My first solo - and the worst flight of my life

Congrats on your first solo. I agree with everyone else 100%, time to
find a new instructor. Someone had also previously mentioned that a
good instructor will show no emotions while in the plane. I wouldn't
take that comment to heart, I mean you're looking for a human being,
not a robot, no?

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...

Secondly, if I were you, I'd never fly with this outfit again and find
another CFI immediately.

I don't see it as a black mark against the outfit, only the CFI.

Now, if the OP talks to the chief instructor and isn't happy with the reply,
find another outfit. One advantage I see is that staying with the same
outfit reduces the chances of having to start all over.

" Now, if the OP talks to the chief instructor and isn't happy with the
reply,
find another outfit. One advantage I see is that staying with the same
outfit reduces the chances of having to start all over.
Agree. The chief instructor need to know about unhappy customers and bad
instructors. If he doesn't do something, that's the time to run.

Rod

Recently, Monarch Student posted:

I left this morning for my first supervised solo. My flight
instructor is a new guy, about 25 who's never taught students before a
month ago. But he seems to know his stuff, so I've put up with him
for this long.

Until today.

(rest snipped for brevity)

Not knowing either you or your instructor, the best suggestion that I can
offer is that not all people have compatible personalities. It should not
be a problem to ask for a different instructor, and perhaps you will find
one that is more to your liking. Keep in mind that the instructors aren't
paying you, and if the experience is not fruitful, it is not their money
that is lost.

Neil

"Monarch Student" wrote in message

Snip
Any advice would be appreciated. I'm beginning to hate flying, which
is sad because I began learning thinking it would be fun.

After the first yelling at, I would have simply said: "You're fired!" and
landed the aircraft. I would then have paid for the time in the a/c,
however, at the solo rate. You should not have to pay someone to treat you
like that. You are paying them. They are working for you.
Get another instructor. Hell, I'd probably even get a whole new school if
you can.
Oz/Crash Lander

You shouldn't even be asking this question.

mike

"Monarch Student" wrote in message
...

So should I get a new instructor?

In a previous article, said:
So should I get a new instructor? Mine seems like a miserable human

Yes, definitely. Remember, he's your employee - if he's not working out
for you, fire him and get a new one.

There are probably students out there who like that sort of attitude, but
I wasn't one, and it sounds like you're not one, so dump him.

And landing a bit beyond the numbers is perfectly acceptable - as a matter
of fact, it's recommended.

--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, there's going to be one
big-ass fight over where to set the thermostat.
-- Jim Rosenberg

Monarch Student wrote:
I left this morning for my first supervised solo. My flight
instructor is a new guy, about 25 who's never taught students before a
month ago. But he seems to know his stuff, so I've put up with him
for this long.

Until today.

We take off from Addison to McKinney TX airport, arrive at McKinney
and begin pattern work. Apparently my pattern wasn't tight enough so
my instructor who I guess is having a bad morning starts yelling at
the top of his lungs, "90 KEEP IT AT ****ING 90 ON DOWNWIND!!". I
look down at the airspeed, which is at 87. He slaps my hand away from
the throttle, and mashes it in. The nose comes up and he hammers the
yoke with his hands so the plane pitches down suddenly. "Watch your
altitude", he says.

We come in for a landing, on a regular runway with no displaced
threshold. He's yelling to keep it at 70 and pitches the yoke down.
We're headed directly for the grass in front of the runway. I ask if
we can land about fifty feet farther in because at this angle we'll be
right on the grass/lights. McKinney is over 6k long, so we have room.
And it's 2 days before Thanksgiving so hardly any traffic is present.

He says no (seemed like a reasonable request), yells, yells more and
my landing which is now low because of our airspeed and him not
allowing me to slightly power it to make it farther in, sucks. We
stop on the runway, and next pattern he simulates an engine failure. I
pitch for about 70, and get, "SIXTY-EIGHT. WHAT'S YOUR ****ING BEST
GLIDE? SIXTY-EIGHT!!". There's no way to make it to the runway, at
all even with 68. I get yelled at for being too far away, but the
tower asked us to be because of incoming traffic.

Jake smashes in the throttle and yells "GO AROUND!", forcing the yoke
forward because the nose pitched up (thanks to him hammering the
throttle in) then yelling at me for that.

At this point, I'm ready just to go home. But I consider it wasted
money, and probably better to let him scream for 10 more minutes and
I'll probably get to solo.

Sure enough, after two more landings I solo. "DON'T RUN ME OVER WHEN
YOU ****ING COME BACK", he says.

90 downwind, tight pattern, smooth landings. The McKinney tower guy
even told my instructor after he got back in that my pattern and
landings looked great, but I forgot to announce my callsign once, I
didn't center line all the landings, etc etc all announced on the
tower frequency. Thanks McKinney ATC guy! *sigh*

We return to Monarch Air, he says tie up the plane and hurry up.
Coming into the "office", there's 4 instructors standing there, all
not talking, avoiding eye contact and Jake in a chair looking down
with his hand outstretched for the key. No good solo (which is was),
congrats, nadda from anyone. And thus I left, no happy Thanksgiving,
see ya when I get back, almost like Jake just wanted me to get the
hell out of his face.

So should I get a new instructor? Mine seems like a miserable human
being. If I was a bad student, maybe I could understand. But the
senior instructor that's flown with me on progress flights called me
"significantly better than average".

If this was a one-time event, then I'd be inclined to chalk it up to a
bad day. If this is just the highest escalation in a series of such
behavior, then I'd find another instructor. Learning to fly should be fun.

My primary instructor was an old-time instructor who didn't believe in
head phones so he yelled all the time! But I knew that he wasn't mad,
it was just his style. He'd occasionally get frustrated, but once back
on the ground he was completely back to normal, debriefing the lesson
and talking about the next one. Always positive and looking forward.

Matt

Monarch Student wrote:

We return to Monarch Air, he says tie up the plane and hurry up.
Coming into the "office", there's 4 instructors standing there, all
not talking, avoiding eye contact and Jake in a chair looking down
with his hand outstretched for the key. No good solo (which is was),
congrats, nadda from anyone. And thus I left, no happy Thanksgiving,
see ya when I get back, almost like Jake just wanted me to get the
hell out of his face.

That others were on egg shells around him sounds bad. Find another
instructor or FBO. Then look forward to a flight like this:

http://tinyurl.com/y78c8s

Ron Lee

"Monarch Student" wrote in message
...
I left this morning for my first supervised solo. My flight
instructor is a new guy, about 25 who's never taught students before a
month ago. But he seems to know his stuff, so I've put up with him
for this long.

Until today.

We take off from Addison to McKinney TX airport, arrive at McKinney
and begin pattern work. Apparently my pattern wasn't tight enough so
my instructor who I guess is having a bad morning starts yelling at
the top of his lungs, "90 KEEP IT AT ****ING 90 ON DOWNWIND!!". I

That's enough, I don't need to hear more. Very simple: switch instructors.
He/she works for you, do not accept this behavior from your employee. Since
you said there are at least 4 other instructors in the FBO, go talk to them
(interview a replacement). You'll get a better instructor (for sure) and
you'll get the benefit of another CFI's experience. You will lose very
little of your investment as the records of your training are verified in
both your logbook and the FBO files. Do it.

Have fun getting your PVT,
John Severyn
@KLVK