dbelden

I really need some help! So, here is my problem. I started training for my ppl in 2007, and in the middle of it my daughter was born and finances were not working out. To make a long story short, I had to quit with 40hrs TT. Now I have gotten my finances straight and, about a week ago, I began flying again at the same flight school. My problem is my instructor. He just seems like he doesn't like to fly much. When i first started I asked if he wouldn't mind flying two times a day at least three days a week. Needless to say he began making excuses about his other job and hell see. It has been a year since i have flown and it seems he gets frustrated when i have problems landing or something and i just feel nervous with him and i have to walk on eggshells. I have been looking at a school about two hours away from where i live to get the rest of my ratings as soon as i got my ppl, but now im debating whether or not to just start there now. Please help, i really need some advice. The man makes me regret flying with him and i love to fly!!!

Cubdriver

If he was the same guy you used for the first 40 hours and he was satisfactory last time around, then I would have a talk with him about your concerns before dropping him out of the blue. Student-instructor relationships are after all relationships and when they get off track a little bit, and they do sometimes, you need to do a how-goes-it check. I think if you were flying only two times a week before and now you up it to four times a week, then he may be unable to accommodate and feels unequal to the task. He may feel you are about to leave anyway and has moved into a defensive mode. Talk to him about it and put all cards on the table. You are the customer here, and you have the right to seek the kind and style of instruction you need. Good luck.

Stryker

I agree that you should give him a chance but the thing you have to remember is that YOU are the customer and the school should do whatever it can to make you happy. I never hand my students off to another instructor if I dont like my student, but it has gone the other way... Most of the time from my side its that the student doesnt like being told what to do, so they go to an instructor that they can kinda push around.. But you should NEVER settle for an instructor just because thats the one you have been working with. Talk to the chief CFI there and just politely state that the two of you are not meshing well and you would like to get other points of view. If you arent happy and leave, the company loses money so they HAVE to please you.

dbelden

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry i didnt mention before, but my original instructor is no longer with the flight school he is now flying with a local ambulance service. This flight instructor is the only one available for how often i want to fly. It seems like this man is just looking to sit there and fly only a couple times a week. Every time i ask him if it is alright with him if i fly two times a day, it seems like he starts looking for a way out of it. For example, i flew once wednesday, two times yesterday, and i scheduled for one o'clock today. His schedule states that he is off until twelve today but then it is open. So, after my last flight yesterday, he told me he has a doctors apt. today and if he feels up to it hell fly with me today. Which i dont have a problem with, but why do you let me schedule if youdont know how you are going to feel. Plus, to make it worse he told me he will tell me how he feels when i get to the airport. Which, in my opinion is kind of late to tell me if you want to fly or not. It is very frustrating!

Cubdriver

Looks like it's time to move on then. He doesn't meet your needs. Better make the break now than late in the game.

dbelden

thanks for all the feedback it has been realy helpful!

dbelden

gthanks for yalls iput. I went look at a new flight school today and I am starting within the next week. Thanks for the responses.

RAHPilot5

Dbelden,

Remember to pick a flight instructor that not only likes to fly, but will stick with the ground school and really REALLY go over the ground schooling stuff with you.

When I was a CFI, I really had my students hit the books while working on their ppl.

If you find a instructor who wants to fly fly fly, well guess what? He/She is trying to build their flight time so he/she can leave.

I know the bookwork is the boring part but its also very important. Whats the point of going up for your FAA checkride if you can't properly explain what makes an airplane turn and the 4 forces of flight acting on the plane during a turn.... blah blah blah

Anyone can point a nose at somewhere and fly to it.

1 of my FAs just got her PPl not too long ago and when she went up on here SOLO couple months ago, she got lost. (I teased her for a while on this) but I asked her what do you do when you get lost? What are the 4 Cs? She had no clue.

I'm like HELLOOOO every instructor knows the 4 Cs and you do this if you get lost.

Cram (full throttle)
Climb (higher altitude, better reception with ATC)
Confess to ATC you are lost
Comply with their instructions

This is just 1 example but when she told me this, I asked her questions that every student pilot should know before they solo. Another example about her being lost was I asked her if she took 2 different VORs, centered both CDI needles with a FROM indication and where the 2 lines interesect on her sectional map, that is where she is. She never heard of that too. Her instructor never taught her that before she solo'd.

So again, get a CFI that will go over the bookwork.

If you need any help, please PM me. Best of luck to you

rickair7777

I wouldn't do this in SOCAL or other busy metro areas...you'll probably climb into B.

Being lost is not always an emergency at first, you might be able to figure it out quickly and you might not be very far away from where you are supposed to be. I think most GA pilots have been "temporarily uncertain" about their position.

I would advise that you maintain speed and altitude and fly a large circle (if you haven't already busted airspace this might keep you from doing so). Then check charts and navaids and try to get hold of ATC. You could climb as a last ditch effort to enhance comms if you can't sort yourself out or contact ATC.

Cubdriver

I thought it was

Conserve
Climb
Confess
Comply

If you Cram throttle you can't Conserve fuel but, then again if you are climbing you aren't saving very much anyway. I think the idea was that a lot of new pilots don't lean the mixture and find themselves far short of their endurance expectations. Climbing helps in mountainous areas quite a bit with both seeing farther and being seen by ATC, but in many cases if you get more than 6 or 8 thousand you lose clarity on the ground so not too much of that. Confess is about not waiting until you have exhausted all options to get help, and it does not mean to declare an emergency it just means let someone know you are lost. Comply means when they help you, trust them as they are less uncertain about where you are than you are.