What Makes A Good Instructor?

[Winnie]

And, ROTOR RPM = LIFE!

 

Most important formula.

 

Making the spot, wether on approach or in an auto.

 

Keep yer speedup on downwind (atleast above 60...)

 

Instructors must have patience, and also let the student fly the aircraft.

Instructors must also be FAIR, FIRM and FRIENDLY

 

And the evaluators must be FAIR, FIRM and UNFORGIVING.

Students should be given goals, and when goals and standards are met, we'll go the next step.

 

L3Driver made a comment about billing. Whatever type of helicopter you fly, or whatever company you fly for, will have different practices for billing. As long as what you pay for is what gets put in your logbook, then it really does not matter.

 

In our case, collective activated hobbs, + .1 for start up and shut down, will ALWAYS guarantee that the student does not get shafted.

 

But that is not what makes a good instructor, as hopefully they are not in charge of the billing.

 

Cheers

H.

 

 

 

 

[407driver]

Well, 407 driver,

 

No offence meant but I'm sure my attitude will come out, so in advance I'm sorry!

 

Climbs should always begin at the best rate of climb speed 60, as that is the speed we always want to be at. Secondly decending should always be done at the lowest rate of decent speed 60, because we always want to be there, but hold on, thats the speed we want in an auto, oh ya, thats the speed I always want to be at, ya go 60, its always safer at 60! and if in dought, go 60, ya go 60!!!

 

Yep I like 60, :punk: :up:

 

PS: they have to understand how important 60 is!!! Life and death S H I T !!! Very important!!!

 

 

 

rob

 

I'm definately with you on ingraining that nose up attitude into a students head, it can save their life no doubt. But what I was gettin at was in the real world if I was cruising along and decided to descend it would mean lower collective and add aft cyclic to maintain attitude in order the expedite the descent not gently float your way down. It's all about efficiency when your customer are paying not you.

And now back to our regularly scheduled thread programming

[justfly]

A lot of what is important in an instructor to me has been said, especially the comments by rob and dammyneckhurts (hmmm... both professional educators?).

 

An instructor has to be compassionate and care more about the students goals than their own ego. Often (everytime?) that means adapting to the student’s ability to understand, and THEIR way of learning.

 

Becoming frustrated that a student isn’t learning as fast as YOU think they should, and worse, letting them know you are frustrated is probably counterproductive to their goals. But that doesn’t mean you must always coddle.

 

Many people (especially perfectionist type-A pilot types) are their own worst critic and you may have to do nothing more than guide them through their own honest debrief. That is a skill that is going to help them out throughout their career.

 

Like rob talked about, I like to make sure the student starts off their debrief with the positives; what did they do right? GREAT! Now, what could they have done better and what do they want to work on/towards? That also gives you insight to what they are thinking and if they understand what is required, even if they haven’t mastered the control to demonstrate that yet.

 

The best instructors I’ve had do what Hurby alluded to; they know when to “pile it on” and push you past your (previous) limits, then back off and give you room to grow into that new space.

 

Nothing leaves a student walking away with a bigger sense of satisfaction, accomplishment, and confidence than having done something they didn’t think they were capable of, but that their instructor had the confidence in them to facilitate. How do you think they’ll approach their study and next flight? Excited to keep progressing, or dreading another session of “yell, hit, & scream, and spend the hour(s) learning how inept I am”?

 

One other subject I'd like to address is this unreasonable bias we have in Canadian helicopter flight instruction for high-time flight instructors.

 

Yes experience counts, but for what? NOTHING if you can’t (don't WANT to) teach!

 

Even the one thing that experience should guarantee, that you should be able to recognize a situation going pear-shaped quicker than a low-time instructor and intervene doesn’t work out if you’ve fostered such a tense atmosphere in the cockpit that the student either freezes up in fear of what you’ll do or say, or worse, exacerbates the situation with unrecoverable incorrect inputs in their panic to please.

 

I’ve had some very low-time instructors that were very good, and some high-time instructors that were NOT! But even the latter taught me something; how NOT to teach!

 

Oh... and I like that little cyclic-limit-circle trick Torquestripe's instructor used! I'll have to try that.

[lineworker]

What makes a good instructor.

 

1. Good flying skills.

2. Patience/Calm manner. A short fuse is a scared student.

3. Positive re-inforcement during exercises.

4. Building confidence in the student.

5. Honesty, no matter how much it hurts. If you have to wash someone out, wash em out.

 

If an instructor is always trying to overload the student, pulling breakers, and asking questions and playing games with the mind of their student, they will not put the foundation for a safe pilot in place.

 

An example I remember:

 

'Do you have the wind?'

'Yes'

'Where is it coming from?'

'Our 7 oclock'

'Are you sure'

'Yes'

'I don't think you are'

'The wind I think is coming from 210'

'I don't think it is'

'We're downwind now'

'Partly'

'Where would you say it is coming from exactly then?'

'Hey, you're flying, you need to figure it out'

'Well it is between 200 and 230, how about that'

'If you say so, we'll see, why the **** aren't we in that confined area yet? Come on, the customer is not going to pay for all this time we're flying around doing nothing.'

 

It went on, I was loading the disc and turning about for a sloping low mountain confined area, tall trees, calling out 'size shape surface slope surroundings sun' and breakers were being pulled.

 

In this example, one thing that cannot be argued is that an instructor has no business putting client pressure on an ab-intitio student. Politics and industry stress will occupy the student's life soon enough. Work on physical and mental flying skills.

 

When you have confidence that the student has confidence, then it is time to pile it on. There must be a succesion of marked progress.

 

 

[sling]

How about a student with a learning curve higher than the instructor can handle???

How about an instructor who don't really know what to do with you today??? Coming from a big school!!!

Like LT. CMDR Nathan Jessip once said, " No...you can't handle the truth". talking to the instructor...

Stiksavatripper!

[Amphibious]

How about a student with a learning curve higher than the instructor can handle???

How about an instructor who don't really know what to do with you today??? Coming from a big school!!!

Like LT. CMDR Nathan Jessip once said, " No...you can't handle the truth". talking to the instructor...

Stiksavatripper!

 

 

you are truly a flying god.

[old dog]

Well, 407 driver,

 

No offence meant but I'm sure my attitude will come out, so in advance I'm sorry!

 

Climbs should always begin at the best rate of climb speed 60, as that is the speed we always want to be at. Secondly decending should always be done at the lowest rate of decent speed 60, because we always want to be there, but hold on, thats the speed we want in an auto, oh ya, thats the speed I always want to be at, ya go 60, its always safer at 60! and if in dought, go 60, ya go 60!!!

 

Yep I like 60, :punk: :up:

 

PS: they have to understand how important 60 is!!! Life and death S H I T !!! Very important!!!

 

 

 

rob

 

Comments like this really demonstrate your lack of experience.

[old dog]

I would like to be able to change the syllabus some too, some of the requirements we are teaching for, are not really the way things are done.

 

Problem being, Transport wants students to do things "by the book" for the flight test, when in reality we don't do some things this way.

That makes it difficult to show someone how to use the helicopter efficiently, without failing the TC ride.

 

For instance, someone mentioned in an earlier thread about crosscountry flights, they landed at an airport, on the threshold of a runway, when the customer wants you to land at the pumps.

 

Circuit entries, I would like the rules to reflect the "american way", helicopters shall avoid the flow of fixed wing aircraft.

 

Other than that, good points. If you can't be courteous, and realise that the student is a customer, all money is equal and so on, then perhaps you should not be an instructor.

 

Patience is a virtue...

 

Cheers

H.

 

Winnie, I agree.

 

I would especially like to lose the mandatory "low recce" confined area requirement.

 

While there is, undoubtedly, a requirement to do a low/slow recce from time to time, mostly there is not.

 

I regularly see on folks on a PPC exposing themselves to considerable extra risk by circling a spot at low altitude and low airspeed because, "that's what TC wants".

 

Low altitude and low airspeed - think of the downwind turn at 50-100 feet and 40 knots (or less) - yikes!

 

Yes, sometimes yah gotta do it, but why do it when you don't need to?

 

It's monkey thinking, seems to me.

 

 

[rotorheadrob]

Winnie, I agree.

 

I would especially like to lose the mandatory "low recce" confined area requirement.

 

While there is, undoubtedly, a requirement to do a low/slow recce from time to time, mostly there is not.

 

I regularly see on folks on a PPC exposing themselves to considerable extra risk by circling a spot at low altitude and low airspeed because, "that's what TC wants".

 

Low altitude and low airspeed - think of the downwind turn at 50-100 feet and 40 knots (or less) - yikes!

 

Yes, sometimes yah gotta do it, but why do it when you don't need to?

 

It's monkey thinking, seems to me.

 

You comment my disire to maintain a min speed of 60 is wrong, but also complain when a pilot goes too slow at 40, could you clarify? Should we do a recce at 80 maybe 100? It's contradictory statments like this that show "your" lack of experience!

 

 

rob

[Huffy]

Well, 407 driver,

 

No offence meant but I'm sure my attitude will come out, so in advance I'm sorry!

 

Climbs should always begin at the best rate of climb speed 60, as that is the speed we always want to be at. Secondly decending should always be done at the lowest rate of decent speed 60, because we always want to be there, but hold on, thats the speed we want in an auto, oh ya, thats the speed I always want to be at, ya go 60, its always safer at 60! and if in dought, go 60, ya go 60!!!

 

Yep I like 60, :punk: :up:

 

PS: they have to understand how important 60 is!!! Life and death S H I T !!! Very important!!!

 

 

 

rob

 

 

 

Hey Rob!

 

I don't understand why the 60 all the time, why not climb with a speed higher then 60? using 60 is great, but if something happens and the pilot tenses up now he's at 55, or what if you need 80-85 to make your spot? or if you surprised by the engine failure maybe the energy store in the higher speed could go towards getting back some RRPM.

 

If I'm heavy I'll climb with 60, but if I'm not I'll climb with more speed, like in the real vfr world.

 

And slowing down to 60 on a descent, if the engine fails I think I would rather have the option of slowing down to 60 instead of sacrificing altitude or RRPM trying to get back to 80-85,

out in the field you are not going to slow to 60 on an approach, at least I don't! so why drill that into someones head?

 

I understand the not going below 60 part, but not the going faster then 60.

 

an auto at 60 won't be nearly as much fun on a hot summer day with a full load on board as 60 on a training flight, I think I would rather have 70 going into the flare.

 

After a student can demonstrate a controlled descent at a specified speed I carry on, the poor guy is paying for the hour why drag out the approach ( as long as it's controlled )

 

Now a recce is different, I like 60 mph on the downwind.

 

Now I'm not criticizing anybody, and I've never had a transport inspector say anything about a student flying operational on a flight test.

 

 

Maybe instructors and schools should worry less about the customer, and maybe concentrate on the and result, if you wanted to be a customer with me I would show you the door, and give you the address to the school that is trying to get your money,

 

what make a good instructor The end result....

 

now let the s...t fly boys.

 

 

Jeff