Re: Gulfstream Int\'l Flight Academy
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Mike D,
You have missed the point completely... Maybe you shouldn't have skipped the instructing part, then you would know what I am talking about.
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I may have partly misunderstood your overall meaning with how you wrote it, but I'm open minded to further explanations, no problemo there. Even though I'm not a formal IP in the Air Force, as a flight leader, I almost have to assume quasi-IP duties everytime I fly with an inexperienced wingman...everything from monitoring whether or not they're in the appropriate formation, to watching their bomb passes and analyzing their parameters (dive angle, air speed, bomb wire, any bank/slip imputs, their safe escape maneuver) in order to know which corrections to have them make in subsequent passes, and everything else needed to run an effective mission debrief. The mission debrief covers not only what was done right, but what could've been done better for the both (or all four) pilots in the flight.
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When I say you should know everything before you step into the plane with the student that means everything you are to teach them (how about everything the FAA wants us to teach per the PTS). If you did not know the definition of something or how to explain something in the PTS then YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN YOUR TICKET PERIOD. Yes, the ticket is a license to learn BUT if you have the foundation down when you get the ticket then you are re-enforcing and committing to memory, not learning something new. Yes, you will learn new things when you fly and as you should. You will learn something new or learn something you have forgotten every flying day for the rest of your life. Yes, people have different learning styles and you will have to adapt to them as a CFI when explaining things.
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Appreciate the clarification. Sounded different to me in the original post, but that's water under the bridge. Agree overall with this.
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My point about CFI's not learning anything new was that after a few students the material repeats itself. Yes, you can find new way's to introduce the material and flight lessons but if you ask any HONEST CFI if they do, they will say I have found that this (being one way for the particular situation) works best and that is the way I teach it.
IN MY OPINION, My knowledge and stick skills as a CFI "who does not fly the plane most of the time" are not advancing the way I would like to see them advance. This is why I say I am bored with the CFI route. I am happy for those who still feel they are getting something new every day from it. I happen to know alot of CFI's that feel the same way I do. Does this mean that they show up and act like a bump on a log with their student? NO!!! We are professionals and I will be the first one to tell you that I take my instruction very seriously especially when someones life is on the line.
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Alright, this I can understand a little better. Just what I said before, and what you touched on, about the whole simply being ready for some more challenge and a "move up the ladder." Understandable based on what types of instruction you're giving. If it's basic PVT all the time, other than adapting to students needs regards knowing 2 or 3 ways to teach the same idea, I can see how, for your stick skills, the same repetitive PTS stuff can get boring. Fair.
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You think that just because I say that I am a proficient CFI and feel I have learned what I needed to as a CFI that I would push the envelope in bad WX or make a "go" decision when it was obviously a "no go" decision? FSI is "probably" the most thorough flight school in the nation and you think that they teach their pilots bad habits and to be overconfident. Come on Mike, you have to admit that was a stupid statement.
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Wasn't a direct statement..more of a roundabout question I was hoping you'd address. Based on your previous text, it gave the impression that FSIs teaching methods made their 300 hour grads feel "as proficient" as a 1000 hour pilot. And experience-wise/judgement-wise, that just wouldn't be true, were that the case. If you say it isn't the case here, I'll take your word; however, at least to me, the former was the impression I first got from the text.
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You and "I" will run into stuff the rest of our flying career like that. I know that and hopefully everyone else does too. Let's just hope it doesn't kill us!!!
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Fully agree.
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On the flip side of the coin, I can fully appreciate your desire to move up and the feeling that you "know your job" at the level you're at.
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Thank you, that was my point the whole time since the beginning. Will I learn something new while giving dual between 700 hours and the mins of a regional? Yes, I am sure I will, but will it make any difference in my knowledge "as a CFI" or my stick skills to get me through that interview? I do not feel it will and neither does most of the CFI's I associate with. Would I learn something new in a more advanced or even at least a different aircraft doing some completely different flying (hopefully hands on, you know sole manipulator)? Yes, that is what I am talking about. Can you appreciate that?
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Put the way you stated it here, I can fully appreciate the point.
Just so you know, I'm not here to be anyone's enemy, not even yours. My comments were based on my impression of your post. I posted what I did hoping to solicit either a retort or clarification. Appreciate the clarifications.
Mike