Why We Fly

Always there when you need him

For various reasons, many certificated flight instructors teach for only a short time before their careers move in other directions. If, however, your original CFI still practices in the same locale 30 years or more after you first earned a pilot certificate, you'll have the rare opportunity to continue a relationship begun long ago.

Mike Garrison's students have a flight instructor for life, because he's been delivering quality flight instruction in the same eastern Kansas area for decades. Garrison began flying in 1959, earning a private certificate in one of the first Cessna 150 trainers and juggling flight lessons with his University of Kansas engineering classes and Naval ROTC training. Flight instructing had to wait until Garrison finished his military service commitment and became established in mechanical engineering. He earned his first flight instructor certificate in the mid-1970s, and now that he's retired he can instruct upwards of 1,000 hours a year. He added 1,100 hours to his logbook in 2006 alone.

Garrison is one of those uncommon individuals who flies because he just needs to. He relates that his practical CPA father wasn't supportive of aviation as a career. Accordingly, Garrison made his living as a professional engineer. He retired in 2004 and is now expanding into his second career as a full-time professional CFI and FAA designated examiner.

Garrison's life-long residency in the Kansas City area has allowed him to be a "flight instructor for life" to many of his former primary students. A local lawyer received his private certificate in 1980, returned for an instrument rating in 2004, and came back again in 2006 to learn how to use the glass panel in his technically advanced aircraft (TAA). Garrison also has had a 20-year association with a young CFI applicant he trained to become a flight instructor. Even though he has gone on to work for an aircraft manufacturer, aviation supplier, and airline, the former student returns to Garrison for flight reviews, instrument proficiency checks, and recurrent training.

Garrison spends considerable time maintaining and advancing his skills. He's completed the training to become a Cirrus standardized instructor, he's gone to the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in Oklahoma City for physiological training in the altitude chamber and survival pool, and he's qualified to provide initial and recurrent training in the Piper PA-46 Malibu Mirage. Garrison specializes in TAA upgrades and is approved to train foreign students under the new Transportation Security Administration rules.

"I'm still learning," Garrison says. "After 400 hours flying the Garmin G1000, I still find something new that it can do every so often." As you would expect from a compulsive learner, Garrison has an airline transport pilot certificate and holds the Master CFI designation from the National Association of Flight Instructors. He's a regular participant in safety seminars and at meetings of local pilot organizations.

Garrison enjoys his CFI-for-life status as he adds to the growing list of pilots he's produced. His former students know they can count on him to challenge and upgrade their performance when they come back for additional training.

Most pilots like to return to an instructor whose habits and presentation they are familiar with, simply to facilitate the transfer of knowledge. There's always a certain amount of lost motion while you're getting to know a new CFI. Instructors like Mike Garrison are rare finds, as his graduates know--and they'll keep coming back as long as he's teaching.

LeRoy Cook has been an active flight instructor since 1965 and has had more than 1,350 articles published. He is the author of 101 Things to Do With Your Private License.