Today I put a 44 year old student through his paces in the segment of the program before the students are sent out in pairs on nationwide cross countries. Having spent most of his waking hours training this student and only one other over the last 6 weeks, another instructor was certainly eager to hear from me. Would his student retain everything he had learned? Would the hour upon hour of questioning I assaulted him with reveal something even an examiner had missed? Would he react correctly during the hours of sim eval? Only then would I take him out for hours of flying, day and night, left and right seat, to further examine every facet of the skills and knowledge he would need to succeed in the next phase.
Not to worry. ATP has ensured that the student is a safe and competent pilot. They provided the original instructor with a specific and detailed curriculum to train this student and the instructor was held accountable to train to that syllabus. An examiner has signed this student off twice. Now I am going to check AGAIN to ensure that nothing has been missed. All the while, I am reinforcing everything the student needs to know and teaching them core concepts of Crew Resource Management.
Tomorrow, the 44 year old "check ride passer" is going to be dispatched out into the world flying a 2008 $500,000 Complex Multi-Engine Aircraft. He and his flight partner will head to Phoenix, probably by way of Roswell. EGAD! They may even jump a mountain or so...and with no Auto-Pilot!
A few other asides......
Out of a dozen or so instructors at my location, I have had my license the least amount of time; Since May this year. At one point though, there were weeks separating me the instructor from me the student. I mean what place does not have new instructors? Isn't the idea to go from being a student to an instructor? Is experience what makes a great flight instructor? Or maybe it is the one who has just taken his head out of the books, has a true desire to help others succeed because he cares about others(something that cannot be taught), and loves what he does? Because I have seen plenty of highly experienced CFIs who no longer have these qualities and I would not give them a dime.
I am an instructor only. I am not a charter pilot Slash instructor to help pay the bills(guess who is not the number one priority). I don't go to work as a window washer during the day and take on a few students a month nights and weekends to slowly build time on the side. I don't have my own little 172 that I am going to try to get as much time out of you as I can until the next student comes along. I am not an instructor who flies a DE's plane that can guarantee you a check ride pass if you come see me for a few days.
Don't get me wrong, there are great full time FBOs and their instructors out there, but the potholes mentioned above are ones I unwillingly, or perhaps unwittingly, ran into personally.
Oh yeah, you can surely hold it against me because I am an ATP instructor. I am sure there must be bias, but I spent all of my hours as a student on the other side of the fence. For me anyway, the grass is greener here. Your mileage may vary.