Since you asked

Dear Rod,

I just started taking flying lessons to become a commercial pilot and currently I have about 15 hours logged. Recently on one of my dual circuit flights, I called off the flight based on the weather briefing from the FSS, and my instructor didn’t like that idea. Now he is�refusing�to fly with me. What should I do now?�

—No Name, Please

Greetings NNP:

Even if your call about canceling the flight because of weather was wrong, your behavior should still be rewarded (on some level) and not punished. That’s just silly. My guess is that he’s upset that he didn’t get paid for that lesson. OK, I do understand an instructor’s need to get paid, but his budgeting should account for the fact that some lessons will be cancelled because of weather, illness, et cetera. He could have turned the flight lesson into a ground lesson. Apparently he didn’t think about that or he doesn’t like to do ground training. Personally, I’d keep my eye out for another instructor with a better temperament.

Dear Rod:

What is a good path for someone wanting to flight instruct? I have a private pilot certificate with approximately 200 hours of flight time. I love teaching, but the expense of obtaining the additional ratings necessary to instruct will be tough on my budget. Any suggestions you can offer to help me become a flight instructor? —Y.L.

Greetings Y.L.:

Have you ever considered obtaining your light sport instructor certificate first? You need only a private or sport pilot certificate and 150 hours to qualify for the light sport flight instructor certificate. You need to be trained to proficiency, of course, but you don’t need an instrument rating or a commercial certificate. This might be the best and least expensive way to get into flight instructing.

Dear Rod:

The most challenging task I am now facing as a new flight instructor is a student of about 70 years of age. Sam, a very nice guy, comes prepared for each lesson with questions from his study.

I acquired Sam from another�mature instructor who wasn’t having a lot of success with him. Sam seems to understand each objective we try, but he appears 10 miles behind the airplane. It seems that I may have to go excruciatingly slowly in the teaching and obtaining results. He has about 15 hours now. About six of that has been with me. I try very hard to be conscientious about keeping the teaching and lessons progressing in order to keep the expense in check.

He asked me today what I thought. I danced around an answer until I could stop and think about it—also to give me time to seek some counsel.

I don’t imagine there is an easy answer to this, but I wanted�to seek your assistance. —Wayne

Greetings Wayne:

I’ve taught many older students over the years, and it’s true that learning performance does decrease to varying degrees as we age. It’s important to tell your student that you’re happy to train him, but that he shouldn’t expect to learn as quickly as a younger person. This allows him to properly calibrate his expectations as well as reducing the pressure on you to advance him at the same rate you might advance a younger person.

Your strategy with older students should be to make the behavioral objectives of every lesson clear to him before each flight. This allows him to better understand if he’s hitting the mark behaviorally or widely missing it.

One of the valuable training strategies I’ve used with older students is something known as covert rehearsal. This is where the student mentally rehearses the behavioral sequences needed to accomplish specific maneuvers. For instance, I had one student who benefited greatly when I wrote down the specific steps for entering and exiting slow flight. He mentally rehearsed these and other behavioral patterns prior to each lesson, which made each lesson far more efficient. Fortunately, older students tend to be more disciplined, thus more likely to mentally practice before each lesson.

Finally, make the offer that at any time your student wants a third-party assessment on his flying skills, he’s welcome to do so as long as the third party is someone you agree to (at least if he wants to continue flying with you).