"Mark Lenox" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Some USA clubs have sponsored potential instructors


Sponsorship is a nice concept, but I doubt that it can significantly help
the underlying issues about the club's needs versus what it is getting in
terms of instructor time. This is not really specific to Kansas City,
but
really inherent throughout the soaring community. I don't mean to pick
on
them in particular, as I believe this is a much broader issues than that.
Instructors form the backbone of most clubs. As the KC folks are
seeing,
it is a bit more difficult to operate a soaring club without an active
instructor. Here in Knoxville, we once had an active club. We even
sponsored the national soaring convention one year. Four ships, and
about
30 members. On most any given weekend it was not unusual to see all
four
in the air over the city. What we really had was one very active
instructor. Through the usual issues, politics, overwork, and personal
conflict, he eventually left. Now, just very few years later, the club
is
gone. Nobody stood up to take his place and voluntarily throw away most
of
their free time to be at somebody elses beck and call. Fancy that.

At Chilhowee, about an hour drive south of Knoxville, we have a
significant
number of instructors, and commercial pilots studying to be instructors.
It is, in fact, quite pleasant to teach there. The owner/operator,
Sarah
Kelly, does a very nice job of making it so.

I think if there is a shortage of CFIG's, there is a reason. I offer
the
following:

1) Your instructors should not be the one getting the ships out in the
morning, or putting them away at night.
2) Your instructors should not be continuously running the launch line
all
day.
3) Your instructors should not be the ones operating the club, acting as
officers, and otherwise administering mundane duties.
4) Your instructors should not be the ones running down the maintenance
on
your aircraft, or even worse, mowing the grass, and painting the hangar.
5) Your instructors should have only one duty, teaching. That's what
they love to do, so let them do it and help to get everything else out of
the way so they can concentrate on that.

It takes far more than money to become an instructor. This is why I
feel
that although sponsorship like Burt Compton has identified will probably
create more CFIG's, I don't think it will create more active CFIG's. Too
many sites put demands on their instructors that are beyond what they
really
should be asking, and it is no wonder that people get burned out and/or
find
something else to do with their time. That is what happened in
Knoxville,
and I suspect it isn't the only place.

Regards,



Mark Lenox, CFIG
Chilhowee Gliderport
Benton, TN
www.chilhowee.com



Perfect! Mark, you hit the nail right on the head.

Bill Daniels