Are CFIs personable?

I was talking to a friend today about how difficult it is to find a
personable golf instructor. I'm a pretty so-so golfer and it really
turns me off that most instructors are very arrogant and stuck up. I
got to thinking that I sure hope students don't see CFIs the same way.
I've never considered myself better than my students so I sure help I
don't come off as arrogant in anyway. As a CFI I know that other CFIs
interact with me differently so I'm not sure I would know if other
CFIs are stuck up (as a CFI I often find that check out rides are
abbreviated, fees are reduced or instruction hours are under billed
for fellow CFIs).

I've never considered the holding of a CFI certificate to mean that
I'm any type of super pilot. In truth, anyone who takes enough
checkrides can get the certificate, its really something that any can
achieve. I hope other CFIs see it the same way.

-Robert, CFII

On Jun 25, 4:13 pm, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:
I was talking to a friend today about how difficult it is to find a
personable golf instructor. I'm a pretty so-so golfer and it really
turns me off that most instructors are very arrogant and stuck up. I
got to thinking that I sure hope students don't see CFIs the same way.
I've never considered myself better than my students so I sure help I
don't come off as arrogant in anyway. As a CFI I know that other CFIs
interact with me differently so I'm not sure I would know if other
CFIs are stuck up (as a CFI I often find that check out rides are
abbreviated, fees are reduced or instruction hours are under billed
for fellow CFIs).

I've never considered the holding of a CFI certificate to mean that
I'm any type of super pilot. In truth, anyone who takes enough
checkrides can get the certificate, its really something that any can
achieve. I hope other CFIs see it the same way.

-Robert, CFII


Long time ago when I took my first intro flight, the CFI turned me off
flying. Fortunately he did not turn me off permanently he only put it
off by a few years. He seemed disinterested in the whole thing, and
was unwilling to appreciate the excitement of my first time
experience. I had read up quite a bit, so I knew more than someone
with zero hours, and the CFI found it very annoying that I was asking
questions about aerodymanics, such as how the rudders work, and
adverse yaw and all that stuff. Having become a CFI myself, my guess
is that he did not know the answers to my questions but was too proud
to admit it, so he tried to play down my questions as dumb.

On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:13:10 -0700, "Robert M. Gary"
wrote:

I was talking to a friend today about how difficult it is to find a
personable golf instructor. I'm a pretty so-so golfer and it really
turns me off that most instructors are very arrogant and stuck up. I
got to thinking that I sure hope students don't see CFIs the same way.
I've never considered myself better than my students so I sure help I
don't come off as arrogant in anyway. As a CFI I know that other CFIs
interact with me differently so I'm not sure I would know if other
CFIs are stuck up (as a CFI I often find that check out rides are
abbreviated, fees are reduced or instruction hours are under billed
for fellow CFIs).

I've never considered the holding of a CFI certificate to mean that
I'm any type of super pilot. In truth, anyone who takes enough
checkrides can get the certificate, its really something that any can
achieve. I hope other CFIs see it the same way.

-Robert, CFII

You sound like the kind of CFI that I would be looking for. My CFI
was very similar and I consider myself to be lucky in that regard. I'm
sure that there are both good and bad CFIs, as there are with all
walks of life, but I have run into some that are similar to your
generic golf instructor description. During several check-out rides I
have encountered CFIs (mostly young) who think that they are God's
gift to aviation and that everyone should be flying to ATP standards.
I can think of nothing that is as important to the prospective student
as finding a CFI who is not an arrogant "super pilot" and who
understands that he/she is not training to ATP or military standards.
By that, I don't mean to downplay the need for proficency, just that
one needs to walk (without being scared away) before he can run.
RNR

I started instructing when I was 40, and I think that having a tad bit of
life experience transfers positively when interacting with students. To my
younger students I was kind of a father figure, and to the old ones I was
seen as experienced, when in fact I was feeling my way as all new
instructors must. I haven't run across very many long-time instructors who
came struck me as arrogant.

Bob Gardner

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...
I was talking to a friend today about how difficult it is to find a
personable golf instructor. I'm a pretty so-so golfer and it really
turns me off that most instructors are very arrogant and stuck up. I
got to thinking that I sure hope students don't see CFIs the same way.
I've never considered myself better than my students so I sure help I
don't come off as arrogant in anyway. As a CFI I know that other CFIs
interact with me differently so I'm not sure I would know if other
CFIs are stuck up (as a CFI I often find that check out rides are
abbreviated, fees are reduced or instruction hours are under billed
for fellow CFIs).

I've never considered the holding of a CFI certificate to mean that
I'm any type of super pilot. In truth, anyone who takes enough
checkrides can get the certificate, its really something that any can
achieve. I hope other CFIs see it the same way.

-Robert, CFII

Robert M. Gary wrote:
I was talking to a friend today about how difficult it is to find a
personable golf instructor.

Hope this isn't par for the course :-))




I'm a pretty so-so golfer and it really
turns me off that most instructors are very arrogant and stuck up. I
got to thinking that I sure hope students don't see CFIs the same way.
I've never considered myself better than my students so I sure help I
don't come off as arrogant in anyway. As a CFI I know that other CFIs
interact with me differently so I'm not sure I would know if other
CFIs are stuck up (as a CFI I often find that check out rides are
abbreviated, fees are reduced or instruction hours are under billed
for fellow CFIs).

I've never considered the holding of a CFI certificate to mean that
I'm any type of super pilot. In truth, anyone who takes enough
checkrides can get the certificate, its really something that any can
achieve. I hope other CFIs see it the same way.

-Robert, CFII


My comment on this is the same comment I have shared with the CFI
community for over 50 years; that being everything....and I mean
EVERYTHING..... I ever learned about teaching people to fly I have
learned from the students I have taught to fly. Every moment I ever
spent in a cockpit was as a student learning to be a better student of
my own profession.

My students have taught me, molded me, shaped the way I teach, and made
me not only a better teacher, but a FAR better pilot than I ever would
have been had I not been a flight instructor.

There is no room in aviation for arrogance. There is however, a slim
line between confidence, ability, and arrogance. The CFI who knows the
difference between these things is a flight instructor. Those who don't
are not worthy of the certificate.
Dudley Henriques

Andrew Sarangan wrote:
Long time ago when I took my first intro flight, the CFI turned me off
flying. Fortunately he did not turn me off permanently he only put it
off by a few years. He seemed disinterested in the whole thing, and
was unwilling to appreciate the excitement of my first time
experience. I had read up quite a bit, so I knew more than someone
with zero hours, and the CFI found it very annoying that I was asking
questions about aerodymanics, such as how the rudders work, and
adverse yaw and all that stuff. Having become a CFI myself, my guess
is that he did not know the answers to my questions but was too proud
to admit it, so he tried to play down my questions as dumb.


Maybe I've been lucky but I can't think of any instructor I ever flew with that
came across as arrogant. There was varying dedication to teaching as some were
just building hours towards a loftier goal, but every one of them shared a love
of flying. And every one of them was quite approachable.

Your later comments may well be right on the money. I see similar behavior at
work at times: the nurses who show annoyance when you don't know the answer to
one of their queries during our shift changes invariably wouldn't be capable of
answering similar questions themselves. If they become intimidating enough,
maybe you won't dare ask?

As an aside, when they get particularly condescending I usually make a crack
about they won't mind looking up the answer themself, as they're the only one in
the room who gives a **** about the answer. Just so we understand each other
clearly....



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

There is nothing inherently different about Certified Flight
Instructers than any other type of instructor (or teacher).
Some are excellent, most are average and some are very poor.

You bet your ass we are, and if you don't believe me I'll beat the crap out
of you!!!

{;-)

P.S. I've never charged a fellow instructor for anything at all, be it
flight review, exams (when I used to give them), recurrent training, or
anything else. I think Karl Harder (RIP), a legend down at Lincoln Airport,
was my inspiration several dozen years ago. I scheduled a competency ride
with him because I hadn't had a from-the-getgo primary student in about five
years. When I asked him after the ride how much I owed him, he just said,
"If you came here to learn how to produce a better student and pilot, how
the hell can I charge you for that?"

jw

--
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, with chocolate in one hand and wine in
the other, loudly proclaiming 'WOO HOO What a Ride!'"
--Unknown


I
got to thinking that I sure hope students don't see CFIs the same way.
I've never considered myself better than my students so I sure help I
don't come off as arrogant in anyway. As a CFI I know that other CFIs
interact with me differently so I'm not sure I would know if other
CFIs are stuck up (as a CFI I often find that check out rides are
abbreviated, fees are reduced or instruction hours are under billed
for fellow CFIs).

RST Engineering wrote:

whatever -

You're sig was/is (in case it changes) so, so, TRUE!!!!!!!!!

All of the CFI's I've dealt with were relatively personable.

I talk to people before I fly with them to determine if basic
compatibility exists. If I have a hard time talking to someone in the
FBO, I doubt we'll communicate as well as we can in the air.