Originally Posted by
rickair7777
I was referring over-analyzing the instructional process, or the instructor-student relationship during training.
Got it. Let me just give you an idea of where all this comes from and what drives my questions. Just so you understand why I think the way I do:
Title:
The Complete Guide To Flight Instruction
Author: Gregory M. Penglis
Publisher: Rainbows Books, Inc.
Date: 1994
ISBN: 1-56825-012-6
Page 12: Excerpt
You have an incredible variety of options from which to choose your training. From Freelancer to four year College or University, you could end up anywhere in between in a number of different training environments.
...
You must identify the training environment that most closely meets your needs, separate out the sales fluff, and find the best facility in the environment. A potential student pilot's perception of flight training is usually so distorted that his major decisions are based totally on the fluff rather than on accurate evaluation of the quality of training available. To identify the best environment to train in, ask yourself some basic questions:
- Are you going to be a recreational pilot or do you desire a career?
- Will you train full-time or are you content to fly leisurely on the weekends?
- Will the bulk of your fling keep you in rural areas, congested urban areas airspace, or a healthy mixture of both?
- What environment will best suit your needs?
Let's debunk some myths about flight training. You can get full-time intensive flight training small flying clubs. You can take a leisurely pace through professional flight academy. That old flight instructor perched in the corner wearing a ragged flannel shirt, may also be an airline pilot with 20,000 hours experience.
That eager young face in the shinny new uniform complete with glittering epaulets may have only yesterday earned his certificate to teach. You don't know. Appearances in this business mean nothing. Despite the clear difference in experience, the eager young face may belong to the better instructor.
As you wade through the sales propaganda and ask yourself never-ending questions, please remember this truth: The relationship you have with your Instructor and the ability of that Instructor to teach you are the greatest factors in the successful outcome of your training.
I've read a few other books on "Flight Training." This was the most down to earth read I've ever had as Gregory, cuts through the clutter to get straight to the crux of the relationship between Student/Instructor and what makes that relationship as optimal as it can be for the benefit of the Student and to the professional satisfaction of the Instructor.
It has become my Flight Instruction Guidance Bible. It is a dogeared, crusty, wrinkled old paperback with pages almost falling out. But, when it became time to finally put my training program together, I ran back to it like a child running back into the arms of his father.
This is where I get my questions from. This is the source of my analysis. I've never read a book on flight instruction that was written as if it was custom tailored for me. It speaks to every aspect that's important to me, where others failed to do so. It brings up important issues that other books failed to bring up. It answers important and necessary questions that other books don't even bother to ask.
This is my Bible. And, I seek an Instructor who has been baptized according to its doctrine. Ok, that last part was just a joke - but you get my point.
It is a really good book on what I should be looking for in Flight Instruction and I'm trying to follow its guidelines - that's all.
One of the things Gregory, talks about is precisely what you touch upon. The student should always be clear and free to grill the Instructor on things the student is having difficulty with, stop the instruction at any time the student feels the need to do so in order to get clarity, and all without the instructor throwing a tissy fit because the student had the audacity to take control of his/her Education. Gregory, feels that good Instructors should be bigger than that and expect that good students will have in-depth questions throughout the training process.
Yes, I've looked him up (he was local to where I now live). He was my first choice for Instructor. He's no longer giving instruction to my great chagrin - retired.
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
You'll be fine. Just make sure you can hand-fly your plane in IMC (and deal with unusual attitudes). Aerobatic training would be a great idea, enhances your SA and comfort in any attitude. But unusual attitude training teaches you how to get out of unusual attitudes without wrecking the plane (aerobatic planes are much stronger than normal aircraft).
I really do appreciate the advice and your understanding of the underlying premise here. Thank you.
