CFI's Scared to sign off for Solo?

mtuomi said:
God, I hope she has solo'd by now. If she kept at it, by now she would have over 300 hours...
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In a way maybe we shouldn't blame the cfi who's been flying with Lumpy. Ordinarily, a cfi should have dumped her (politely) long before now. Lumpy apparently has insisted on going forward with the training. Also, perhaps Lumpy just loves to fly and doesn't really intend to become licensed. Just saying....
 
Lumpys prolly 1st officer on a Dash 8 by now.
 
I'd be willing to bet she gave it up.
 
I wonder what percentage of her approaches she feels uncomfortable enough that she feels compelled to call a go around. Of course it's a necessary tool to have at hand, but my feeling is that a student who thinks they ought to be soloing really ought to be nailing every approach, with the exception if you are training in x-winds.
 
A CFI is hired and paid to teach you to fly. If the CFI hasn't accomplished that in 50 hours, fire the CFI and go hire a different/better one. If you're attending a flight school and the CFI is on the staff, I'd fire the whole school. Even if you're a difficult student, you obviously need a better CFI. Don't spend another dollar with this outfit, whoever they are.
 
woodchucker said:
I wonder what percentage of her approaches she feels uncomfortable enough that she feels compelled to call a go around. Of course it's a necessary tool to have at hand, but my feeling is that a student who thinks they ought to be soloing really ought to be nailing every approach, with the exception if you are training in x-winds.
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EVERY approach? :confused:

I think my instructor was satisfied if I was landing successfully a high percentage of the time, was able to recognize when it wasn't working out, and was willing and able to do a go around.

On one of my solo cross countries, which was to an airport that was nestled between some mountains, I had to do two go arounds before I was able to get set up properly on final approach. When I told my instructor this, he said GOOD BOY!
 
Gsxrpilot said:
A CFI is hired and paid to teach you to fly. If the CFI hasn't accomplished that in 50 hours, fire the CFI and go hire a different/better one. If you're attending a flight school and the CFI is on the staff, I'd fire the whole school. Even if you're a difficult student, you obviously need a better CFI. Don't spend another dollar with this outfit, whoever they are.
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And even if the problem was lack of aptitude on the student's part, I would imagine that flying with another instructor could have helped establish whether that was indeed the case.
 
Palmpilot said:
And even if the problem was lack of aptitude on the student's part, I would imagine that flying with another instructor could have helped establish whether that was indeed the case.
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Then a good CFI would have told her, and sent her on her way to either another hobby or another instructor. But regardless a reputable CFI shouldn't keep taking her money and promising that she's just about ready. For my money, that CFI is worse than a purely incompetent one who can't teach.
 
Gsxrpilot said:
Then a good CFI would have told her, and sent her on her way to either another hobby or another instructor. But regardless a reputable CFI shouldn't keep taking her money and promising that she's just about ready. For my money, that CFI is worse than a purely incompetent one who can't teach.
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You could be right.
 
Palmpilot said:
EVERY approach? :confused:

I think my instructor was satisfied if I was landing successfully a high percentage of the time, was able to recognize when it wasn't working out, and was willing and able to do a go around.

On one of my solo cross countries, which was to an airport that was nestled between some mountains, I had to do two go arounds before I was able to get set up properly on final approach. When I told my instructor this, he said GOOD BOY!
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Allow me to clarify: every approach in the training environment you expect to solo at. I'm not really counting x-wind or other tricky things. I would expect most solo environments to be in relatively tame conditions. Power back, flaps, flaps, flaps, altitude and airspeed. Yes, I would expect every approach (in "solo" conditions) to be solid if you expect to solo.

On my first solo xc I had issues also. Winds gusting something crazy, and rotating around the compass. When I first checked winds and made my approach to land, I couldn't get the airspeed under 75. Went around, checked weather, and the update was around 180 degrees opposite. I finally did get it down once. My cfi had wanted me to do several landings there, but I said to myself *screw that*, and took off and went home (after taxiing the length of the runway when the winds switched 180 again). What an experience that was!
 
Gsxrpilot said:
A CFI is hired and paid to teach you to fly. If the CFI hasn't accomplished that in 50 hours, fire the CFI and go hire a different/better one. If you're attending a flight school and the CFI is on the staff, I'd fire the whole school. Even if you're a difficult student, you obviously need a better CFI. Don't spend another dollar with this outfit, whoever they are.
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Right, because every pilot should be 100% ready for check ride in 50 hours.

Ridiculous.
 
Kritchlow said:
Right, because every pilot should be 100% ready for check ride in 50 hours.

Ridiculous.
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I think he was talking solo - which I would agree with. Though I would put the number at 25 rather than 50, assuming it's not on again off again training.
 
Kritchlow said:
Right, because every pilot should be 100% ready for check ride in 50 hours.

Ridiculous.
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Who said anything about a check ride? We're just talking about the first solo. The first successful solo flight is proof that one knows how to fly the airplane. The private checkride is just another step in the process of proficiency.

EdFred said:
I think he was talking solo - which I would agree with. Though I would put the number at 25 rather than 50, assuming it's not on again off again training.
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Agreed, if a student hasn't soloed by 25 hours, there needs to be a reevaluation of either the student's aptitude or the CFI's instructing technique.
 
Kritchlow said:
Right, because every pilot should be 100% ready for check ride in 50 hours.

Ridiculous.
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80%, yes, but we're talking solo here, and 50 hrs no solo indicates a problem somewhere. It could be with the student, it could be with the CFI, it could be a overly long, drawn out schedule, or it could be a horribly out of rig airplane; but something is wrong, and at the cost of flight training, it should be found. Like Ed said, 25hrs with no solo is the time this evaluation should take place.
 
Gsxrpilot said:
Who said anything about a check ride? We're just talking about the first solo. The first successful solo flight is proof that one knows how to fly the airplane. The private checkride is just another step in the process of proficiency.
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If you meant solo, than yes, I jumped the gun.
That said, I'm not so sure a first solo proves the student knows how to fly. IMO, knowing how to fly the airplane includes a lot more than knowing how to "control the airplane". Still, I concede, a minor distinction.



Agreed, if a student hasn't soloed by 25 hours, there needs to be a reevaluation of either the student's aptitude or the CFI's instructing technique.
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I disagree here. I don't think 25+ hours is unusual to solo.
When I was teaching, by far the hardest part was pre solo. Once they soloed, the instruction went reasonably quick.
 
I soloed at 31 hours.
 
I wonder if Lumpy Landings ever got to solo. Last post Dec. 2013
 
CFI's not soloing is generally due to you being able to pay them.
 
Well, Halloween *IS* approaching ... I guess, raising this thread from the dead was in order:eek:;)
 
I wonder whatever did happen to the OP.
 
there's op, then the flip side
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...o-sign-off-for-solo.66811/page-2#post-1342031
What I found was out of about 8 different instructors, there were 3 that stand out as being exceptional teachers, 4 were about average time builders, and one was just plumb spooky/nervous. The spooky/nervous one I think is relavent here. I only flew with him on the x-country night trip to HJR for a fish dinner. It felt to me like I had more night time logged than he did. (probably did, as the past few weeks were in winter, and after work) The plan was for several of us to go at once and fly in single file, straight in approach and land, have supper, then "yer on yer own to get back".
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