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Old 07-31-2008, 09:53 PM
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HoboPilot
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Joined APC: Dec 2006
Position: Shotty!!
Posts: 248
Default CFI Help: Dealing With Know It Alls

So the other day in my CFI ground school, I was teaching X-country planning to two students in the Private Pilot ground school class. One of my students was obviously more comfortable and proficient at X-country flight planning than the other. So I gave him the task to plan out a night X-country along the route as the other student planned a day flight.

I tried to split time evenly between the students, giving them individual help, while ensuring they were both doing all the planning correctly and answering any questions they had. The more proficient student was a bit of a problem.

He was set on using mostly towers along the whole route as his checkpoints for the VFR night X-country. More alarmingly he was unwilling to use other landmarks to verify his position with his checkpoints. I tried questioning him about possible problems he could have, like confusing two similar towns with similar sized airports that were only 12nm away from each other. He responded by telling me that he couldn't be blown off course that far. I tried to explain to him how at night time it's hard to judge distance and he could think he was off course when he was actually on course and then get himself even more off course further along the route. However, he was unwilling to accept this and continued planning in the same manner.

This student, even though he thought he was a know it all, when I asked him about any possible radio navigation he could use, he told me he would use the AWOS at an airport that had an NDB. He also told me he would fly a 153 degree course when the destination was northwest of the origin. Granted these are some common Student Pilot mistakes, but he really didn't have the knowledge to back up his attitude.

I decided to help the other student more since she was struggling a little more with her X-country planning, but was more accepting of critique and seemed to want to learn more than the other student.

Since the "Know It All" student wasn't my actual student, I didn't feel it was my place to demonstrate to him how dangerous his lack of attention to detail and relaxed approach to flight planning could possibly get him in trouble in the future.

Since this was just an activity for my CFI ground school, is there something that I should have done with this student to try and change his attitude? Also, how do you deal with a student like this as a CFI?

If any of you other CFIs or CFIs in training like me have any other stories similar to mine, feel free to share them. I'd also like to hear about some tips on dealing with difficult students in general.
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