Did it get better for you post-CFI?

[zmiller4]

Which leads me to my question: has anyone found instruction to be particularly frustrating, and when they made it to the next step (regional, freight, charter) they actually felt a significant improvement in their job?

I hope so! I could use a little inspiration!

I think I was in a pretty similar situation to you when I was instructing. I had a few *awesome* students, but I had some that were just plain terrible. The first 8 months or so I beat myself up over their lack of success. Seeing them on my schedule would stress me out. I was at the airport 10-12hrs a day for 6-7 days a week, so I didn't have time to relax, or do the other things I enjoyed. I thought seriously about quitting and going back to grad school quite a few times at the beginning. After a year or so, though, I started being able to deal with frustrating students a little better. I looked at them as a challenge, not as a burden, and that really helped both in their progress and my mental health.

By the end of my 20-something months of instructing, I was definitely ready to move on to something else, but instructing was an enormously valuable experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. My first airline job required a *hellacious* commute to reserve, so that really didn't make things any better (still very little time off, a lot of stress from the commute and the new environment, etc). My current job, though, requires a much easier commute and seniority allows me 16-18 days off a month. I get mad now if I work 4 days a week. It's a night and day difference from instructing.

It will get better eventually. Give instructing all you've got, and remember that you're building hours so that you have the qualifications to move on. You're not going to be doing this forever, so try to find enjoyment in it where you can.

 

[Stratopilot]

I guess I might be an odd ball, but I REALLY love teaching. Sure, I'm tired and burnt out, but I just think about the bigger picture. I've taken somebody that, until just a few months ago, only saw blue and brown when he or she looked out the window. Now I'm standing in the Air Traffic Control tower watching the guy fly past on his first solo. It's awe inspiring really. Instructing has taught me patience, self-control (yeah I get frustruated too), and an appreciation for the general aviation community.

In all seriousness, you're always going to have gripes no matter where you go. Regional guys, im sure have thier problems, the same as the FedEx guys. The secret is to enjoy where you're at now...and add to it as much as you can.

Stick with it. You can only get better.


Andy Poulton
Independent Flight Instructor
www.learntoflydallas.com

 

[derg]

You know, I never got into flying to teach either. In fact, when I graduated college, I had already had a King Air job lined up and left during the first week of CFI school to do some cheeseball overpriced CRM-course at Riddle for credit so I could have enough credits to graduate and enjoy the new corporate job.

Well, that didn't last too long.

At the time, I thought (and this pains me greatly to admit this) but I thought I was too "good" to be a CFI because of my ERAU pedigree. It brings me a lot of grief to admit that, but that was the "old Doug Taylor" before reality slapped me square in the face.

Long story short, after the job dried up, got my CFI and CFI-I and eventually found a job.

On my first student, the whole CFI thing clicked and I discovered my purpose and found a lot of joy in being a flight instructor. I had a HELL of a time, both flying the aircraft, working one-on-one with people, marketing and having people show up to the flight school that were recommendations from other students and I probably learned more about flying in the average week of flight instructing than I learned in all of my previous years of flying.

Nothing great like grabbing a couple students, taking off out of RHV, doing the MRY VOR, missed approach, the SNS ILS, missed approach, then the WVI NBD, full stop, go eat at Zuniga's and look at the 747 captain's Luscombe collection before taking off to RHV again. Whale watching over the Pacific when the student was under the hood offshore, smelling garlic while practicing turns-on-a-point over Gilroy, or flying the dot.com "paper millionaire" and his stripper "friend" over the bay on a "Bay Tour" after hours. Life was good.

Even to this day, 11 years at a major, I still think being a CFI were some of the best years of my career. I had a great time. But then, every link in the chain of my career had been fantastic and rewarding.

There are ups and downs at every point in the career. EVERY. Even today, I can be enjoying a frosty beer, sitting in a wooded beer garden in Berlin under the trees, 75 degrees, lightly breezy and beautiful German ladies and there'll be one pilot that's bitching some doofus minutia. It's human nature, I think.

Enjoy where you are, enjoy the path and look forward to where you want to be.

If you can't, perhaps it's time to look into Truckmasters and the perfect world of long-haul truck driving! (I'm being sarcastic!)

I remember my days at Skyway with joy, but my days as a CFI, at least to me, were absolutely golden.

 

[flyinguitar]

I really appreciate the time and thoughtfulness you all put into your responses. I feel clearer about things. It is apparent that many people really enjoy/enjoyed flight instructing, or at least look back to those days as being good ones. I take from that a strong message to look for the best I can in my current situation, and to strive to cultivate and maintain a positive outlook.

At the same time, there are plenty of you that also find/found instruction to be more on the frustrating side. It's nice to know I'm not alone! I think that the question of whether or not one enjoys instructing, while heavily colored by attitude, also has a lot to do with personality (and that crucial attribute patience!). I believe it is fair to say that some people are simply a better fit, and I very well might not be one of those people. Although perhaps I will be surprised one day.

An interesting aside is that I studied music at college, and had a few experiences with teaching my instrument that were similar to my current experience as a CFI. While I got very positive feedback from the few students I had, I felt that I lacked the patience to teach. However, I was able to gig professionally without "paying my dues" as a teacher. Interestingly, I must admit that had I been forced to teach, my own skills on my instrument would probably have benefited tremendously (as I feel my flying skills have).

What I'm sure most people will agree with is that, regardless of how good or bad of a time one is having as a CFI, if we agree to do it, we owe our students the highest level of professional dedication.

Polar742 - I very much appreciated your "highly caffeinated ramble." Like you said, I have found that getting my point across can be a tremendous challenge, but after having gone through a few students you start to get the hang of it. Example: I recently inherited a student whose steep turns were a mess - he was doing everything wrong. However, after having taught and worked on steep turns with 10-15 other students, I was able to draw on those experiences in a specific and tangible manner. This student's steep turns are now perfect - but if he'd been my first student, we'd probably still be working on them.

greaper007 - I am teaching at a small part 141 academy, and most of my students have career aspirations.

LoadMasterC141, desertdog71, stratopilot, Doug Taylor - I greatly respect your positive attitudes. You're students are/were lucky to have such genuinely enthusiastic CFIs!