Best and worst experiences with flight instructors

[KBayDog]

Teach a kid to kill the closest alligator first.

Here's a virtual kick in the nuts for using one of the most overused and puke-inducing expressions in the military. Other than that, I'm in agreement with all of what you posted.

I always appreciated the IPs who could explain the practical applications of any maneuvers in NATOPS, MDGs, STAN MANs, FTIs, etc., Going through the different training pipelines, it's easy to get caught up in memorizing procedures, numbers, etc., seemingly just for the sake of passing check rides and getting good grades. However, understanding that we learn BIs because they keep us alive when we live at/below 300'AGL, or that we practice max gross takeoffs and landings because they represent the vast majority of our operations, puts things into perspective.

 

[nittany03]

I've used that expression before it became a buzzword, so let me channel my inner Michael Bolton and tell you to go piss up a rope.

 

[fattestfoot]

Must be a Navy thing, cause I've never heard that one. In the Army I believe the equivalent is "hitting the 25m target."

 

[Pags]

Must be a Navy thing, cause I've never heard that one. In the Army I believe the equivalent is "hitting the 25m target."

-closest alligator to the canoe
-closest wolf to the sled
-closest indian to the wagon
-longest pole in the tent

all ways to say "our top priority is..."

 

[KBayDog]

[quote="Pags, post: 658833"-closest indian to the wagon[/quote]

^O-4s, order up some more sensitivity training for this guy!

 

[Jim123]

No kidding... I thought it was closest Indian to the elephant (or something like that).

-closest panhandler to the car window
-closest beer cup to the ping pong ball
-closest cat to the front bumper
-closest message folder to the staff officer

OK, I might've made up all of those.

 

[Schnugg]

Friday afternoon hop...

I flew an intermediate T-34C hop...way back when...with a former F-14 driver who could only fkly non-ejection seat aircraft now due to an ejection (or two). We badly beat up on a C-2 driver doing tailchase and then flew a great low level.
Landed, did the maintenance paperwork. He told me to meet him in one of the little debrief rooms.

He pops in puts up a "Brief in Progress" sign over the little door window and pulls out two cold beers from his flight suit pockets. Needless to say, the debrief went very well.

I guess all that flight time stashed at VF-43 helped.

 

[bunk22]

I try sometimes to lighten the mood by being what I think is funny or playfully sarcastic. Well the that backfires sometimes as not too long ago, right before I flew with a student I made a comment of you ready not to suck today? I had flown with him before so he knew my humor. Well, ended up I ended up giving him a down....man, I felt bad, real bad. I apologized to him in the brief for my comment....and still downed him!

 

[Jim123]

Sarcasm + rank/authority is really tough to pull off and I'm envious of people who can consistently do it well and not come across as a bully.

Once I thought it would be funny to demo an obviously bad "normal approach" by making just about every mistake possible along with a hammed up running narrative/self-critique... this after the stud waved off about three in a row and was getting frustrated (not very good maneuvers but also not entirely bad either). Well the stud didn't find it very funny and that made it even harder for me to stop laughing at my own dumb joke.

 

[AirPirate]

So what you are saying is that all those skills I learned selling cars aren't going to go to waste?! Yes!

As disgusting as that sounds, yes.

I try sometimes to lighten the mood by being what I think is funny or playfully sarcastic. Well the that backfires sometimes as not too long ago, right before I flew with a student I made a comment of you ready not to suck today? I had flown with him before so he knew my humor. Well, ended up I ended up giving him a down....man, I felt bad, real bad. I apologized to him in the brief for my comment....and still downed him!

At least you tried to make good on it, but that brings up an actual non-joking point. IPs tend to get what they expect. I don't know if there's a self-fulfilling prophecy cosmic rule or something, but students tend to perform as instructors expect them to (only speaking on averages here, not the individual circumstance mentioned by bunk22). Even as a student, if I had an instructor who expected the flight to go well, it would tend to go well. If the instructor expected it to go badly, it was either a tough fight or a bad all around. The suck of it is that as an IP it's hard to not have an expectation because if you think you don't, then some unpredictable facet of your attitude will come into play to tip you to one side or the other. This can also go back to the double-edged sword of IPs communing on students and setting each other up with preconceived attitudes. Ever notice how studs with good grades tend to take off like a JATO bottle and students with bad grades tend to tank even further? Of course we usually put the majority of that on the student but let's face it, IPs play a significant role. Those students aren't gonna' grade themselves. Some of why good grades beget good grades is because IPs expect it, and bad grades beget bad grades because IPs expect it. It takes two to tango (stud to IP).

 

[BusyBee604]

Although I went through flight training some 50+ years ago (gulp!), I still remember most of my Instructors. When glancing through my log books, I can still put faces to log book IP names. I never suffered with a "bad" IP, i.e. screamer, grouch, poor aviator etc. Had a few "plowbacks" who whined too much about not being in the fleet. Boring, but they never took it out on me as a stud. Breezed thru flight training w/ 1 DOWN, a T-28 formation fam when I executed a crossunder with insufficient nose-to-tail clearance. All else went fine, went through pretty fast, no waiting for classups or pool stashes back then.

I had 2 plowback IPs I flew with in advanced instruments, who came to my first Fleet Squadron (VF-94) at the same time I did, both became lifelong friends. One of them (Ret. CAPT Dick Stratton, noted ex-POW), was Best Man at my wedding in 1960. Another of my Advanced Instructors (then LCDR Dick Weber, A-6 driver) I met 8 years later in a rescue helicopter at Vinh, NVN. I was zapped flying RESCAP cover for him when his Intruder was shot down. The Helo grabbed him, then minutes later, me. Quite a reunion!

As for my IP experience, never was in the TRACOM, but did 2 tours (5 years total) as an A-4 RAG IP (then called "HardCore"). Great duty, lots of fun flight time doing weapons & CarQual Dets, legal flathatting (Sandlowers), ACM, X/Cs, etc. I am always amazed at how many of my RP students ended up making Stars, a source of great pride to me! I hope to reunite with some of them at HOOK '11 this Sept. Any other AWs plan on going?

Good times!
BzB

 

[MasterBates]

I'll be at Fallon for Air Wing Fallon, so I should be there barring some real big crisis, like a meteor hitting the earth.

 

[BusyBee604]

I should be there barring some real big crisis, like a meteor hitting the earth.

So I just saw where a NASA Spacecraft is just about in position to enter orbit around an asteroid the size of ARIZONA! We're not a check point in it's "flight plan", so looking forward to meeting up in Sparks (Friday night "Bug" Roach Mixer maybe?).
BzB

 

[fc2spyguy]

My funniest moment was during a BI. I wasn't trimming the altitude that well during the flight. It was an out and in, after finishing the card the instructor took over the controls and brought us to mobile. While he was flying he kept oscillating on the altitude as well. I said to myself, 'huh, glad I'm not the only one with issues trying to keep this thing on altitude.' The problem was that I inadvertently keyed the mic . . . instructor wasn't amused . . .

 

[squorch2]

words

This is expectation bias. Its effects are insidious and extremely hard to combat.