Shoud I trust my Flight Instructor?

If it makes you feel any better, I felt pretty confident I was going to fall out of the sky for the first 10-hours in my log book.
keely said:
Gotta love the internet!

And yeah, when you work with a bunch of accountants who remind you of the stapler guy from Office Space, you don't mind hanging out with a cute pilot every now and then!

And thank you, hook, for the advice. You are definitely right, it's going to take a combination of things to get me over my flying fear.
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She's a seemingly attractive woman over the age of 24 - they're crazy by default. I have a well developed theory on this, complete with graphical data representations and everything. There are talks of a regression model, but only talk at this point.
 
block30 said:
KISS Keep it Simple S... Your instructor is probably trying to not overwhelm you with minutiae at first.

My biggest frustration when I was a new and youngish CFI was people got so hung up on doubting me. They prattled on and on about my age, and how long I had been instructing, none of which was safe in their mind. So they showed up to lessons to basically not listen to me and just do stuff they heard and saw from old Bob who has a plane and took them up once. That attitude made my job ten times harder and their training take much longer. As for preflights, I once had first flight lesson student demand I stand outside in about 0 degree F weather and give him the mother of all preflights, practically an annual, just to prove I wasn't a dumb kid.

As someone else said, six months was damn salty as a CFI about four years ago....I'm talking chief flight instructor salty. Besides the preflight, what did you do on your lesson? Maybe that was a rant, but I think relaxing a bit is important. If you need to shop around, by all means, do. I didn't see anything concerning in your original post, though.
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I definitely don't mean to demean anyone's education or age, because I know how it feels. I got my BBA from a school that has a reputation of accepting pretty much anyone within reason. However, the professors there were amazing and I ended up with a great education. I passed the CPA exam on the first try thanks to my professors and their knowledge. I am also looked at strangely because of my age too, except with me, it's the opposite. I didn't graduate until I was 26, then took a year off to study for the exam, and I'm just starting my career. Some people my age are already thinking about being partner in the firm soon. Anyway, that's why I made sure to say that it was only my perception the preflight was short, because I know absolutely nothing about them. He's the professional, not me. Never seen one done before either, so it was cool to watch. He asked where I wanted to fly to, over the city of Houston or out toward the lake, and I chose the lake, so we went there. I got to 'fly' a little. He explained to me how to maintain altitude, and the proper way to hold the controls. I asked about some of the instruments and he explained all of those, and told me about trimming the airplane. He also did a touch and go, because I told him my dad wanted me to experience that. He seemed pretty pumped to do that. Then we did some S turns, and he talked about what an actual lesson would be like. By that time, I was actually enjoying myself. All in all, I was up there a little over an hour. He asked me if I wanted to consider coming back again and I said yes, but he didn't try to sell me anything or get me to set an appointment right then, he just gave me his cell phone number and said if I had any questions, to call him. I was glad I didn't get the high-pressure sales pitch, because that doesn't go over well with me, usually. I am going to go back this weekend, because I feel like if I let too much time pass, I'll just forget what it feels like and be afraid all over again. Right now, I am slightly looking forward to it. :)
 
Serious idea:

Go to Galveston. If not for lunch/dinner, then at least to see the gulf and land at a runway near water.

But if you play your cards right, hey! Lunch/dinner with the CFI!

That airport is all sorts of cool
 
I've seen good CFI's and bad, and I can tell you for certain that they don't stay at their jobs for long, certainly not more than six months, if they can't fly and fly well.

As someone who attended Ari Ben Aviator, and gave it a bad review, I would say that my time there had a negative impact on my bank balance, but not really on my flying abilities. I did, at least, experience more than my fair share of real world emergencies, each of which was a valuable leaning experience.

You should trust your instructor enough to talk though exactly these issues with him. For example, you mention that the pre flight check was very quick. It may be that he had recently returned from a lesson in that same airplane. As an instructor myself, taking a customer on a discovery flight my focus is on keeping them comfortable and giving them an enjoyable aviation experience, rather than spending a lot of time on the ground talking about very specific details of the airplane. Given time, I would usually have a detailed preflight inspection completed before the customer arrives. Your first few lessons will give you a good introduction to the things to look for on a preflight. You'll find yourself coming in early to preflight before the lesson! If your instructor is aware of your nervousness, he can adjust the pace of the lessons to take account of your comfort. Sometimes nervous pilots pick up the skills very quickly!
 
elmetal said:
Serious idea:

Go to Galveston. If not for lunch/dinner, then at least to see the gulf and land at a runway near water.

But if you play your cards right, hey! Lunch/dinner with the CFI!

That airport is all sorts of cool
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Hahaha. I'll try to work some magic and see what happens. I'd love to fly over the gulf, that sounds like a blast. Thanks for the idea!
 
keely said:
I thought you had to have a 4 year degree!
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Late I know, but I'll add my .02.

Many pilots don't have their degrees. I didn't. I've been flying for almost 10 years, 6 of those professionally and I carry some pretty important and wealthy people in the back of the company airplane, but I just graduated with my BA this past summer at the age of 26. As others have stated, as long as you have a good time and are comfortable, then there's no reason to not trust him/her. Simply because the school has gotten bad reviews, doesn't mean he is a bad or dangerous pilot.

I think it's great you actually went online looking for advice on the subject, because I know others might not have, and would have simply judged him with no real world information.


btw...admitting you're a twenty something year old girl on a board full of pilots....brave!
 
Mark815 said:
Late I know, but I'll add my .02.

Many pilots don't have their degrees. I didn't. I've been flying for almost 10 years, 6 of those professionally and I carry some pretty important and wealthy people in the back of the company airplane, but I just graduated with my BA this past summer at the age of 26. As others have stated, as long as you have a good time and are comfortable, then there's no reason to not trust him/her. Simply because the school has gotten bad reviews, doesn't mean he is a bad or dangerous pilot.

I think it's great you actually went online looking for advice on the subject, because I know others might not have, and would have simply judged him with no real world information.


btw...admitting you're a twenty something year old girl on a board full of pilots....brave!
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Ha! Hey, I don't mind. You guys seem nice, I might actually stick around!

What should I expect in my first lesson? Does anyone have a preference between the Piper I flew yesterday (the only thing I know about it is it's called a Warrior and it was a two-seater) and a Cessna 172, which is what I was originally supposed to be flying in until a previous student messed up one of the tires on landing that day. My dad likes the Cessna, but I feel like I already at least know what I'm getting with the Piper. And would it be okay to time the lesson to where the end of it is around sunset? I just think it'd be cool to be up there when the sun was going down. I flew overnight to England when I was younger and saw the sunrise. It was wild!

I'm glad I found you guys today!
 
If given the choice I'd probably go with the Cessna, then again I'm biased as that's what I learned in. I'm having to do some checkout stuff in a Warrior now, and although it's not that different, I like the whole set up of the Cessna more... That and I like having more than one door:biggrin: In the long run though both are great airplanes!
 
The size of the tuition bill (or even its existence) is in no way a diagnostic indicator of a pilots ability to fly or teach.

I'm sure you have driven with friends. Some are great drivers, some make your wife think you hit a deer (come laundry time). They all have different levels of education. Same with pilots. (And yes, I assumed you are a married male, but this is purely a hypothetical!)
 
keely said:
Ha! Hey, I don't mind. You guys seem nice, I might actually stick around!

What should I expect in my first lesson? Does anyone have a preference between the Piper I flew yesterday (the only thing I know about it is it's called a Warrior and it was a two-seater) and a Cessna 172, which is what I was originally supposed to be flying in until a previous student messed up one of the tires on landing that day. My dad likes the Cessna, but I feel like I already at least know what I'm getting with the Piper. And would it be okay to time the lesson to where the end of it is around sunset? I just think it'd be cool to be up there when the sun was going down. I flew overnight to England when I was younger and saw the sunrise. It was wild!

I'm glad I found you guys today!
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Fly the Cessna next, see which one you like more. Both are great airplanes, more personal preference than anything else. My choice happens to be whatever is cheaper at the moment.

You get some glare around sunset, so bring some sunglasses.
 
keely said:
What should I expect in my first lesson?
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Your first lesson will probably begin with him teaching you how to preflight the airplane. This will take 30 mins to an hour, because he will be explaining EVERYTHING, and you do not yet know that to look for. The flight should focus on more basics of flying the airplane.

Does anyone have a preference between the Piper I flew yesterday .... and a Cessna 172?
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They are almost exactly the same, despite the different appearances created by the low wing vs high wing. People here love to argue about the subtle differences between airplanes, but in reality you will not notice any difference. I have flown in both, and they are both good trainers.

And would it be okay to time the lesson to where the end of it is around sunset? I just think it'd be cool to be up there when the sun was going down. I flew overnight to England when I was younger and saw the sunrise. It was wild!
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Night time is my favorite time to fly.



PS don't take these guys juvenile joking too seriously.
 
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