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



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 4th 05, 06:16 PM
GEG
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Default "Trying out" a different insturctor just to see - good idea? Badidea?

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
  #2  
Old May 4th 05, 06:37 PM
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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
  #3  
Old May 4th 05, 06:46 PM
John T
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Default

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_s...veloperid=4415
____________________



  #4  
Old May 4th 05, 07:08 PM
gatt
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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


  #5  
Old May 4th 05, 09:01 PM
grubertm
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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

  #6  
Old May 4th 05, 09:36 PM
Tom Young
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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)


  #7  
Old May 4th 05, 10:16 PM
gregg
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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

  #8  
Old May 4th 05, 10:58 PM
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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
  #9  
Old May 5th 05, 03:02 AM
Brian Whatcott
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Default

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

 




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