"Trying out" a different insturctor just to see - good idea? Badidea?

[GEG]

Hi everyone,

I'm a student with about 10 flights under my belt.
I had an instructor for the first 4 that I really liked.
I departed for a while, then had a new instructor that
I also really like - but for COMPLETELY different reasons,
and I can consider him "acceptable", but not great.
I wish I could combine them both.
I do some teaching at my old University as a guest, and like
to balance the conceptual view, preparation, but also have
students work and struggle just a little bit in order
to make them think through situations and get a better grasp.
(I mean struggle with ground school issues, not while in the air.)
(I like this approach for me, anyway . . . hee hee.)

There are 2 other instructors at my school that I like as people
and as personality, and a friend of mine uses one of those guys.

I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
instructor for a flight, just to see.
Who knows, maybe he's really good.

On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
who I'm actually quite fine with?

Thanks!

Gary

[Flyin'[email protected]]

I flew with 3 different instructors during my traing, and I am glad I did.
Every instructor teaches a bit differently and you gain a new perspective
on the same item. If you have trouble with a particular thing with
instructor A, instructor B may explain or demonstrate it differently that
just makes it "click" in you brain. This is what I experienced a couple of
times.

It is your money and your time. My input is that it is a good idea to get
different concepts. Besides, it will ease the discomfort of flying with
someone new... which is exactly what happens when the DE steps into your
plane. At least you will have been there and done that at the time of the
exam.



GEG > wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm a student with about 10 flights under my belt.
> I had an instructor for the first 4 that I really liked.
> I departed for a while, then had a new instructor that
> I also really like - but for COMPLETELY different reasons,
> and I can consider him "acceptable", but not great.
> I wish I could combine them both.
> I do some teaching at my old University as a guest, and like
> to balance the conceptual view, preparation, but also have
> students work and struggle just a little bit in order
> to make them think through situations and get a better grasp.
> (I mean struggle with ground school issues, not while in the air.)
> (I like this approach for me, anyway . . . hee hee.)
>
> There are 2 other instructors at my school that I like as people
> and as personality, and a friend of mine uses one of those guys.
>
> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.
> Who knows, maybe he's really good.
>
> On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
> adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
> who I'm actually quite fine with?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Gary

--
Mike Flyin'8
PP-ASEL
Temecula, CA
http://flying.4alexanders.com

[John T]

GEG wrote:
>
> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.
> Who knows, maybe he's really good.
>
> On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
> adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
> who I'm actually quite fine with?

It's not "cheating" on your current instructor to take a ride with a
different instructor - especially if you're upfront about it. While these
instructors work for you, they do have emotions and perceptions that may
need to be addressed. You're not necessarily shopping for a new teacher,
but looking for different perspectives or styles that may or may not be
beneficial.

It's rarely a bad idea to fly with a different instructor from time to time
for a different point of view.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_search.asp?developerid=4415
____________________

[gatt]

> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.
> Who knows, maybe he's really good.

Been through just about every instructor at the FBO working on my commercial
rating and complex checkout.

There are important things that I have learned from each one of them. One's
a stickler on checklists and cockpit management, one's -really- good at
explaining maneuvers and emergency procedures, and a third is very laid back
and maintains confidence with a low degree of cockpit stress, but doesn't
offer advice unless you ask.

I now have a clear idea of which one I prefer (although I'll still fly with
some, but not all, of the others.)

Hard to say if it will sour the relationship with your instructor, since
they're human. But it's not uncommon at all to have a "primary instructor."
I think the CFIs here will tell you it's not a good idea in your primary
training (ironically), and you don't want to bounce around too much early on
unless you're certain you're uncomfortable with your instructor.

Happy flying. Waiting for the weather to break here to get back into my
commercial. Sucks, 'cause I just spent a whole bunch of money getting
IFR-rated, but you can't do Lazy 8s in clouds. :/

-c

[grubertm]

I'd say it's a good idea to fly with different instructors to either
find someone that you get along with better or to occassionally get
some new input. The only important point is that you do maintain one
CFI as your main instructor to monitor your progress.
I changed instructors at around 10 hours and since then took lessons
from mostly the same CFI but also did some flights with 2 other
instructors (mostly for their different takes on improving landings).

- Marco

[Tom Young]

I have about 25 hours toward Private and I've flown with six different
instructors since I started last October. (Various reasons: My first one
quit to go back to school, the second one got another job, the third one is
now my regular instructor, the fourth was a pre-solo checkout by the chief
instructor -- does that count?-- and the fifth and sixth stepped in when my
regular guy couldn't make it on a couple of occasions.) My flight school's
and instructor's policy seems to be that if you don't mind, they're happy to
let you fly with whoever's available that day.

Anyway, here are some observations from my admittedly limited perspective:

Because each new instructor wanted to get familiar with my skill level
quickly, they tended to ask a lot of questions at the start about things my
regular instructor already knows I know -- what's pattern altitude, etc. But
the result is that I've gotten better at articulating what I'm doing and
why, which, for me, means I've gotten better at actually *thinking about*
what I'm doing and why.

I've practiced things I ordinarily might not have, and I've practiced the
same things but in different ways. For example, the checklist says to give a
passenger briefing, but I never actually had to do one until last time when
I half-jokingly asked if he wanted me to and he said "sure." I mumbled
something about safety belts and operating the door latches and hoped I
wouldn't look like a complete idiot. They all had slightly different ideas
about radio calls, too.

It takes a certain amount of time with someone new to get used to their
style, which made the lessons less productive for awhile. Personally, when
I'm trying to learn something challenging and new, I tend to focus on every
little detail of the procedure rather than getting the big picture, which
has the effect of making the same maneuver taught by two different
instructors seem like two entirely different maneuvers.

Having said that, getting used to a new instructor was easier than getting
used to a new instructor getting used to me, by which I mean they've tended
to take (or at least help with) the controls more frequently, where my
regular instructor would let me go it alone unless I started getting into
trouble.

A big plus is that I now have a couple of alternate instructors to choose
from if my regular guy is booked that day. Overall, even though I'm not very
flexible-minded, I don't think any of this has done me any harm. I soloed
about 10 hours ago and (to hear my instructor tell it) I'm making decent
progress toward my cross country.

Next: night flying. Egad :-)


Tom Young
t e y o u n g 1 @ c o m c a s t . n e t
(remove _this_ to reply)

[gregg]

GEG wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm a student with about 10 flights under my belt.
> I had an instructor for the first 4 that I really liked.
> I departed for a while, then had a new instructor that
> I also really like - but for COMPLETELY different reasons,
> and I can consider him "acceptable", but not great.
> I wish I could combine them both.
> I do some teaching at my old University as a guest, and like
> to balance the conceptual view, preparation, but also have
> students work and struggle just a little bit in order
> to make them think through situations and get a better grasp.
> (I mean struggle with ground school issues, not while in the air.)
> (I like this approach for me, anyway . . . hee hee.)
>
> There are 2 other instructors at my school that I like as people
> and as personality, and a friend of mine uses one of those guys.
>
> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.
> Who knows, maybe he's really good.
>
> On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
> adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
> who I'm actually quite fine with?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Gary


Hi Gary,

At 10 hours total I can't imagine many instructors woudl take it amiss if
you were to try several. Especially since you had one and that person
became unavailable. I don't know if it's possible to find one who exactly
fits your learning style, but there's no harm in trying.

I've flown with substitutes when my instructor was unavailable for that day
and it's beneficial. Some of them, I know, I wouldn't mesh well with.
Others would be ok.

Also keep in mind that you are free to suggest ways you more effectively
learn. When I started my IFR work my instructor began by talking about
several different sorts of approaches. I said that I was a sort of "top
down" kind of learner - I like a thumbnail sketch of the whole picture
before we get into details. I asked her if she could first give me the big
picture in brief...from start taxi to takeoff, enroute, to landing. She was
happy to do so. Now I understood how these approaches fit into the scheme
of things.

Best of luck.

--
Saville

Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm

[Flyin'[email protected]]

> Because each new instructor wanted to get familiar with my skill level
> quickly, they tended to ask a lot of questions at the start about things
> my regular instructor already knows I know
<SNIP>
> I've practiced things I ordinarily might not have, and I've practiced the
> same things but in different ways.
<SNIP>
> Having said that, getting used to a new instructor was easier than
> getting used to a new instructor getting used to me, by which I mean
> they've tended to take (or at least help with) the controls more
> frequently, where my regular instructor would let me go it alone unless I
> started getting into trouble.

I would like to add to what you have said here... If you don't mind...

As I said in my previous post, I think flying with different CFI's is a
good idea... However, when I did this I told the 'other' CFI what I wanted
to get out of the lesson... For example, my first XC was a dual with a CFI
other than my primary (From a different FBO as a matter of fact.) I went
to the other FBO and talked with the CFI and told him where I was at in my
training, and that I desired to do XC planing and initial dual flight with
him. (BTW, this was not because I did not like my primary CFI, he was
simply not available to fly for about 6 weeks because of other
obligations.)

On another occasion, I went to another CFI, again at another FBO, to ask
for a pre-checkride evaluation. I told him up front that I am near the end
of my training and want a checkride to evaluate my readiness for the big
day. He ran me through the ringer and gave me a great post flight
performance evaluation complete with tips for improvement.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I put my expectations out there so
he would know what I was after. I did not seek landing practice, etc. It
worked well for me...

--
Mike Flyin'8
PP-ASEL
Temecula, CA
http://flying.4alexanders.com

[Brian Whatcott]

On Wed, 04 May 2005 13:16:06 -0400, GEG >
wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>
>I'm a student with about 10 flights under my belt.
>I had an instructor for the first 4 that I really liked.
>I departed for a while, then had a new instructor that
>I also really like - but for COMPLETELY different reasons,
>and I can consider him "acceptable", but not great.
>I wish I could combine them both.
>I do some teaching at my old University as a guest, and like
>to balance the conceptual view, preparation, but also have
>students work and struggle just a little bit in order
>to make them think through situations and get a better grasp.
>(I mean struggle with ground school issues, not while in the air.)
>(I like this approach for me, anyway . . . hee hee.)
>
>There are 2 other instructors at my school that I like as people
>and as personality, and a friend of mine uses one of those guys.
>
>I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
>instructor for a flight, just to see.
>Who knows, maybe he's really good.
>
>On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
>adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
>who I'm actually quite fine with?
>
>Thanks!
>
>Gary

Instructors can be proprietorial. Still, it's your money, and your
call

Brian Whatcott

[tony roberts]

It's a great idea
Just do it!

Tony (who tried them all)

--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

In article >,
GEG > wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm a student with about 10 flights under my belt.
> I had an instructor for the first 4 that I really liked.
> I departed for a while, then had a new instructor that
> I also really like - but for COMPLETELY different reasons,
> and I can consider him "acceptable", but not great.
> I wish I could combine them both.
> I do some teaching at my old University as a guest, and like
> to balance the conceptual view, preparation, but also have
> students work and struggle just a little bit in order
> to make them think through situations and get a better grasp.
> (I mean struggle with ground school issues, not while in the air.)
> (I like this approach for me, anyway . . . hee hee.)
>
> There are 2 other instructors at my school that I like as people
> and as personality, and a friend of mine uses one of those guys.
>
> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.
> Who knows, maybe he's really good.
>
> On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
> adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
> who I'm actually quite fine with?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Gary




--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

[Euan Kilgour]

GEG wrote:

> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.

Greg,

Well I had the best of both worlds. All of my pre-solo training was
undertaken with one instructor, and since then I've had a lesson with
all of the instructors in the club.

The good things about one instructor:

They get the best idea about your progress because all your flying is
with them and they can plan the lessons accordingly to build on your
strengths and iron out those weak parts.

You get more relaxed about flying with them so you don't stress out
with trying to dazzle them with your impressive flying skill. <g>

The good things about mulitple instructors:

>From personal experience: each instructor will give you at least one
tip that will 'click' in your head and you'll become a better pilot
because of it.

Each different instructor may have a different solution to your
problem, one of these might be just the thing that you can get your
head around and use to fix your problem.

Its good practice flying with a stranger in the right seat for that PPL
checkride which is just around the corner.

What I do is fly most of my run of the mill lessons with the junior
instructors but for the cross countries try to get the Head CFI (our
one is quite the funny guy and thats the sort of person you want to sit
next to for a 3 hour flight).


But at the end of the day it comes down to this. Its your money,
choosing an instructor is your right so why not choose the one you
learn best with.

[David Cartwright]

"GEG" > wrote in message
...
> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.

It's an excellent idea to try different instructors. When I was a PPL I had
one "primary" instructor, plus one "secondary" who took me for about eight
hours when the primary guy was on his hols. I also went for occasional
one-off trips with about four others when the first two were
ill/unavailable.

Different instructors have different experiences and different opinions
about how to do stuff. While there are many aspects of flying where you
should do what the book says (how to climb/descend, how to recover from a
stall, and all that), when it comes to stuff like forced landings or
crosswind approaches there's no right answer (or, more often, there are
several right answers) and so you learn from the experiences of the people
you fly with. I was taught more than one way to proceed with a forced
landing, and the way I do them is an amalgamation of the approaches. And
having learned two ways to do a crosswind approach, I find one easier than
the other.

So yes, go with different people. The important thing, though, is to ensure
that the people you go with are aware of what stage you're at in your
training - otherwise it's like doing several completely separate courses. My
school/club keeps detailed, honest notes of each training flight, so that
any instructor taking a student up knows exactly what you've done and how
good you are at it, and thus the students get the maximum value from the
flights.

> On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
> adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
> who I'm actually quite fine with?

Quite the opposite. When I was getting toward the end of my IMC rating
training, my instructor sent me off with another instructor for an IMC trip
to an airfield some way away, because he wanted to see (a) how I'd manage
with someone I didn't know particularly well in the right-hand seat; and (b)
what an independent instructor would think of my abilities. Similarly, when
I was doing my PPL training, I was introduced to my "secondary" instructor
by the primary one - and rather spookily, the latter had taught the former
to fly helicopters when they were both in the RAF in the 1960s!

D.

[H.P.]

Depends on your school and at which instructional stage. When you
transition from one instructor to another, both you and the CFI have a
learning curve to deal with and he, especially, will require more than a few
hours to size you up. That means more money out of your pocket and perhaps a
bit of frustration. Good for the school's wallet, bad for yours. Understand,
too, that instructors depend upon your prior log book endorsements in order
to evaluate your progress and size you up. During your pre-solo hours when
your log book endorsement section is blank, the new instructor won't
necessarily know where you're at so he'll want to spend time reviewing your
maneuvering skills and basic knowledge. If your school follows a published
curriculum like Cessna's or Jeppesen's, and follows it religiously, then
your progress will be tracked and recorded, and the transition time from one
instructor to another will be less. If the school is slap-dash about the
curriculum like my prior school was, and/or is staffed by young
time-builders who don't care --also like my prior school--, you'll find that
your time to solo will be unnecessarily elongated. That first solo is a
big deal for instructor and student alike. For the instructor, its a risk he
may regret for the rest of his professional career. Its a risk for you,
too, but the instructor is more likely than you to be around to regret it.
Its also a key benchmark for all us students and it affects our confidence
and bragging rights. You'll much prefer announcing that you soloed after
ten hours as opposed to forty or more.

Also, CFIs have egos, especially the young, inexperienced ones, and they
talk among themselves. If your CFI-switch comes across as a snub, the
snubbed one might be embarrassed and might bad-mouth your skills to the new
guy in retaliation. Then you'll spend even more time and money.

After solo, when you start racking up those sign-offs, the transition to a
new CFI is easier but will still cost you money.

I'd recommend that if you want to change CFIs, change schools as well and
wait until after your first solo. Go for the grayhairs, because the young
ones might not be interested in your progress as much as they're interested
in planting their butts in that right seat building time on their way to the
big-show.



"GEG" > wrote in message
...
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm a student with about 10 flights under my belt.
> I had an instructor for the first 4 that I really liked.
> I departed for a while, then had a new instructor that
> I also really like - but for COMPLETELY different reasons,
> and I can consider him "acceptable", but not great.
> I wish I could combine them both.
> I do some teaching at my old University as a guest, and like
> to balance the conceptual view, preparation, but also have
> students work and struggle just a little bit in order
> to make them think through situations and get a better grasp.
> (I mean struggle with ground school issues, not while in the air.)
> (I like this approach for me, anyway . . . hee hee.)
>
> There are 2 other instructors at my school that I like as people
> and as personality, and a friend of mine uses one of those guys.
>
> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.
> Who knows, maybe he's really good.
>
> On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
> adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
> who I'm actually quite fine with?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Gary

[Ron Natalie]

GEG wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm a student with about 10 flights under my belt.

Flying with a different instructor from time to time is not a bad
thing. Everybody has their own emphasis and deficiencies. No
single instructor is perfect. As a matter of fact this is why
the Part 141 schools REQUIRE you to stage check with another
instructor at several times during your training. Further, it's
pretty much why the FAA insists on checkrides rather than issuing
you your certificate based solely on your instructor's endorsement.

[GEG]

Thanks, H.P.
I'm not looking at changing - just trying. But you never know . . .

In reality, I am concerned about the stigma that would come with
trying another CFI, especially at the same school and location.
I like my instructor, but would like sense if there is better for 'me'
(not in general). But alos just to try another instructor.

I feel it might also press me a bit because I have to be "on the ball"
when the other "one timer" asks me the questions on the aircraft
and I have to be prepared.

Thanks for the reply!

Gary

[H.P.]

You WILL be stigmatized; it happened to me. The guy that I liked (CFI #3)
begged out with an unconvincing excuse and passed me off to a real blockhead
newbie CFI, just to do him a favor to build his student roster and hours.
The pass-off, of course, included comments on my progress and abilities and
I later heard they were neither positive nor accurate.

Then I got smart and tried out instructors at different schools in the area
and out of state when I went on vacation. I learned more from the other guys
in one lesson than I did with the blockhead newbie in ten. It finally
convinced me to change schools.


"GEG" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks, H.P.
> I'm not looking at changing - just trying. But you never know . . .
>
> In reality, I am concerned about the stigma that would come with
> trying another CFI, especially at the same school and location.
> I like my instructor, but would like sense if there is better for 'me'
> (not in general). But alos just to try another instructor.
>
> I feel it might also press me a bit because I have to be "on the ball"
> when the other "one timer" asks me the questions on the aircraft
> and I have to be prepared.
>
> Thanks for the reply!
>
> Gary

[Robert M. Gary]

Its good to fly with different instructors. Most of us use a practice
called "off-winging". Its a military term (I'm told). It basiclly means
you send your students to fly with another CFI every once in awhile. It
makes a **HUGE** difference when checkride time comes. If you've only
flown with one CFI the existance of a strange examiner in the plane
with you is just one more source of stress.

-Robert, CFI

[Kizito]

Hello,

I am a student with about 12 hours and my instructer suggested that I do the
odd flight with some of the other instructers in the school to see their
different approaches. He was also interested in discussing the differences
when we got back together (we had an interesting discussion on numbers and
reasons for using various techniques as a result). So far I have done one
such sortie and that other instructer did have slightly different way of
doing the final approach. He also gave me a useful way of deciding when it
was time to turn downwind - when the tailplane appear to line up with the
runway.

I think, as others have already said, if you discuss what you plan to do
with your existing instructer they may even suggest which other instructers
you would benefit from going with.


Good luck,

Kizito

[Little Endian]

Hi GEG,
Just my student pilot 2 cents but I believe its a great idea
especially if you feel like you have hit a plateau for too long. I
found out through personal experience that even taking a flight as a
passenger with another private pilot can be very educational. Just
observing how accurately a PP with a couple of hundred hrs holds
altitude, keeps the airplane on the centerline while taxing, keeps the
ball in the middle, corrects for wind, handles radio etc gives you a
good perspective of where you stand. Again just my 2 cents but it
helped me a lot.
Good luck,
Girish Pai


GEG wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm a student with about 10 flights under my belt.
> I had an instructor for the first 4 that I really liked.
> I departed for a while, then had a new instructor that
> I also really like - but for COMPLETELY different reasons,
> and I can consider him "acceptable", but not great.
> I wish I could combine them both.
> I do some teaching at my old University as a guest, and like
> to balance the conceptual view, preparation, but also have
> students work and struggle just a little bit in order
> to make them think through situations and get a better grasp.
> (I mean struggle with ground school issues, not while in the air.)
> (I like this approach for me, anyway . . . hee hee.)
>
> There are 2 other instructors at my school that I like as people
> and as personality, and a friend of mine uses one of those guys.
>
> I'm curious to know if it's a bad idea to "try" another
> instructor for a flight, just to see.
> Who knows, maybe he's really good.
>
> On the flip side, if it's at the same school, will I create an
> adversarial or acrimonious situation by "cheating" on my instructor -
> who I'm actually quite fine with?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Gary