I have been flight instructing for just over 6 months and have more than 100 instructing hours. Even with this much experience, I am still a baby instructor in the world of flight instructing. That being said, I have seen my fair share of weird and somewhat scary moments when flying with students.
Patience is Key
When I am flying with a student, my facial expression is always happy😊 even though I am freaking out inside 😱. I don’t show anger, frustration or upset. This takes patience and control. In my mind I could be thinking “what the hell are you doing?” but mouth will say “I have control”, bring the airplane back into straight and level flight. Followed by a smile before cracking a joke, say something funny or reassuring everything is fine to release some tension (at this point the student might by in panic mode or scared). I will then proceed by explaining what just happened before giving back the controls.
Patience Has It’s Limits
Luckily, the majority of my students are respectful and listens to what I say.
There are some who wants to do things their way. These students are sometimes testing my patience. Take this one student I came across and will name this student, X. The things X do and say, makes me want to say:
“Hey, come on…you didn’t read up before coming out here, keep interrupting when we are going through ground instructions (before the flight) like you know everything and get unhappy when I demonstrate the manoeuvre in the air (unhappy because they like to be on the controls all the time), how do you expect me to help you improve?”
Me, thinking in my mind
That’s not it. At the end of the lesson, I was criticized for not giving enough praise. After hearing that, I was speechless. Not because I have nothing to say. I was channeling all my energy not to blow my top off 🤯. Then I used whatever energy I have left to say: “That is good advice. I will try my best the time.”
Not saying what X is did is wrong. Different people have different attitude towards different things and I am not in position to judge. Who knows? I might be at fault. At most I can give suggestions on what to read and prepare for the next lesson. On my end, I will find different approaches to deal with students like X and hope at the end of the next lesson, they will be happy and satisfied.
I actually felt my patience have level up considerably since I started instructing.
Expect The Unexpected
I was told awhile back that I have to “expect the unexpected”. Up in the air, things can happen and I should prepare for it. Back then, I thought I understood this point but now, I am not so sure. If something is unexpected, how am I supposed to expect it?
In the world of instructing, I not only have to prepare for the hazards of flying, I also have to anticipate what students will do in a given situation. I have instructed a number of people from different background with varied styles of flying. I pretty much can tell what the students may or may not do next and have the “catch” the airplane if something goes wrong. However, there are still times where somethings are “unanticipatable” (I don’t think this is an actual word but you know what I mean). When things happen, in my mind these thoughts are going through my head: “how can this even happen?”, “what is the logic behind this?”, “I just said it a moment ago to watch out.”
When these sort of “unanticipatable” event happens, I will do what I mentioned earlier. Take the controls, bring the airplane back to a steady state, say something reassuring that things are fine and show what needs to be done and what they should never do. Most important, when we are back onto the ground, I will have a serious discussion with the student and emphasis what could have happened if some errors are not corrected immediately.
Overall, I Enjoy It
As a baby flight instructor, I have much more to learn and I am very confident I haven’t seen it all. I get to meet people from different background and glad that I get to be part of their journey to become a pilot. The challenges of dealing with different people and situations make me grow as a person. Asking my students for feedback (of my teaching style) is part of my process for improving and accommodating to my students’ needs.
Overall, I enjoy flight instructing.
What’s Next?
I am thinking of doing shorter blogs to share new/fun/weird/scary events I have experienced while instructing. Not sure how it will turn out or what this “miniseries” will be called. Suggest, anyone? Be sure to check out my other blog post here and follow me on Facebook! Feel free to leave you thoughts in the comment section below.
