New Student Pilot

Winged_Splinter

Winged_Splinter

Pre-Flight
Joined
Apr 23, 2020
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Winged_Splinter
Hello Everyone,
I'm new to the forum and wanted to introduce myself and give a little information about where I'm at in my training as well as my experience so far.

Currently, I'm working on my private pilot with a total of 12 flight hours, and am in the process of making this my career. I have just dropped a part 61 flight club/school/instructor and I'm trying to find another school, but before I do, I decided I'm going to get my ground school out of the way first using the Gleim online study course.

I'm using Gleim because that is what the school I was at was wanting me to get, but I elected to go the online route instead of doing it in house.

I've read this forum and others about characteristics of some flight instructors and ultimately decided it was time to drop the one I had. He was/is the chief flight instructor and owner of the school and after putting up with his short temper, and lack of teaching style I felt it best to move on.

I was in the presolo process and was beginning to work on my landings, and no matter what I did, he always yelled at me and it had gotten to the point where I was no longer excited to be going to training. He kept confusing me with other students while thinking I had more hours/training than I did. He would never document what we did for the day, and would never follow by the syllabus his school wanted you to get. After speaking with him last lesson (Monday), he wouldn't take responsibility for his actions and made excuses for why he would yell. It also ruined my day because I had completed 4 successful landings and he still yelled about them and it threw me off and I tanked the last two, which, you guessed it, made him yell at me more.

Anyways, Its great to be here and I look forward to learning from the individuals of this site. If anyone knows of any good part 61 schools in Tennessee, please let me know. Currently I'm thinking about going to speak with Nashville Flight Training, Wings of Eagles in Smyrna, Murfreesboro Aviation as well as Buzz Air. Not sure where I'm going to end up next, but I hope its a place with better flight instructors.

Thanks for reading my long winded first post.
 
welcome to POA.

glad you took the decision and showed him the proverbial door. its your money, your training and took charge. I see a PIC in the making already
 
WannFly said:
welcome to POA.

glad you took the decision and showed him the proverbial door. its your money, your training and took charge. I see a PIC in the making already
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write-stuff said:
It sounds like you made the right decision about your former CFI. There is no excuse for yelling at a student. Poor teaching method.
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Thank you both.
 
Sounds like you had my cfi?
Good move on moving on. I used GLIEM for ground also to pass written. My advice to try different cfi until a match and keep track of your progress, no one else will. Good luck!
 
Welcome to the forum, sounds like you made the right call in regards to your CFI. I don't teach people to fly, but I do teach them how to ride motorcycles and it amazes some people that I don't scream when students make a mistake. I learned a long time ago (before teaching thank goodness) that people getting screamed at shut down and are no longer in receive mode to get any information.
 
Welcome, you definitely made the right decision dropping that CF, the I is very much in question given his behavior.
You should be looking forward to your training and not the other way around.
Best if you find a new school that is focusing to get you through to were you want to get but safely and patiently, not milking you for your money by making stuff more difficult and slower then necessary.

I have trained at a very reputable school, but there were certain issues I felt made it less convenient for me personally, I recently resumed training with an instructor who owns his own aircraft, and I don't regret it at all, but I had to compromise for certain convenience features that were available at the school.
For you, since you want to make it a career you should probably look for a good reputable school, but I would recommend since you plan on continuing training beyond private, look for a CFI that is not there just to earn hours, so when you choose to get your next rating, the instructor you clicked with, is still around and hasn't moved on to a corporate position.
Good luck and don't give up:)
 
Meh I go either way with the yelling. I look back at my early days- I tried to kill us- a lot it seemed. Tried to break the plane. Tried to rip off the nose gear. Tried to hit another plane taxiing. He would curse at me in English and Finnish. But I had it coming imo. But he told you if you did good too. I turned out alright I think. 25 years ago things were different.

I’d walk more because I’d not following the curriculum or owning up to action or plain just not getting along.
 
Peter Ha said:
Sounds like you had my cfi?
Good move on moving on. I used GLIEM for ground also to pass written. My advice to try different cfi until a match and keep track of your progress, no one else will. Good luck!
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Not sure, I won't put him or his school on blast, it's just not what I do. I do like the gleim study material, it's just a lot to take in all at once. I'm currently on chapter 5 and it seems like the chapter tests get longer and longer. The last one was 167 questions and somehow I scored an 87.

I'm going to finish the written before I start my flights back up. Probably should have done that in the first place, but I really wanted to get in the air.

Are you based in Tennessee?
 
Will Kumley said:
Welcome to the forum, sounds like you made the right call in regards to your CFI. I don't teach people to fly, but I do teach them how to ride motorcycles and it amazes some people that I don't scream when students make a mistake. I learned a long time ago (before teaching thank goodness) that people getting screamed at shut down and are no longer in receive mode to get any information.
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Thanks. Yeah, I even told him when I first met him that I don't deal well with people yelling at me. I told him point blank criticism is fine and even welcomed, but to never yell at me. Guess he figured he'd test that theory. There are too many flight schools around me to deal with someone like that.

I actually felt like a weight was lifted when I told him I was leaving the school.
 
PPL747 said:
Welcome, you definitely made the right decision dropping that CF, the I is very much in question given his behavior.
You should be looking forward to your training and not the other way around.
Best if you find a new school that is focusing to get you through to were you want to get but safely and patiently, not milking you for your money by making stuff more difficult and slower then necessary.

I have trained at a very reputable school, but there were certain issues I felt made it less convenient for me personally, I recently resumed training with an instructor who owns his own aircraft, and I don't regret it at all, but I had to compromise for certain convenience features that were available at the school.
For you, since you want to make it a career you should probably look for a good reputable school, but I would recommend since you plan on continuing training beyond private, look for a CFI that is not there just to earn hours, so when you choose to get your next rating, the instructor you clicked with, is still around and hasn't moved on to a corporate position.
Good luck and don't give up:)
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Thanks. Going to an actual school isn't as important as just learning what I need. If I knew someone with a plane who was a CFI that wanted to take me under their wing, I'd be more than willing to go that route. As it stands, I'm doing self study for my written, just need proper guidance with the flying. I feel I have a good chunk of the flying down, I just lack confidence on the landing part. As long as I build my hours I don't mind where they come from.
 
You could try to search on Gold Seal website after free sign up, they have a search CFI section, as well maybe call around a few local airports many times they can recommend you CFI's that they know are operating out of that airport. Those CFI's if you're lucky, many times come with a personal touch and a relationship that you can take through all of your other ratings.
 
Yes instructor student match up is important. I changed 20 hours in and it was the right call too. My first guy was very stern, not unprofessional at all, but it made me even more nervous and not as enjoyable as I hoped... i wasn't close to soloing, switched instructors and soloed 4 hours later!

i left on good terms with the first guy and when I run into him at a fbo we chat lime old flying buddies... he has taught a lot of people to fly and is a top notch instructor, i am a good student, our styles were just different..

so definitely in your case right call, and like someone else said that PIC decision making there!
 
So, I just received a refund for prepaying for my private pilot ( I know, bad move). It wasn't required, I asked if there would be a discount if I did, and there was a 6% discount for paying the full amount up front. Well, they subtracted the discount when giving me a refund.

Not sure how exactly that works as it was a flight club so I paid for the entrance into the flight club, and paid a monthly due to be a member. The flight instructor cost wasn't lower nor was anything else.

Can someone explain to me how I got charged for a discount when I was paying for everything at the regular price?

I'm more than likely just going to forget about it and count it as a loss, but still makes no sense to me.
 
I think you forget it and move on. They gave you the refund (minus 6%). Could be worse. Go interview a couple CFI’s and pick the one you gel with. My first CFI, 20 years ago was a crusty old dude. I didn’t hit it off with him and quit after around 20 hours. Got back to it in March and on a friend’s recommendation found an awesome instructor who’s my age. 17 hours in and I feel like I’ve learned way more this time around. Maybe try to find a CFI around you age. You may hit it off better. Personality/teaching styles play a huge role in your development.
 
SC777 said:
I think you forget it and move on. They gave you the refund (minus 6%). Could be worse. Go interview a couple CFI’s and pick the one you gel with. My first CFI, 20 years ago was a crusty old dude. I didn’t hit it off with him and quit after around 20 hours. Got back to it in March and on a friend’s recommendation found an awesome instructor who’s my age. 17 hours in and I feel like I’ve learned way more this time around. Maybe try to find a CFI around you age. You may hit it off better. Personality/teaching styles play a huge role in your development.
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Yeah, it could have been a lot worse. I'll see what I can find as far as CFIs are concerned. Going to complete my ground school so I can just concentrate on the flying. Turns out having a new baby and trying to do all at once was a little overwhelming. Thanks.
 
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