The Problem With Flight Instruction

Perhaps youve heard the riddle, "What do you call the person who graduates at the bottom of the class in medical school?" The answer: Doctor. The maxim being conveyed applies equally well to aviation: What do you call the pilot who has met the minimum standards set forth in FAR 61.183-187? Answer: Certificated Flight Instructor. Yet whether acting in the capacity of doctor or flight instructor, that individual is directly responsible for another persons well being. Others literally may live or die based directly on the doctors and the flight instructors knowledge and skills. The path to becoming a practicing doctor evolved to include a rigorous course of study and years of apprenticeship: college, med school, internship, residency, fellowship. The tradition in aviation, on the other hand, has been to treat flight instructing as the bullpen for corporate and airline flying. Still clinging to this model, many instructors teach largely for their own benefit and not the benefit of their students. Instructing, after all, is supposed to be a transient phase; building time, the primary goal; low pay and high turnover at flight schools, expected.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

CFIs need to adopt best practices for teaching navigation by pilotage and dead reckoning so the clients don’t become lazy or slaves to the magenta line. [Credit: FLYING Archive]

Key Takeaways:

The current model of flight instruction treats it as a transient phase for pilots to build hours, leading to inadequate instructor expertise, particularly in critical areas like stall/spin awareness, which contributes significantly to aviation accidents.
Studies reveal a widespread lack of formal ground instruction and practical experience in stall/spin maneuvers among Certified Flight Instructors (CFIs), indicating a systemic failure in current training and certification processes.
To enhance aviation safety, the article advocates for professionalizing flight instruction, demanding true competency in critical flight maneuvers, fostering continuous education, and ensuring instructors prioritize teaching for survival rather than just meeting minimum test standards.

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Perhaps youve heard the riddle, “What do you call the person who graduates at the bottom of the class in medical school?” The answer: Doctor. The maxim being conveyed applies equally well to aviation: What do you call the pilot who has met the minimum standards set forth in FAR 61.183-187? Answer: Certificated Flight Instructor. Yet whether acting in the capacity of doctor or flight instructor, that individual is directly responsible for another persons well being. Others literally may live or die based directly on the doctors and the flight instructors knowledge and skills.