Hey Flight Instructors
Posted by Present-Village-9858@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 24 comments
How do you determine whether your students are natural or good at flying? Does that show on how fast they can pick up things you teach? And how long until you guys can tell flying is for them?
EliteEthos@reddit
I don’t make the decision if flying is for them or not. That is their decision to make.
They are given tasks with limitations. As they learn to operate within them, thy move onto the next. It’s not about me determining if they are “natural or good”. The FAA sets the rubric. I train to it and hopefully teach them additional beyond what the FAA requires.
Kemerd@reddit
100% agree. Being a natural or not doesn’t necessarily determine the result.
A natural who is dedicated = moves really fast A normal person who is dedicated = moves fast An “unnatural” who is dedicated = moves quickly Normal = moves ok A natural who is not dedicated = moves ok An unnatural who is not dedicated = screwed
Out of all of those, only one is a “bad result”, and it is less to do with their ability and moreso with their character!
EliteEthos@reddit
I’d actually argue that the natural who is not dedicated ends up bad too but for other reasons. It’s usually doing dumb stuff in airplanes or dumb stuff in their private lives that compromise their flying. They think they are gods gift… they have the skills but couldn’t care less to apply them or build the other skills required of a professional aviator.
WhenInDoubtGoAround@reddit
I concur except that in my case it's Transport Canada instead of the FAA.
spacecadet2399@reddit
I was a gold seal flight instructor (was/am depending on how you look at it) and I've never met anyone who was "natural" at flying. Some students learn faster than others and I had *one* student over my instructing career who did certain maneuvers correctly on the first try that I'd never seen anyone else do, but all pilots start from nothing and learn different things at different rates. That one student I had who did a few maneuvers surprisingly well also had real trouble explaining how aircraft systems work and describing various commercial regulations in mock oral exams, for example.
Students who do poorly with one instructor might do better with another. I've experienced that too, from both sides. This is actually in the Aviation Instructor's Handbook, so it's not a big revelation I'm giving you, but it is something a lot of instructors seem to forget. Different students respond better to different instructing styles. Some instructors are very rigid, so they may think certain students just can't be taught. My experience is that basically all students can be taught if they just find the right instructor. I tried to be flexible in my instructing style so I only ever had one or two students who I had to get a different instructor to take on. But those students eventually made it with those instructors. And the reverse was true too; I had students who had a lot of trouble until they got to me, and then they just sailed right on through with me. So that's the main thing it's about.
Of course there are students who wash out, and it's actually pretty common, but those cases are almost always about the student either choosing that they just don't like learning to fly, or choosing not to put in the work required. It's not about innate ability. I can only think of *one* case in the hundreds or even thousands of students I've been involved with who had multiple instructors with different teaching styles and who just could not pick up one or more important concepts to remain safe. Just one out of probably a thousand or more students who we just really could not find anyone to get through to, despite everyone trying their hardest.
MidwestFlyerST75@reddit
Agree with others that the skill ability or speed of accomplishing tasks to ACS levels doesn’t matter much.
I do however see some with a more natural or ingrained attitude toward decision-making, risk management, and thinking ahead.
stickJ0ckey@reddit
There's no such thing as "being a natural", nobody is born with the ability to drive a car or fly an airplane.
It's just a skill, you either learn it or you don't, you either practice, maintain and improve or you don't.
Some people learn certain skills faster compared to others, that doesn't make them "natural" or not.
kkcfi@reddit
Anyone can learn to be a solid pilot. It takes commitment, effort and passion. Now that said, I can give pointers on who'd take more time:
Someone who panics / freezes under stress easily will take longer to over come those instincts.
Someone with a hazardous attitude especially those that do not like feedback.
Someone who keeps judging themselves and is hard on themselves, or someone that keeps comparing themselves to.some imaginary benchmark or to others.
Usually in case 1&3, the passion runs out, resulting in low effort and eventually not being committed. Case 2, life is good until that one flight it is not.
CluelessPilot1971@reddit
I'm still busy determining whether I'm good at flying (or at instructing).
makgross@reddit
No one is a natural and no one is good at flying on their first flight. Sometimes flight instructors say otherwise, but that’s colloquially known as “ass kissing.”
If a pilot has a serious problem that will prevent success, that usually shows up pretty quickly, and we’ll have a talk about it. Things like ADHD (diagnosed or otherwise), disabilities of various flavors, and so on. But a truly incapable pilot is rare. Almost everyone can be trained with sufficient effort.
The one thing that sometimes takes excess time to determine is medical disqualification. Current ADHD medication, history of drug abuse, DUI, and so on.
No-Program-5539@reddit
It doesn’t matter if they have natural ability. It matters if they can learn the necessary skills.
archer505@reddit
Natural ability is irrelevant. I can teach skill. What I can’t teach (very well) is attitude, discipline, work ethic, and a desire to learn and improve. The students who do that well are the ones who are most successful.
T-1A_pilot@reddit
We're creatures evolved over millions of years for 1g, ground level operation at low speeds.
...I don't really believe there's anyone who's 'naturally' good at flying. We all have to learn.
Prof_Slappopotamus@reddit
Yup. Just people that are able to adapt and correlate new sensations at a speed way above average.
"Natural" is as good a term as any, though.
discgolfpilot@reddit
I am a firm believer there are very few "natural pilots". Everyone that has a passion and desire is going to struggle with something. Maybe someone would pick up stick and rudder quick but they couldn't navigate a mile from the airport without getting lost. To be a good pilot you need to master many different skills and be able to understand weather, regulations, mechanical stuff. Most students will pick up a few things quickly but and good instructor should be finding the working through with them they parts they struggle with
EliteEthos@reddit
I feel like that term is a hold over from the days when airplanes were new and novel and people didn’t necessarily know how to fly all the different types and designs. A select few were able to hop in and do it.
It’s largely not applicable today. We have known skills you need to learn.
phliar@reddit
I don't care if they're "natural" or not. I care if they have a consistent schedule, pay attention, and do all the reading and homework I ask for.
SP_Aman@reddit
It's rare and is almost always because the students dad/grandpa is a pilot who took them up since they were in diapers.
Mundane-Reality-7770@reddit
I was by no means natural. But my instructor was impressed I was using rudders and damn near landing by myself first flight. Been flying with dad for 20 years, although had never actually took off or landed.
Soft fields for whatever reason I struggled with getting timing down
commies_get_out@reddit
My first student pilot solo was already basically within ACS standards on his first flight. Solo’d him at 20ish hours.
Impossible-Bad-2291@reddit
I just told my instructor how many hours I had flying MSFS and he was like "Excellent! I'll book your checkride for next week."
Tisx@reddit
"I have 2000 hours in msfs"
"here's your ATP, blow job from United and your internship at NASA flight ops, sorry to keep you waiting sir"
Liberator1177@reddit
I found it was mostly if they consistently met/exceeded the standards set for the lesson and their attitude. If they were seriously invested and always came prepared for the lesson, they were probably going to do just fine.
rFlyingTower@reddit
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How do you determine whether your students are natural or good at flying? Does that show on how fast they can pick up things you teach? And how long until you guys can tell flying is for them?
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