Bad flight instructor experiences

Cory Trevor

Cory Trevor

Well-Known Member
For the first time in my life, I would say that I have a flight instructor that I actually despise. I've gone through six so far in the four years I've been flying and this guy just has been awful. He seems to be on the controls too much and I can feel him fighting with me on them. If I'm doing something wrong I'd like to get a feel for it myself, you being on them doesn't help. I'm in the first stage of getting my commercial license and instead of practicing VFR maneuvers we've been doing approaches constantly which is on the stage check but I don't need to do them every flight. He's impossible to get a hold of and just isn't too professional overall. I could go on and on but I'm just glad the semester is coming to an end.

Anyone else have bad flight instructor experiences?
 
Get rid of this instructor and find another. At this level if he is grabbing the controls you are either a bad pilot or he is a bad flight instructor.

Joe
 
Got problem with a pilot who point the plane instead of flying it...he has been removed from my school after blaming me to take control .change cfi...
 
Cory Trevor said:
For the first time in my life, I would say that I have a flight instructor that I actually despise. I've gone through six so far in the four years I've been flying and this guy just has been awful. He seems to be on the controls too much and I can feel him fighting with me on them. If I'm doing something wrong I'd like to get a feel for it myself, you being on them doesn't help. I'm in the first stage of getting my commercial license and instead of practicing VFR maneuvers we've been doing approaches constantly which is on the stage check but I don't need to do them every flight. He's impossible to get a hold of and just isn't too professional overall. I could go on and on but I'm just glad the semester is coming to an end.

Anyone else have bad flight instructor experiences?
Click to expand...
I can understand your frustration, but do you think a forum is the best way to trash-talk an instructor? If anything I'd hold you culpable for being the person who went through an entire semester, paying money for someone who you despise. Doesn't really show me a level of maturity I would expect of a college kid.

Even if your instructor was newly certified I would figure they would have moved through the "green stage" of over-protection I've typically seen in the first few hundred hours of new CFIs in the time a semester takes.

Being in the first stage of your commercial certificate means you only have been through private pilot and instrument, based on your post - so you have what, 225 hours tops? (Forgive me if I'm assuming wrong, though it's what I'm basing my argument on.) So 225 hours over 4 year = 56 hours of flying per year, on average.

I can understand that you would prefer to be walked through maneuvers verbally, but perhaps your instructor is trying to guide you through the physical motions too as you're doing them. Best advice I can give is talk to your instructor about your concerns and perhaps come to an agreement as to how your training needs need to be met.

However, I have to say, you're the one paying for your training - if you feel you don't have a voice in how it goes, is it worth the money you are spending?
 
I've had a lot of flight instructors - probably flown with around a dozen or so. Only one I didn't like. The instructor who had gotten me ready to solo for the first time left for Beagle - so they had me fly with this old as dirt instructor. First off, he agreed to fly with me in the 150 - the guy had to be something like 230lbs - I was about 160 and when I asked if we needed a W&B he dismissed me (being a primary student I didn't question him). In the air he was surly and argumentative. At one point I knew we were flying into the path of inbound traffic and I turned 30-degrees left. He asked me what the hell I was doing, and insisted I turn back. Sure enough, ATC gave a less than a mile traffic alert.

I think aviation has a real hard on for old pilots, but I don't get it. This guy wasn't safe to fly - and I'm pretty sure he took me up over gross. He finally had to give it up a year or two later. Overall actually a nice guy, but too old and out of it to be instructing.
 
When I started instructing I had a student that would not flare correctly and I ended up having to pull back on the yoke on almost every landing. My thinking was I'm not letting the airplane land nose first. Finally my student yelled at me and said that I should let them do the entire landing...well still I'm not going to let the airplane wheelbarrow down the runway. So, I sent the student up with another instructor who had a couple thousand dual given and they let the student wheelbarrow it and they haven't done it since. I'm not comfortable with it, the other instructor was...to each his own.
 
Cory Trevor said:
For the first time in my life, I would say that I have a flight instructor that I actually despise. I've gone through six so far in the four years I've been flying and this guy just has been awful. He seems to be on the controls too much and I can feel him fighting with me on them. If I'm doing something wrong I'd like to get a feel for it myself, you being on them doesn't help. I'm in the first stage of getting my commercial license and instead of practicing VFR maneuvers we've been doing approaches constantly which is on the stage check but I don't need to do them every flight. He's impossible to get a hold of and just isn't too professional overall. I could go on and on but I'm just glad the semester is coming to an end.

Anyone else have bad flight instructor experiences?
Click to expand...

Have you chatted with him about it? When I was a new instructor, I had a student tell me that I was being too involved, and that I should let him make his own mistakes. Honestly, I hadn't even realized I was doing it until he told me, and we worked together from then on just fine.
 
moxiepilot said:
I can understand your frustration, but do you think a forum is the best way to trash-talk an instructor? If anything I'd hold you culpable for being the person who went through an entire semester, paying money for someone who you despise. Doesn't really show me a level of maturity I would expect of a college kid.

Even if your instructor was newly certified I would figure they would have moved through the "green stage" of over-protection I've typically seen in the first few hundred hours of new CFIs in the time a semester takes.

Being in the first stage of your commercial certificate means you only have been through private pilot and instrument, based on your post - so you have what, 225 hours tops? (Forgive me if I'm assuming wrong, though it's what I'm basing my argument on.) So 225 hours over 4 year = 56 hours of flying per year, on average.

I can understand that you would prefer to be walked through maneuvers verbally, but perhaps your instructor is trying to guide you through the physical motions too as you're doing them. Best advice I can give is talk to your instructor about your concerns and perhaps come to an agreement as to how your training needs need to be met.

However, I have to say, you're the one paying for your training - if you feel you don't have a voice in how it goes, is it worth the money you are spending?
Click to expand...

Sure, using a forum to vent isn't the best option, and it's not the only one I've taken. This particular flight instructor's faults go way beyond flying even though those are the only ones that I've mentioned so far. Also, as the semester is beginning to wind down they're becoming more and more apparent as he's pushing to get his students done by the end of finals. I was able to put up with it with little issue up until about a week ago. It's his overall lack of professionalism that I don't like moreso than his teaching tendencies.

But as the title asked, I also wanted to see if anyone else had some flight instructor stories.
 
scott_l said:
When I started instructing I had a student that would not flare correctly and I ended up having to pull back on the yoke on almost every landing. My thinking was I'm not letting the airplane land nose first. Finally my student yelled at me and said that I should let them do the entire landing...well still I'm not going to let the airplane wheelbarrow down the runway. So, I sent the student up with another instructor who had a couple thousand dual given and they let the student wheelbarrow it and they haven't done it since. I'm not comfortable with it, the other instructor was...to each his own.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i had a student like that once. He told me he knew what he was doing and didnt need my help, i said ok and let him porpoise 3000 feet down the runway. Its amazing how quick his attitude changed after that.
 
Cory Trevor said:
Sure, using a forum to vent isn't the best option, and it's not the only one I've taken. This particular flight instructor's faults go way beyond flying even though those are the only ones that I've mentioned so far. Also, as the semester is beginning to wind down they're becoming more and more apparent as he's pushing to get his students done by the end of finals. I was able to put up with it with little issue up until about a week ago. It's his overall lack of professionalism that I don't like moreso than his teaching tendencies.

But as the title asked, I also wanted to see if anyone else had some flight instructor stories.
Click to expand...

I am sure we all have a story or two about an instructor, but I'll bet the instructors have 5 times as many stories about each of us.

There is nothing gained by bashing or listening to others bash on instructors. Instead, why not use it as an opportunity to work on conflict resolution.

You are the student, if you don't like how he is teaching or you feel he is being too protective say something. He clearly is uncomfortable with something you are doing, so you may also want to look at yourself and see where you can improve or better yet, ask him what you are doing that is causing him to constantly grab the controls. Remember, you're not a sky god.

I am guessing your goal is the airlines, so you will fly with people who don't mesh with your style. Might as well learn now how to handle these situations, because coming on a message board and bashing him is not just counter productive, it is also unprofessional. Isn't that your complaint about him?
 
If you don't get along with your instructor change! I went to an aviation school, had no respect for my instrument instructor. I wish I would've changed. Without respect you won't learn anything IMO.

It might be a personality thing, sometimes people just don't mesh it's not the end of the world, you change and that is that. I had numerous students who I felt I melded with but a few that I did not. Also vice versa, I inherited some students from other instructors who clashed and all was well.
 
Request a change, I think your ability to learn and his ability to teach you has broken down.
As a new CFI I am guilty of being a mother hen on the controls. I don't mind what the student dose in the air but I do tend to put too many control inputs in the final stages of landing.
I realized pretty quick that I have to anticipate the error, verbally announce the error when it occurs and only put a control input to prevent the airplane from entering a high risk situation (flare at 100' no power for example).
I am a work in progress when it comes to CFI'ing... and I hope to always be so.
 
Flying is a phd in people skills, and you will fly with many people you don't care for. But hey this is your dime, and if you have given it a good shot, then can him.
 
moxiepilot said:
I can understand your frustration, but do you think a forum is the best way to trash-talk an instructor? If anything I'd hold you culpable for being the person who went through an entire semester, paying money for someone who you despise. Doesn't really show me a level of maturity I would expect of a college kid.

Even if your instructor was newly certified I would figure they would have moved through the "green stage" of over-protection I've typically seen in the first few hundred hours of new CFIs in the time a semester takes.

Being in the first stage of your commercial certificate means you only have been through private pilot and instrument, based on your post - so you have what, 225 hours tops? (Forgive me if I'm assuming wrong, though it's what I'm basing my argument on.) So 225 hours over 4 year = 56 hours of flying per year, on average.

I can understand that you would prefer to be walked through maneuvers verbally, but perhaps your instructor is trying to guide you through the physical motions too as you're doing them. Best advice I can give is talk to your instructor about your concerns and perhaps come to an agreement as to how your training needs need to be met.

However, I have to say, you're the one paying for your training - if you feel you don't have a voice in how it goes, is it worth the money you are spending?
Click to expand...

I think that talking about issues like this is perfectly acceptable in this forum. He has not named names, yet has been informative about the situation. He has called upon the resources and knowledge of people in the industry capable of addressing, assessing and fixing the situation. His timing is irrelevant. Sometimes it takes a while to gain perspective, and understand that something simply isn't working. There is no magic number. I couldn't disagree more with you about his "level of maturity". He was articulate in his presentation of the issue, honest about the issues, and is looking for honest feedback from a knowledgeable community. Good for him.

My take is to find someone that you like flying with. It has taken me some time finding people who I like flying with and I have had issues with CFI's doing things that I thought were inappropriate. You are a customer, paying for a service. Do this for a living, and you'll have lots of time to fly with people you won't go have a beer with.
 
Canassis said:
I think that talking about issues like this is perfectly acceptable in this forum.
Click to expand...
Yes, but what this individual seemed to be trolling for was a bad-experience, trash talking session; see below:

Cory Trevor said:
But as the title asked, I also wanted to see if anyone else had some flight instructor stories.
Click to expand...

Canassis said:
I couldn't disagree more with you about his "level of maturity". He was articulate in his presentation of the issue, honest about the issues, and is looking for honest feedback from a knowledgeable community. Good for him.
Click to expand...

Maturity: being fully developed.

When someone is spending THOUSANDS of dollars and feels they are wasted (in my opinion due to a lack of action on the spender's part in addressing the issue or changing the situation) that is a lack of financial maturity and social maturity, among other things. This wasn't the poster's first instructor, not knowing what to expect. This was the posters instructor after he had already been through the training for private and instrument over the course of four years.

When you put on your big boy pants, you learn to accept the consequences for your (in)actions. So, while the poster is articulate and relatively unbiased in presentation of the situation, you can't claim that a college student who is spending lots of money is acting in a mature way when the reality is that money is being thrown out the window because of a lack of professionalism on the instruction's part (in the eyes of the poster). If this were a 15 year old that would be another situation, but it's not.

The US culture coddles adults too much - this is just a good example, like keeping children(adults) on parent's insurance until their 26 years old, pay for their college/flight training so they don't understand the value of money, etc.

Mature? Nah I don't think so. Time for the poster to take responsibility.
 
moxiepilot said:
Yes, but what this individual seemed to be trolling for was a bad-experience, trash talking session; see below:





Maturity: being fully developed.

When someone is spending THOUSANDS of dollars and feels they are wasted (in my opinion due to a lack of action on the spender's part in addressing the issue or changing the situation) that is a lack of financial maturity and social maturity, among other things. This wasn't the poster's first instructor, not knowing what to expect. This was the posters instructor after he had already been through the training for private and instrument over the course of four years.

When you put on your big boy pants, you learn to accept the consequences for your (in)actions. So, while the poster is articulate and relatively unbiased in presentation of the situation, you can't claim that a college student who is spending lots of money is acting in a mature way when the reality is that money is being thrown out the window because of a lack of professionalism on the instruction's part (in the eyes of the poster). If this were a 15 year old that would be another situation, but it's not.

The US culture coddles adults too much - this is just a good example, like keeping children(adults) on parent's insurance until their 26 years old, pay for their college/flight training so they don't understand the value of money, etc.

Mature? Nah I don't think so. Time for the poster to take responsibility.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't know why I mentioned his flight instruction flaws as much as I did in the original post. That really didn't bug me as much as the lack of professionalism on his part. I was just pretty down on the whole situation at the time and just mentioned that. He had different ways of flying which I didn't like too much, but that's how it will be my whole life, and I understand that now. The lack of professionalism on his part didn't really shine through until the semester was coming to an end and all his students needed to pack in these hours so while there were small flashes of it, it hadn't been an ongoing issue. Making a thread about this probably wasn't the best idea really but I don't really talk to many people in aviation so I figured I'd go to a message board with pilots.

Anyway, semester is over, I passed my stage check and in the Fall I'll have a new instructor.
 
moxiepilot said:
Yes, but what this individual seemed to be trolling for was a bad-experience, trash talking session; see below:
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying about trolling. I was just addressing the "I have a bad instructor, here are the issues, what should I do?" side of this. I'll not play in the troll pool. Seems as though most here are not, either.

Maturity: being fully developed.

When someone is spending THOUSANDS of dollars and feels they are wasted (in my opinion due to a lack of action on the spender's part in addressing the issue or changing the situation) that is a lack of financial maturity and social maturity, among other things. This wasn't the poster's first instructor, not knowing what to expect. This was the posters instructor after he had already been through the training for private and instrument over the course of four years.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I read it the same way. I read it as he has had 6 instructors over the course of 4 years. I'll let him sort it out for us.

When you put on your big boy pants, you learn to accept the consequences for your (in)actions. So, while the poster is articulate and relatively unbiased in presentation of the situation, you can't claim that a college student who is spending lots of money is acting in a mature way when the reality is that money is being thrown out the window because of a lack of professionalism on the instruction's part (in the eyes of the poster). If this were a 15 year old that would be another situation, but it's not.
Click to expand...

Not seeing where it is money wasted. He has a bad flight instructor, but the journey continues. I see nothing that implies that he has stopped flight training, over this. Am I reading this incorrectly?

The US culture coddles adults too much - this is just a good example, like keeping children(adults) on parent's insurance until their 26 years old, pay for their college/flight training so they don't understand the value of money, etc.
Click to expand...

I agree that there is coddling in our society, but I'm not sure how having health care is tied into being coddled. You honestly believe that if I choose to keep my child on my healthcare until he/she is 26, that I have removed the ability for them to understand the value of money? Honestly?

I also think that a parent SHOULD provide an avenue for a child to go to college, if the child chooses to go to college. But.... That's headed down a long rabbit trail, so I'll leave it at that.
 
Canassis said:
I think that talking about issues like this is perfectly acceptable in this forum. He has not named names, yet has been informative about the situation. He has called upon the resources and knowledge of people in the industry capable of addressing, assessing and fixing the situation. His timing is irrelevant. Sometimes it takes a while to gain perspective, and understand that something simply isn't working. There is no magic number. I couldn't disagree more with you about his "level of maturity". He was articulate in his presentation of the issue, honest about the issues, and is looking for honest feedback from a knowledgeable community. Good for him.

My take is to find someone that you like flying with. It has taken me some time finding people who I like flying with and I have had issues with CFI's doing things that I thought were inappropriate. You are a customer, paying for a service. Do this for a living, and you'll have lots of time to fly with people you won't go have a beer with.
Click to expand...


Agreed.
.
 
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