On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 16:46:47 GMT, "Dudley Henriques"
wrote:


"doc" wrote in message
...
are awfully hard to find.

I just "interviewed" a couple at local flight schools by taking little
flights with them, ostensibly just for rust removal.
snip
Bottom line.....in your quest for a GOOD instructor......be
aware........be advised.......and be alert. Observe the whole picture.
Then when you're certain you have considered it all, make your decision.
I'm just passing this on to you because I've seen many a mistake made by
students going into these things with preconception. Not to say that
preconception isn't a good idea...it is. But it also has to be tempered
and flexible to be an effective tool.

In my rather limited experience I think there are a lot of good
instructors out there. Sure, there are some that aren't, but I think
it is as important that the instructor and student personalities are
compatible. It takes a good match of a number of characteristics for
the teaching and learning procedure to proceed at the best possible
pace.

We now have close to 8 or 9 instructors on the field. None are full
time, all have "other jobs", all teach because they want to, and all
have pretty good success ratios. OTOH you can find students that will
swear by any particular instructor and you will find those they sear
at.

We even have one who was recently banned from the field because the
inexperienced person working in the terminal building got scared
watching them do emergency procedures and wrote them up. (long story)
I'd still fly with him any day and I'd be surprised that the lawyers
don't get him back on the field soon. OTOH we have an award winning
instructor with whom I refuse to fly. It's more of a
personality/ethics thing, but that person is known as a good
instructor.

We had a husband and wife team take some mountain flying dual out in
the Rocky Mountains this Summer. They flew with an instructor for not
much over an hour each and each had to switch instructors. He has
quite a few students, but as experienced pilots, his teaching style
was one of those that grated the wrong way.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com


Best of luck in your quest,
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
for email; take out the trash