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Old 11-15-2011 | 02:59 AM
  #12  
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Cubdriver
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From: ATP, CFI etc.
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Great job. A couple of points.

1. Unfortunately for the student, the first 100 hours that you teach is really your learning how to teach while the student is a guinea pig. Teaching is an art and some people get it quickly while even the talented ones needs a ton of seasoning.

2. Flight students are generally among the better residents of humanity, but always assume each and every student is trying to kill you. You have to assume so, this is the only line of defense against the randomness of human nature. Guard the slip skid and enever assume anything. This is where the slightly impersonal professional demeanor of seasoned instructors comes from, they simply have to assume no student is going to be reliable so they perpetually have to watch like a hawk. You had better be able to "talk and walk" at the same time.

3. Students ask some rather probing questions, and they ask them when they occur which is generally not the best time to ask. Usually it is during air work or at a towered airport. But that may not be the best time and place to explain it. Get used to saying we'll talk about it on the ground and keep the air talking at the business level, and always fairly minimal.

4. Occasionally you get a student who is not meant to fly at all, and you can recognize this type by their terrible flying skills despite tons of dual instruction time. These students are fairly rare but they also tend to run through entire lists of looking for one who will pass them without demanding proper standards. When the story is I have 55 hours and have not soloed because my last 4 instructors were all jerks, that's the flag. Ask for the names of the prior instructors so you can call them and do not forget to call them. You can fly a few hours with them and see, but generally you MUST act as gatekeeper to prevent that person from flying at some point. The latter may be the most arduous, emotionally challenging thing teaching can deliver, because at that point you have to stop acting as a helper and act purely as gate keeper.

Good luck.
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