How is a flight instructor supposed to act while training me? How often have I gotten this question from beginning students.
Years ago I had a gentleman call me and ask me to help him finish his Private Pilot license. My approach has always been, yes I can help you, lets meet at the hanger and visit.
While conversing with him and looking at his log book I realized he had an original logbook from flight training while in the Army Air Corps, from the “big war.” He had twenty five hours of training with the Army Air Corps. He then had numerous entries from different instructors over a long period of time. None of the entries indicated the finalizing for his check ride.
My first question was, “what happened with the Army”. He said he was “washed out” This was followed by questions about his additional flight training. He was a little hard to communicate with as he had a slight stutter problem. However, it was evident he was very intelligent.
I told him I would be proud to work with him and we headed for the plane. He remembered all the basics. I was actually impressed by how he handled himself in the plane. I patted him on the back numerous times because of his skills and told him how impressed I was. After about and hour and a half of working though some basics, I told him there was no reason we could not finish. Here was his immediate comment. “You are the first instructor I have ever had who did not yell at me.” I paused and said to him, “you actually paid people to yell at you? I do not ever do that. We are here to have fun!”
Needless to say I finished him and he took his check ride. When he got back to the hanger he had a big smile on his face, he had passed. He looked at me and tears streamed down his face. After that kind of compliment I felt sorry for charging him. I have never forgotten that.
As I type this Steve Benedict is working with a woman who called from Sacramento, California and asked us to work with her. Steve told her of course he would help her but he said that it is a two hour drive to our facility. After visiting with Steve on the phone, she said “don’t worry about the distance. I will make this happen.” After meeting her this morning she told us about her first flight with a young instructor. He did not appreciate her and rolled his eyes numerous times while she was flying. My immediate thought was “and you paid him money for that?”
Steve and this new student are in the sim having loads of fun. Steve is doing what he does best, using all his “grey haired” years of experience to teach this very appreciative student. While I type this Steve and his student are laughing and having fun.
This is the way our staff work. We love flying and teaching. We love helping others succeed. Nothing pleases us more than seeing our students reach their goal or fulfill a dream.