Pilot Suicides

Crash Lander wrote:
"Jose" wrote in message
...
Surely, any instructor that values his life, would at least do a brief
pre-flight himself, regardless of whether the student has already done
one or not?
Yes. But that doesn't mean that the student needs to be supervised while
he does his own preflight.

Jose

How then, does it 'save time' if the student does the pre-flight before the
instructor arrives, if the instructor is going to do it again anyway?
Crash Lander



Each instructor will have a preferred method for handling student
pre-flights based on personal experience. You want the student to
develop confidence, and allowing the student to do the pre-flight
naturally fits into that side of the learning curve. This however
doesn't release the instructor from the responsibility for the
pre-flight being done correctly.
I've seen instructors use just about every method one can think of for
handling pre-flights.
In all the years I was instructing, I never had a situation where my
student was sent out alone to preflight an airplane that the student was
scheduled in with me as the instructor. This doesn't mean I rode herd on
the student's pre-flight either. It means that the pre-flight was always
treated as part of the dual period. The student always did the
pre-flight with me simply watching. A good thorough pre-flight shouldn't
take all that long to perform if done correctly. It was always my
policy, especially if a Hobbs meter was involved, to schedule each
student with enough time the student to do the pre-flight normally as we
went out to the airplane together.
It's notable also, from an instructor's point of view, that seldom was
one of these pre-flights performed where absolutely no comment was
necessary between myself and the student involved. Point here is that
every moment of a dual session can and should be a learning experience
for a student.
I always made a point of placing the emphasis on the pre-flight with the
student, with comment from me only when appropriate. Using this method
proved over time to instill both confidence in the student as his/her
pre-flight skills increased to competent levels, and also serve as a
silently observed double check on the aircraft's condition by me that
satisfied safety requirements.


In my opinion, there should never be a situation for an instructor that
includes saving time as a factor in a pre-flight. If this is an issue,
students are being scheduled too closely together.

Dudley Henriques