What no one tells you about becoming a CFI is you will be learning along with your clients. So when you reach 40 years as a flight instructor like Brian Schiff has, you have a lot of knowledge to share.
This week Schiff’s column “CFI Care” debuted in the National Association of Flight Instructors’ (NAFI) eMentor newsletter. Schiff, who is also an airline pilot and NAFI board member, provides expertise served up through humor and storytelling to help instructors develop as better teachers of flight.
Schiff has multiple instructor ratings and has logged more than 21,000 hours in the cockpit. He said it is his mission to make learning fun and impactful.
“Too many pilots have a fundamental misunderstanding of some basics,” he said. “I want to impart my 40 years of figuring out how to teach them before I forget.”
According to Schiff, one of the aspects of instruction that many pilots do not recognize is that the CFI can learn something from each client they fly with, no matter their experience level.
“I have found myself learning from CFIs with only one year as a CFI,” he said.”We all can learn from one another if we collaborate and communicate. All I am doing is sharing the knowledge I’ve accumulated so that it can reach more instructors.”
Communication skills are key to being an effective instructor, according to Schiff.
“I want my audience to learn more efficient, effective, and enjoyable ways to convey their knowledge,” he said. “The flight instructor’s primary responsibility is to transfer responsibility for the outcome of a flight from the right seat to the left seat. I want my [column] readers to learn to do a great job doing this. Any CFI can produce a pilot. A great CFI can produce a great pilot. We need to produce great pilots.”
Schiff’s NAFI newsletter column will be posted monthly both on the public area of the organization’s website and the member-only area of the platform.
NAFI has been around for more than 50 years and remains dedicated to raising and maintaining the professional standards of instructors in the aviation community. The organization boasts a membership of more than 8,000 training professionals, which it serves through a monthly magazine, weekly newsletters, and MentorLIVE streamed events, and More Right Rudder podcasts.
“We are excited to feature Brian’s new column in NAFI’s eMentor newsletter,” said NAFI director of publications and editor Beth Stanton. “He is equal parts earnest and snarky, which makes his voice both authentic and fun. He’s a great teacher, and I can’t wait to learn from him.”
