I am ready to start working on my IFR training. I took an intensive
weekend crash course to pass the written and got a 93%, so that's out
of the way.

My CFI for my private was fabulous, but he was a real drill sergeant.
He's also no longer in the area. I have read Joe Campbell's IFR Diary
and that really isn't how I want to learn this time around. Maybe I'm
wrong, but I want a cool, calm, collected, thinking man's instructor.
Maybe it will take me longer than getting dropped into the war zone,
but for me I think it will be a better way to go.

I fly out of Centennial (APA) in Denver, CO. There are a couple of
large flight schools on the field with 30+ CFII's each plus a couple of
smaller clubs. My PPL examiner suggested a couple. How do you go about
finding a good one?

I am thinking about starting in a simulator for ten or so hours. I
thought I might try 5 instructors at two hours each and see how it
goes.

Any thoughts?

Start with the end result and work backwards.... talk to pilots that you
believe are good IFR pilots and ask them for CFII references. You already
hit on a good source, your examiner, talk to him/her some more.

Jim

I'm at KBJC (Jeffco, Colorado). If you can find a really good instrument
instructor in the area, please let me know.

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>I am ready to start working on my IFR training. I took an intensive
> weekend crash course to pass the written and got a 93%, so that's out
> of the way.
>
> My CFI for my private was fabulous, but he was a real drill sergeant.
> He's also no longer in the area. I have read Joe Campbell's IFR Diary
> and that really isn't how I want to learn this time around. Maybe I'm
> wrong, but I want a cool, calm, collected, thinking man's instructor.
> Maybe it will take me longer than getting dropped into the war zone,
> but for me I think it will be a better way to go.
>
> I fly out of Centennial (APA) in Denver, CO. There are a couple of
> large flight schools on the field with 30+ CFII's each plus a couple of
> smaller clubs. My PPL examiner suggested a couple. How do you go about
> finding a good one?
>
> I am thinking about starting in a simulator for ten or so hours. I
> thought I might try 5 instructors at two hours each and see how it
> goes.
>
> Any thoughts?
>

When you interview the instructors, find out how much time they have in
actual. From there, use the same criteria you would for any instructor
- teaching style, availability, etc. You'll do yourself a big favor
though if you fly with someone experienced in real conditions.

Helen

My criterion for instructors, PPL, IA, and Commercial was minimum 1000 hours and
the majority being "real" flying experience -- IMC, ice, flying into high
traffic airports and areas like ORD, good war stories ... etc. -- not just CFI
experience. I can own and read the same books that the 250-hour wonders have
read. I don't need an instructor for that. I need an instructor to teach me
from his experience with reality. I may have missed some good young instructors
but I have not regretted taking that approach.

On 3/2/05 6:09 PM, Helen Woods wrote the following:
> When you interview the instructors, find out how much time they have in
> actual. From there, use the same criteria you would for any instructor
> - teaching style, availability, etc. You'll do yourself a big favor
> though if you fly with someone experienced in real conditions.
>
> Helen

wrote:
> I am ready to start working on my IFR training. I took an intensive
> weekend crash course to pass the written and got a 93%, so that's out
> of the way.
>
> My CFI for my private was fabulous, but he was a real drill sergeant.
> He's also no longer in the area. I have read Joe Campbell's IFR Diary
> and that really isn't how I want to learn this time around. Maybe I'm
> wrong, but I want a cool, calm, collected, thinking man's instructor.
> Maybe it will take me longer than getting dropped into the war zone,
> but for me I think it will be a better way to go.
>
> I fly out of Centennial (APA) in Denver, CO. There are a couple of
> large flight schools on the field with 30+ CFII's each plus a couple
of
> smaller clubs. My PPL examiner suggested a couple. How do you go
about
> finding a good one?
>
> I am thinking about starting in a simulator for ten or so hours. I
> thought I might try 5 instructors at two hours each and see how it
> goes.
>
> Any thoughts?

It's a lot like finding a doctor. The easiest (and cheapest) way is to
get a recommendation from someone you consider a reasonable person. I
think you'll find that most of them do a good job. Finding the best
instructor in the western hemisphere is a difficult task.

wrote:
> Finding the best instructor in the western hemisphere is a difficult task.

It doesn't seem like it should be that difficult. Several people who claim
to fit that description are frequent contributors to this newsgroup. :-)

"Roy Smith" > wrote in message
...
> wrote:
> > Finding the best instructor in the western hemisphere is a difficult
task.
>
> It doesn't seem like it should be that difficult. Several people who
claim
> to fit that description are frequent contributors to this newsgroup. :-)


It Depends if you have been in aviation 30 years or 1 year.

Your connections and contacts will not be as vast only being in aviation for
1 year, so its easy for the people that have been in aviation for 30 years
to say it's not that difficult.

NW_PILOT > wrote:

>"Roy Smith" > wrote in message

>> wrote:
>> > Finding the best instructor in the western hemisphere is a difficult
>task.
>>
>> It doesn't seem like it should be that difficult. Several people who
>claim
>> to fit that description are frequent contributors to this newsgroup. :-)
>
>
>It Depends if you have been in aviation 30 years or 1 year.
>
>Your connections and contacts will not be as vast only being in aviation for
>1 year, so its easy for the people that have been in aviation for 30 years
>to say it's not that difficult.

I do believe that NW_PILOT missed the smiley at the end of Roy's
response.

(*chortle*)

There is a mix. I honestly believe there are a lot of instrument rated
pilots out there that are afraid to actually fly in IMC because their
CFIIs were too easy on them. For instrument training, more than any
other type of training, student *really* need to feel that their CFII
has taken them beyond what they will need. Your CFII should be giving
you distractions, having you change approaches as you dig for charts,
messing up radio freq etc. From the pilots I've flown with, I'd say at
least 50% of the instrument rated pilots had CFIIs that were too soft
on them and, as a result, they are not confident in the clouds.

-Robert, CFI

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> wrote:
> > I am ready to start working on my IFR training. I took an intensive
> > weekend crash course to pass the written and got a 93%, so that's out
> > of the way.
> >
> > My CFI for my private was fabulous, but he was a real drill sergeant.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
>
> It's a lot like finding a doctor. The easiest (and cheapest) way is to
> get a recommendation from someone you consider a reasonable person. I

Look at your field for the high-performance planes with good IFR equipment
that are flown regularly. Find the owners (lookup N-Numbers in the database,
post-it note, etc) of those planes and ask who they use. Also, call a local
aircraft broker who deals in serious traveling airplanes, ask who he
recommends for a checkout. Designees are a good lead as well. They know all
the characters and if they recommend someone you'll be in good shape when
testing time comes.

Also, a plug here for the "drill seargeant" approach. Much more so than VFR,
IFR is not a place to worry about self-esteem. The weather is the cruelest
instructor of them all, and you don't want a pink slip from her.

-cwk.

"Roy Smith" > wrote in message
...
> wrote:
>> Finding the best instructor in the western hemisphere is a difficult
>> task.
>
> It doesn't seem like it should be that difficult. Several people who
> claim
> to fit that description are frequent contributors to this newsgroup. :-)
Roy,
I don't remember if when we were flying around San Francisco Bay something
close to twenty years ago(+/-) a few, if I told you my criteria for
successful instructing. "If I can teach a student that I am the best
looking of all instructors, I can teach him anything."
Gene

"Gene Whitt" > wrote in
ink.net:
> I don't remember if when we were flying around San Francisco Bay
> something close to twenty years ago(+/-) a few, if I told you my
> criteria for successful instructing. "If I can teach a student that I
> am the best looking of all instructors, I can teach him anything."
> Gene

Or to quote a phrase, you can fool some of the people some of the
time......

--
Regards,

Stan

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." B. Franklin

In article et>,
"Gene Whitt" > wrote:

> "Roy Smith" > wrote in message
> ...
> > wrote:
> >> Finding the best instructor in the western hemisphere is a difficult
> >> task.
> >
> > It doesn't seem like it should be that difficult. Several people who
> > claim
> > to fit that description are frequent contributors to this newsgroup. :-)
> Roy,
> I don't remember if when we were flying around San Francisco Bay something
> close to twenty years ago(+/-) a few, if I told you my criteria for
> successful instructing. "If I can teach a student that I am the best
> looking of all instructors, I can teach him anything."
> Gene

I can't say I remember that, but I do remember you telling me to hold the
yoke with two fingers, and I think of you whenever I pass on that advice to
one of my students.

Blanche wrote:

> I do believe that NW_PILOT missed the smiley at the end of Roy's
> response.

Probably, but his point is still valid. Several of my instructors for
primary were, in retrospect, scary. But I didn't know enough to know that
at the time.

When I was shopping around for a CFII, I was a slightly better-informed
consumer. I believe I did a better job as a result.

I liked the suggestions of "starting backwards", be it with good IFR pilots
or "advanced" aircraft. The former is tough for the inexperienced, but the
latter should be available to anyone at a reasonably busy airport.

Another suggestion is to increase the connections and contacts w/in
aviation. Go to meetings. Join clubs. And so on.

We're having a meeting tomorrow, for example, in Little Falls NJ. You're
all welcome.

http://www.midatlanticpilots.com/program.html

For me, attending meetings like this made a big difference. It transitioned
me from "aviator" to "member of the aviation community", if you will.

- Andrew