pleasure of watching someone else improve their skills.

With the above in mind it is easy to see why I am so critical of the general low level of flight training in Canada.