What Does the FAA Have Against the Word, “Student?”

DaleB said:
Who cares?? If I have a Private Pilot certificate, and I'm taking instruction from a CFI for whatever reason, I'm still a student. The fact that I don't hold a student pilot certificate is immaterial. If I go back to college, would I not be a student there again? I know, I know... they're using that idiotic term "learner" everywhere now.

Some days I want to live forever; some days I can see the plot line to Idiocracy and am happy I'll be dead before Not Sure becomes President.


Oh, wait.
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To the best of my knowledge, the FAA has done nothing to prevent you from referring to yourself as a student regardless of what certificate you hold. Call yourself a student--nobody cares.

However, they saw good reason to differentiate one term with two meanings from a publication that's intended to provide guidance to instructors who deal with teaching people with both student pilot certificates and non-student pilot certificates. I promise the term "learner" won't ruin your life.
 
Brad Z said:
To the best of my knowledge, the FAA has done nothing to prevent you from referring to yourself as a student regardless of what certificate you hold. Call yourself a student--nobody cares.

However, they saw good reason to differentiate one term with two meanings from a publication that's intended to provide guidance to instructors who deal with teaching people with both student pilot certificates and non-student pilot certificates. I promise the term "learner" won't ruin your life.
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and I can assure you that the term "learner" has no added value.
 
Brad Z said:
However, they saw good reason to differentiate one term with two meanings from a publication that's intended to provide guidance to instructors who deal with teaching people with both student pilot certificates and non-student pilot certificates.
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Bafflegab. What “guidance” does it give to instructors (or they going to became “certified flight teachers”). Are you supposed to treat “students” different from “learners” even they are both students learning something completely new to them?

Cheers
 
Bob Noel said:
and I can assure you that the term "learner" has no added value.
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I have yet to meet anyone using that term. Out of all the changes the FAA could have made, they waste time with garbage terminology.
 
X3 Skier said:
Bafflegab. What “guidance” does it give to instructors (or they going to became “certified flight teachers”). Are you supposed to treat “students” different from “learners” even they are both students learning something completely new to them?

Cheers
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The Aviation Instructors Handbook is available for download, so you can review the guidance yourself.
 
Now that they have settled the terminology crisis (temporarily?), maybe they can tackle some trivial tasks like approving GAMI Unleaded Avgas or the MOSAIC Effort to revise Light Sport rules.

Cheers.
 
Brad Z said:
The Aviation Instructors Handbook is available for download, so you can review the guidance yourself.
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I admit I’m dense and it is too difficult for me to understand regardless of what the document says since I can’t really see the difference between student and learner in common (non FAA) situations.

OTOH, I vaguely recall getting a learner’s permit as a student driver before passing my driver’s test 100 or so years ago. OTOOH, I suppose after graduation from kindergarten (I think I did but don’t remember), I became a learner for grade school, high school, undergraduate college and two sessions of grad school rather than a student:cool:.

I’ll try and ask the question at Oshkosh at the Meet the Administrator confab:D

Cheers.
 
What, no one brought up that they 'fixed' NOTAM as well?
Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs)
 
Palmpilot said:
"I've noticed CFIs using the term "client" lately.
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I've been using that for years. It has become my default term for referring to anybody paying me money for flying or instruction duties.

To me, yes, anyone I'm teaching for a rating is a "student". To me, that's where the term "student" fits best - somebody in a course of instruction for a rating, or even an aircraft checkout or other multiple-flight training events. But it just doesn't seem quite right to me for the guy who calls me up once a year for a refresher on some aspect of his GPS or something like that. Calling him "my student" when I only see him once a year seems to be stretching the term. Same for flight reviews. For the guy who I'm flying with today, but who I haven't seen for 2 years, it doesn't seem like "my student" is appropriate - despite the fact that yes, we're all really "students" of aviation.

And since I also do contract pilot work for non-pilot owners, they obviously aren't students, but "client" fits.

So since "client" fits everybody and "student" only fits some, I just go with "client" to make it easy for me.

However, yes, sometimes using the term does make me feel like Heidi Fleiss.
 
RussR said:
I've been using that for years. It has become my default term for referring to anybody paying me money for flying or instruction duties.

To me, yes, anyone I'm teaching for a rating is a "student". To me, that's where the term "student" fits best - somebody in a course of instruction for a rating, or even an aircraft checkout or other multiple-flight training events. But it just doesn't seem quite right to me for the guy who calls me up once a year for a refresher on some aspect of his GPS or something like that. Calling him "my student" when I only see him once a year seems to be stretching the term. Same for flight reviews. For the guy who I'm flying with today, but who I haven't seen for 2 years, it doesn't seem like "my student" is appropriate - despite the fact that yes, we're all really "students" of aviation.

And since I also do contract pilot work for non-pilot owners, they obviously aren't students, but "client" fits.

So since "client" fits everybody and "student" only fits some, I just go with "client" to make it easy for me.

However, yes, sometimes using the term does make me feel like Heidi Fleiss.
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Just to clarify, I'm not complaining about "client." I kind of like it.
 
RussR said:
I've been using that for years. It has become my default term for referring to anybody paying me money for flying or instruction duties.

To me, yes, anyone I'm teaching for a rating is a "student". To me, that's where the term "student" fits best - somebody in a course of instruction for a rating, or even an aircraft checkout or other multiple-flight training events. But it just doesn't seem quite right to me for the guy who calls me up once a year for a refresher on some aspect of his GPS or something like that. Calling him "my student" when I only see him once a year seems to be stretching the term. Same for flight reviews. For the guy who I'm flying with today, but who I haven't seen for 2 years, it doesn't seem like "my student" is appropriate - despite the fact that yes, we're all really "students" of aviation.

And since I also do contract pilot work for non-pilot owners, they obviously aren't students, but "client" fits.

So since "client" fits everybody and "student" only fits some, I just go with "client" to make it easy for me.

However, yes, sometimes using the term does make me feel like Heidi Fleiss.
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Where I work, the “client” is the person receiving training. The “customer” is the one paying the bill. Sometimes they’re the same, but most often not.
 
Half Fast said:
If you get a chance to ask anything, ask why the FAA is stalling the approval of G100UL.
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That would be akin to asking a politician their opinion on anything. The reply would be at least 10000 words long and meaning “How dare you ask me about that?”.

Cheers
 
Racerx said:
They also changed cockpit to flight deck, man made to manufactured, and repairman to technician to "create a more inclusive environment."
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I really appreciated them giving my two seat experimental a "Flight Deck" ... makes me feel warm all over just thinking about it! :rolleyes:
 
DaleB said:
Substituting "learner" for "student" seems to be a thing. It smacks of people just changing things purely for the sake of change...
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Like my wife who for no apparent reason wants to move the furniture yet again.
 
I just noticed that Section 4-2-4c of the AIM still advises student pilots to identify themselves that way on the radio.

This is not a complaint, by the way! Thank GOD they aren't telling them to identify themselves as "learner pilots"!
 
Cogito said:
A couple years ago FAA publications twisted themselves into knots trying not to use the word “student” and used the word, “learner” instead. Now it looks as if they’re using the word “customer” in CFI publications. I’m in my late 50’s and love when I get to be a student, I like to think I’m always a learner, even when instructing. Rant over.
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"Wokism". It's all about feelings.
 
I think they use 'client' now as a term replacing 'mental patient', and 'resident' in some places instead of 'inmate'. For what it's worth.

If I were a CFI and someone introduced themselves as a 'learner', I'd be tempted to talk slower and assume they faced some sort of special challenge.
 
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