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Flight School: Changing Instructors

Jacom Stephens
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Students should trust their instincts and actively choose their flight instructor, switching when the professional relationship is no longer effective or conducive to their safety and success.
  • Key indicators for a change include an instructor's inability to communicate effectively, poor teaching methods, repeated cancellations, stifling questions, or a prolonged lack of student progress.
  • Immediately switch instructors if you encounter unprofessional behavior such as verbal or physical abuse, belittling, inappropriate advances, or intentional violations of aviation regulations.
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David St. George is a Part 141 chief instructor at East Hill Flying Club (ehfc.net) in upstate New York and a designated pilot examiner (fearlessflighttest.com). David has flown more than 10,000 hours of dual instruction and given more than 1,500 flight evaluations in 40 years of flying. David says:

“The easy answer is: ‘when you know this professional relationship is no longer working.’ Before you dismiss this as glib, let’s understand some very important considerations that make this simple statement useful.

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