flying with different instructors

While 100 rpm is not a big deal, developing a routine in the early stage
of training is very important. An experienced pilot can handle a large
number of variables. He can fly the approach at any RPM, airspeed and
flap setting. But a new student needs a more limited set of variables.
So we need to fix a few parameters such as RPM, airspeed and flaps etc
and only leave a few others as variables such as altitudes to float.
With practice they will be able to develop the experience to handle all
variables at once. From personal experience, all my students soloed in
less than 20 hours. The ones who exceeded 30 hours flew with multiple
instructors.





"Bob Gardner" wrote in
:

If your student mistakenly sets the power at 1700 instead of 1800, I
hope you don't get on his case and develop in him a case of
head-in-the-cockpit-itis. I'd rather have the student remember the
position of the tach needle relative to straight up (one o'clock, two
o'clock, etc) and let it go at that. Precise power setting ain't all
that important, yet some students will devote ten long seconds to
massaging the tach to get an exact number because that's what their
instructor told them (if you think ten seconds is a short time, I will
gladly stick my finger in your eye and hold it there for....heck, two
seconds be enough to make my point?).

Bob Gardner

wrote in message
oups.com...
As a CFI, I think that this can work for advanced instruction
(Instrument, Commercial, and above), but I think it is generally
quite a bad idea for primary students.

The very thing you seem to like about it ("The result is that I've
been able to choose the methods which work best...") can be a major
problem with primary students. By the time you get to the
Commercial-student level, you are a fairly accomplished aviator. You
likely feel quite at home in an airplane, and definionally have
hundreds of hours in an airplane.

Try to think back to when you were a 15-hour primary student. The
stuff that we take for granted is often a major difficulty. It was
for me. I remember being a 15-hour students and trying to remember
all the stuff you had to do before landing, and sometimes looking up
and feeling completely baffled. I know I'm not alone in this.

When I work with primary students, I generally try to teach them one
coherent way of doing things. "Downwind- power to 2000 RPM, abeam the
touchdown point, power to 1500 RPM, pitch for 80 knots. When TD point
is 45 degrees behind, turn base, one notch flaps...pitch for 80....".
I have had students who have flown with different CFIs while I was
working with them. These other CFIs (one was a CFI in training) are
certainly very competent pilots and likely skilled instructors.
However,they do things differently...they teach things differently.
And what seems to often happen is that instead of focusing on the
task at hand and using a technique they know and have learned to
trust, noow the student is thinking "Was it 1500 RPM? No....that was
Dave. Jeff likes power all the way out...wait...."

When I start work with a primary student, I structure my syllabus and
training program to lead from one concept and maneuver naturally to
another...I envision the entire training process that I expect to
perform with that student. I know what each student I have
knows...and what he doesn. I know what he is good at, and what he
isn't. And I can use these things to help him become a better pilot.
I think that continuity is very important...and having multiple CFIs
gets in the way of that.

By the time you are working on your CFI or your commercial, you
pretty much already know how to fly...you are perfecting and
advancing your technique...but you already know how to do all the
basics. I think that it is probably reasonable to work with different
CFIs at that level. but not when you're starting out.

Cheers,


Cap




gatt wrote:
Chief flight instructor and my primary instructor are both gone for
the
week, so I've been flying with whatever low-time, newly-minted
Cessna-jockey
greenhorn flight instructor that answers the phone when I call to
schedule.
I've flown with four different instructors in the last two weeks.

I wholeheartedly recommend this. Each instructor has his own way
of explaining and demonstrating things, (working on complex rating
and commercial, part 141) as well as slight variations of technique
and procedure. The result is that I've been able to choose the
methods
which
work best and with which I'm most comfortable, AND check these
things against other instructors to make sure it's right.

The newer guys have a great sense of enthusiasm, and since the boss
is out
of the shop, they've got great information about what it's REALLY
like
flying as a CFI out of that FBO and things like, how many hours one
might
expect to accumulate over the summer flying season.

I've had one instructor who's a Major in the Air Force and learned
at
the
academy, one who is a retired Marine and learned in the '60s, one
who
is an
Embry Riddle graduate and one who earned his CFI wings from two of
the
others and has only been instructing for a year. The four
different perspectives have made every flight not just practice, but
a new
learning
experience. My primary instructor is excellent, but I wish I'd have
been
doing this to some degree all along!

-c