Aerobatic instruction - Instructor experience

J777Fly

Well-Known Member
How much aerobatic experience do you need or is recommended if you want to teach basic aerobatics?
 
Are you talking like an unusual attitude recovery class, basic acro intro class, or teaching competition aerobatics?

At the very low end 100 hours of recent tail wheel experience is often an entry point the insurance company will require before you get coverage to instruct in a taildragger, which most acro airplanes are. If anything beefier than a Citabria, they'll likely require significant time in type too.

Then for teaching the basics, I'd look for someone who's been through some professional acro training from a credible school (professional competitors, IAC affiliation, Stowells EMT/acro, etc). Obviously before teaching competition the person should have several seasons of competition experience and a proven track record showing they know what they are doing. The more accomplished they are in the acro world the more I'd trust they know what they are doing, but there's also the personality issues of "can they teach"...so some good references might help with that. Holding an ACE card (low altitude waiver) would indicate they've proven their judgement and abilities recently before other accomplished acro pilots and should be pretty meaningful to the prospective student.

I mean pretty much any joker can hack their way through a sloppy loop, aileron roll, and spin demo and the ignorant passenger/student will think it's awesome fun... but can they explain what's really going on and can they help teach you through the "when things dont go as expected" issues?
 
Yeah, rframe pretty much nailed it. My answer was going to be "somebody who actively competes."
 
I gave recreational acro instruction and rides before I competed. It wasn't until I competed that I started teaching competition acro and critiquing people.
 
You want to find somebody that has a syllabus. A program that has completion standards. We have basic and advanced programs as well as competition. We combine these with books that teach aerobatic theory and fundamentals. That way the student can read how it should be done, we teach how it should be done and the student learns the right way.

I am less concerned about how famous the person is, but more concerned about how they teach the fundamentals. More common is the student who wants to learn acro for fun, maybe competition later on. Less common is the student looking to put a routine together to put an Airshow together.
 
You want to find somebody that has a syllabus. A program that has completion standards. We have basic and advanced programs as well as competition. We combine these with books that teach aerobatic theory and fundamentals. That way the student can read how it should be done, we teach how it should be done and the student learns the right way.

I am less concerned about how famous the person is, but more concerned about how they teach the fundamentals. More common is the student who wants to learn acro for fun, maybe competition later on. Less common is the student looking to put a routine together to put an Airshow together.

This

J777Fly

If you're going to be teaching Acro, make sure you've gone above & beyond in your spin training.
You'll know you're ready to teach aerobatics when you can see and correct your own mistakes. Teaching competitive aerobatics is whole different deal, 90% of the coaching comes from the ground. Above all, no matter what you fly, develop some discipline and don't teach slop.
 
Back
Top