Flying Bison

i have an intro flight to do tomorrow, never done one before because most my students had some hours logged already. what should i do with the student...ive heard some say do a scenic flight to show them its nice and not too hard, and others tell me to basically start teaching them?

any suggestions?

Laxrox43

Don't overload them. Take off and land for them. Take them for a loop around the practice area and let them know that "this is the place we will be practicing maneuvers." Let them fly while you are showing them around. If they are having a rough time maintaining altitude, show them how to use the trim. Keep everything SUPER BASIC. Make it fun. Show them some cool land marks, etc.

Whatever you do, use the "KISS" theory on the intro flight. Sell yourself as an instructor because, this is pretty much an interview flight for you.

Good luck!
Lax

Laxrox43

PS. DO NOT...I repeat...DO NOT do one of those "Let me show you something son!..." and then do some freaky maneuver like a stall. You don't want to make them crap themselves first time out...

vagabond

Ah the memories. It was two years ago almost exactly to the day when I took my discovery flight and reported my findings here on the boards. I went back for lessons because the guy who took me up made it interesting and fun and like something I would be a damn fool not to like.

He did the takeoff and landing, but made sure I got to fly. He told me to look out and enjoy the scenery. No stalls, inverted spins or aerobatics that day. Came back down in one piece and lived to talk about it ad nauseum.

USMCFLYR

I took a midshipman flying the other day. He didn't do as well as you did vagabond Military version of a intro flight!

Bison - I agree - do all the hard stuff for them and try not to do anything that would intimidate them into thinking that they couldn't learn to fly. Letting them fly as much as you can though is probably a good ticket to getting them hooked.

USMCFLYR

USMCFLYR

usmc-sgt

We were limited to .6 or so if I remember correctly. I would let them takeoff but I would be "heavily" assisting with the rudders and the controls. They would be so excited to be flying that they would not notice that I was the one that was giving the extra nudge to get the controls where we needed them. I would talk them through the steps and help them through the climbout and level off and then we would just fly to the practice area as mentioned and I let them do what they wanted. I would say its 100% your airplane you can turn, decend, climb or just fly straight and level. No one ever took advantage of that and tried a split S and it worked out great. Within minutes we would head back to the practice area and they would help me with the landing.

vagabond

Wimp!! Take me on an F-18. I promise not to puke, cry, nosebleed or pass gas. FL600 and I were in an F-18 simulator together once and she claims that all I ever did was scream, loud and shrill. You would too if she had you upside down the whole time.

Maddoggin

It would depend on the person for me. I always tried to let them do as much as possible. Of course most of this was assisted but they didn't really know that. I'd let them taxi, takeoff, and generally do all the flying. If they were comfortable you could give them vectors close to final and then take over from there. Some folks are just very unsure of the whole deal and for these people I would do everything except a little flying at altitude. Most of the time though, the more involved you can get them the more they enjoy it. Of course a little sightseeing is a plus too. The hard part is to keep it at .6 including taxi. But it can be done. I always found intro flights to be alot of fun. To see people's eye's light up when you get back is always cool to see. And of course the more interested you get them the better chance you have of gaining a student.

rickB

do a spin theyll love it

IFly17

If you can, take them to a different airport close by and show them how easy it is to go to different airports. Private pilots get their ticket to go places, not practice maneuvers!