CFI wants to do Night while I..

KeithASanford said:
My CFI has me concentrating on softs and shorts before I can even land. His explanation was, if I master the nuance it takes every inch on final doing both a soft field landing and a short field landing, the general landings will come naturally. He says if he taught them after I mastered a regular landing, it would take much longer for me to learn the plane. I completely understand this approach, although I've had some difficulty with ground effect. I have a greater understanding of what it takes to land the plane. I trusted him and he was right. I fully agree with my CFI that learning to nuance the plane is the hard part and you learn more about the aircraft with softs and shorts because you have to work harder. I'm not sure if that theory applies to day/night landing, but I would trust my CFI because he gave me an understanding of why.

If it's an understanding you need, ask. It's your money.
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...another situation where the use of a syllabus would pay off. This CFI has it ass-backwards.

Bob Gardner
 
bobmrg said:
Bless you. You will go far with that attitude. Don't take everything an instructor says as gospel...make him/her show documentation if you are in doubt.

Bob Gardner
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Thanks. Sometimes I think maybe I question things too much, and I mean in everyday life in general, but I think that attitude will serve me well in aviation. As I think about my experiences as a student pilot, I have to say that this type of student-teacher relationship is like no other. We've all probably experienced bad teachers in one field or another (to this day I curse my high school French teacher!). But flying is so different. If I have a bad piano teacher, for instance, maybe I'll waste some money and I won't, in the end, be able to play the piano. But I won't die! Mutual trust and respect are very important in learning to fly. And those are things that have to be earned, by both parties.
 
Like most pilots, I have perfected the art of landing when nobody is looking.
 
I'm not a cfI and don't really want to be one, and on top of that find that I'm a little less smart every day. However I'm a little surprised that we don't hear more about cfI,s firing students. After I beat my head against a wall for awhile I soon decide that doesn't pay. I admit takes awhile occasionally, but I eventually come to the the conclusion that all my advice and good intentions are totally wasted on a rock.
 
When I was on my 2nd solo cross-country, I was returning later than expected. I had briefly gotten lost (way pre-GPS days) and then held on the ground for awhile at a towered field. On the return, I wound up flying in the dark. Having some night flight before you solo is good to have just in case.
 
Theboys said:
I'm not a cfI and don't really want to be one, and on top of that find that I'm a little less smart every day. However I'm a little surprised that we don't hear more about cfI,s firing students. After I beat my head against a wall for awhile I soon decide that doesn't pay. I admit takes awhile occasionally, but I eventually come to the the conclusion that all my advice and good intentions are totally wasted on a rock.
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I think that is mostly because the majority of the really active instructors out there are quite dependent on the income of their students and find it quite difficult to walk away from that.

I've only done it once. I offered to meet with the student's next instructor to discuss their progress and struggles and sent them a check giving them their money back.
 
GCA319 said:
Mine was half that, but the intensity of the accelerated program made up for that in stress points. In the words of the oldest, most experienced guy in my "class" (we're talking 11,500 hours of Alaska bush time) , "I have a Phd and this is the hardest thing I ever attempted."
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And mine was half of that again. Of course I'd already instructed in other areas, and about 90 minutes in the DPE says, "well, I know you can teach, and if you can tell me this one last thing, we'll do the flight portion, if not you fail the oral."
 
EdFred said:
And mine was half of that again. Of course I'd already instructed in other areas, and about 90 minutes in the DPE says, "well, I know you can teach, and if you can tell me this one last thing, we'll do the flight portion, if not you fail the oral."
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Well. Most DPE(s) are nothing like the FSDO. Some FSDOs are worse than others. Your experience likely differs from others.

There is no doubt about the fact that some FSDO inspectors get way too carried away with the CFI ride.
 
Thread hijack with a twist.

My CFI has mentioned that, when the time is right, he would like to combine the hood work and the night flight - so I'd be under the hood at night. His theory is that you're already 50% of the way (or more) to being on instruments at night, so why not just do the hood work then.

I'm unsure of this - I had always pictured doing the hood work during daylight, but I can't put my finger on a good reason that this would be a bad idea.

Ideas?
 
livitup said:
Thread hijack with a twist.

My CFI has mentioned that, when the time is right, he would like to combine the hood work and the night flight - so I'd be under the hood at night. His theory is that you're already 50% of the way (or more) to being on instruments at night, so why not just do the hood work then.

I'm unsure of this - I had always pictured doing the hood work during daylight, but I can't put my finger on a good reason that this would be a bad idea.

Ideas?
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Really nothing wrong with it - and it makes sense. I do that with a lot of my students. Granted I wouldn't do all your night time under the hood because you still need to be able to fly at night without the hood. I'd recommend people try and get as much night as they can during their training so that they are comfortable with it.
 
EdFred said:
And mine was half of that again. Of course I'd already instructed in other areas, and about 90 minutes in the DPE says, "well, I know you can teach, and if you can tell me this one last thing, we'll do the flight portion, if not you fail the oral."
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“What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
 
The DPE in el paso doesn't allow applicants to double up hood time with night time.... While in one sense it makes sense to do both! in another it's limiting your experience of flying at night. and out here depending on the Wx and moon etc you are on instruments without the hood. It's important to me that folks understand the difficulties and the pleasures of night flight. Personally I don't combine them.
 
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jesse said:
Really nothing wrong with it - and it makes sense. I do that with a lot of my students. Granted I wouldn't do all your night time under the hood because you still need to be able to fly at night without the hood. I'd recommend people try and get as much night as they can during their training so that they are comfortable with it.
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I do look forward to night flying once I get my ticket, so I'll make sure that I have enough non-hooded night time to be comfortable doing it on my own later.


Thanks for your input! :thumbsup:
 
Jeanie said:
The DPE in el paso doesn't allow applicants to double up hood time with night time.... While in one sense it makes sense to do both! in another it's limiting your experience of flying at night. and out here depending on the Wx and moon etc you are on instruments without the hood. It's important to me that folks understand the difficulties and the pleasures of night flight. Personally I don't combine them.
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Not sure that DPE has the authority to do that. Doing hoodwork at night is perfectly legal and meets 61.109 requirements. Though, I agree with him in principle.
 
jesse said:
Well. Most DPE(s) are nothing like the FSDO. Some FSDOs are worse than others. Your experience likely differs from others.

There is no doubt about the fact that some FSDO inspectors get way too carried away with the CFI ride.
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FSDO ASIs don't do nearly as many rides as DPEs, so they're not very well versed in stuff like combining tasks and asking broader questions that cover more PTS territory. They tend to go line by line through the PTS, which for a CFI initial can take a looong time.
 
Eagle I said:
You mean like I trusted my CFI's judgement that soft-field landings were a good/fun thing to practice, even though I hadn't yet mastered landings in general? And some $7,000 in instruction later, I still hadn't yet mastered landings? I don't mean to be disrespectful, because I know you're someone who has a lot of respect here, but I stand by my initial advice, which was: if you don't feel comfortable doing it, don't do it.
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Maybe the man in the mirror had something to do with this and not the CFI?
 
KeithASanford said:
Is there a part 61 syllabus?
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Lots of them. ASA's sells for $12.95 (ASA-PPT-S4 for the print edition; the digital edition ASA-PPT-S4-PD is free). Go to www.asa2fly.com.

Nothing wrong with using a Part 141 syllabus, if you can find one...just ignore the hour limitations; all you are looking for is a framework for training.

Bob
 
GCA319 said:
Let's just say that I held the nose off, but that is all that can be said for it :D. Thankfully no video.
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During primary training my instructor was showing me how a soft field landing should be accomplished (and being a bit snarky about comparing it to my attempts to boot!) So he comes in for a good approach and flares. And flares. And ... out of nowhere a gust of wind picks the aircraft up, dropping us on the ground hard in a stall.

He looks at me calmly and says "ok I was demoing one of YOUR soft field landings."

:eek:
 
bobmrg said:
Support your hometown publisher, Karl.

Bob
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Funny you should mention that, Bob.

I have sold several hundred battery chargers (see signature), but not ONE in the state of Washington. Multiple chargers to several military units. I just mailed one to Morocco!
 
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