I disagree. His fear of being away from home seemed to be related to the aerial survey job and nothing more. No need to extrapolate.

It's a pity that in other countries there is little to no time buillding jobs. A Commercial Multi certificate and 250 hours will get you an interview. It's all about training. Why not have ride along programs where fresh Commercial Pilots can gain experience relative to the operation they wish to fly? Why is this industry set up this way? They do no trust the FAA?

I assume you meant that it's a pity that WE do have to build time in this country. If so I completely disagree. Building experience makes you a safer pilot. American pilots typically have a basic fundamental stick and rudder background to fall back on when the automation stops working or the SHTF. The Europeans and Asians are typically button pushers and some are quickly out of their skill set when something goes wrong.

Re-read JohnBurkes post. It's clear that you glossed right over it...

1500 hours is a fair number , it allows the pilots that really want to be here to make it and the ones that don't want to commit to build the time , obtain different jobs in the industry and LEARN along the way to just bail out . Is it easy? No but If you were to ask me if I have learned anything from 250-1500 and I answer no well then I wouldn't be telling the truth .

I flew for a company out of Myrtle Beach , S.C for two summers and built about 1500 hours. The company is Barnstormers Aerial Advertising. Great guys and had a great time. If you want to build about 600-800 hours in a summer then they are the one. I talked to just about all the other companies and got best feeling with David at Barnstormers.

Hate to break it to ya, but flying for one of the FedEx feeders is not for you if you think banner towing is "wild and dangerous." I've heard too many stories from those guys.

Also based on your original post, maybe aviation is not for you then. Cause you are going to have to make sacrifices.

What kind of stories? Banner Towing has a awkward way of picking up the banners. That's why it seems wild to me. Feeder flying is "normal flying" as in flying IFR and such. Not really dismissing banner towing forever however.

@flyjake7

It's a long shot but do you work for air America in Daytona, Florida?

What's awkward about it? Fly over the banner, snag the loop, tow. Drop. Fly slowly, Fly back and forth. Wild and dangerous? If that's wild and dangerous, then we'll all live a very, very long time.

Some guys are just naturally gifted communicators and instructors but those that aren’t certainly don’t have to simply accept that. Practice will help. Knowing how to fly the aircraft you’re instructing in well is obviously very important, also. The more comfortable you are with the stick and rudder skills and every details of the operations, the easier it is to impart that to someone else.

Instructing effectively goes way beyond just sitting next to (or behind) a student and pointing out errors. Almost any pilot can do that. Really teaching someone starts with knowing how to clearly describe each maneuver and action in detail before you ever get to the aircraft. When you’re on an instructional flight, there are times when it will really help the student to correct an error on the spot with some inflight instruction. There are just as many other times where you need to leave the guy alone (obviously there are limits) to hopefully recognize the error on his own because when he does that it’s all him. He’ll be far less likely to repeat that error because he figured it out without your little bird voice in his ear prompting him.

Finally, when you’re back on the ground talking about the flight, ask questions – determine the guy’s thought process, why he made the choices he did and then you’ll know what type of techniques or instruction to offer.