From the instructor point of view, I wholheartedly agree with you. With the
way the flight instruction system works, most CFI's only work for a couple
of years before moving on. Further, most have little or no instuctional
experience before becomming CFI's. When you consider the learning curves
associated with flying (remember that most CFI's are reasonably low time
pilots) and teaching (perhaps more complicated than flying), the chances of
you getting flawless instruction is rather small.

Flying with multiple instructors has advantages for both you and your
instructors. First, different instructors have different stregths and
weaknesses, so where one is weak, the other may be strong. (I used to teach
with another instructor who was the diametric opposite of me. It was a great
learning experience for both of us as we would get frequent feedback on how
we were teaching.. we used to go out for a beer every week, and call it our
"staff meeting". It's too bad he moved on.) Even if there are no quality
issues, you'll still learn a lot.

Remember that there is no single "right" way to fly. Your job, as a student,
is to learn a way that is both "not wrong" and that works for you. (Unless
you're planning to go professional, at which point you'll need to learn to
fly the "company" way.) By flying with several instructors, you'll get ideas
which you can use when developing "your way". (Hopefully your instructors
will teach at higher than the rote level, and will give you the latitude to
find a way that blends safety and your own personal style.)

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that the instructors actually
talk to each other.

Sorry for rambling.

-Rob

"gatt" wrote in message
...

Chief flight instructor and my primary instructor are both gone for the
week, so I've been flying with whatever low-time, newly-minted
Cessna-jockey
greenhorn flight instructor that answers the phone when I call to
schedule.
I've flown with four different instructors in the last two weeks.

I wholeheartedly recommend this. Each instructor has his own way of
explaining and demonstrating things, (working on complex rating and
commercial, part 141) as well as slight variations of technique and
procedure. The result is that I've been able to choose the methods which
work best and with which I'm most comfortable, AND check these things
against other instructors to make sure it's right.

The newer guys have a great sense of enthusiasm, and since the boss is out
of the shop, they've got great information about what it's REALLY like
flying as a CFI out of that FBO and things like, how many hours one might
expect to accumulate over the summer flying season.

I've had one instructor who's a Major in the Air Force and learned at the
academy, one who is a retired Marine and learned in the '60s, one who is
an
Embry Riddle graduate and one who earned his CFI wings from two of the
others and has only been instructing for a year. The four different
perspectives have made every flight not just practice, but a new learning
experience. My primary instructor is excellent, but I wish I'd have been
doing this to some degree all along!

-c