CFI Article
 

Was browsing the net and came across an article, sort of an interesting read, http://www.chasingclouds.net

anyone else agree? or disagree?

Ha. I couldn't disagree with this person more. I am one of those "21 year old" flight instructors. There is nothing more I hate than being seen as incapable of doing my job due only to something as subjective as age. I busted my butt just as much as any other CFI out there. I still went out and received my PPL, IR, CPL and my CFI. The FAA wouldn't have signed me off and given me my certificates if I was found incapable right? Sounds to me like this person is more irritated by the fact that he received some bad instruction so he is pointing the finger at the wrong person. When you point at somebody else you've got to remember that there's three fingers pointing right back at you :)

There are terrible CFI's with 200 hrs and terrible CFI's with 15000 hrs. This guy can complain all he wants about how bad his CFI is...but why doesn't he just get another one? This is not a very difficult situation to get out of!

Many students are older, high-performance, triple-A personality lawyers/doctors/businessmen. Guys like these sometimes have esteem issues taking direction from a 20 y/o...especially if they suck.

not to mention most of the arguments this guy makes is full of logical fallacies....

"...after having received all of his training from a 21 year old who lacked both experience and complete understanding of his responsibilities as a Certified Flight Instructor and failed to stress proper crosswind and rudder use technique during landing" - poisoning the well/ad hominem

"...as he was after all an immature 21 year old "party animal" just looking for a good time, but it must be considered that he is what he is"
- ad hominem

like Rick said he's probably just disgruntled

That's probably all it boils down to. I have known many good 21 year old CFI's as well as bad ones. Ultimately, it boils down to the instructor's motivation for being there. If the instructor is there solely counting down the hours until that magic 1000 and 100 when he/she can start applying for regional jobs and be a "real pilot", then of course students will run into trouble with this CFI. To these guys, CFIing is solely a means to an end. I've run into instructors like this as a student and have worked with other CFIs that have that "get your time and get out" mentality. On the other hand, if the CFI is enjoying where he or she is at while building those valuable hours and taking their job seriously, those instructor's students won't be nearly as frustrated.

Perhaps this dude should invest more time searching for a new instructor rather than wasting time writing a web article.