Choppers. They're notoriously hard to start and even worse to pre-flight. They're slow, expensive as hell, and make more noise than horsepower. They require constant attention and vibrate more than a jackhammer, but they can squeeze into the tightest spots and pick up chicks with ease.
Back on track, I just think good leaders make good instructors, but I don't think that's some sort of revelation. My worst student experience was with an IP screaming at me and jerking the controls out of my hands in the bombing pattern at Shade Tree (I still picked up a pair of "E's") when nothing was really happening. My next worse was a cross-country to Jax where the IP said zippo the entire flight, even if spoken to directly or questioned. Everyone knew him to be a strange cat, but to be incapable of acknowledging another human being was very odd. A good experience was with a former Blue who trusted me to do everything I was taught. When I flew through the final approach course by mistake and fixed it, he knew how to consider it in context and judge my trends in order to frame how he would word his critique on such a simple debrief point rather than just give me blind critique in the same old monotonous slam package. It doesn't sound like such a big deal, but those things help build mutual respect and I would work harder to do better -- and not disappoint him later. He was
leading me to success.
