Right Seat: Personality disorder

The bond between student and instructor can be positive and aid strongly in learning, or it can be toxic and waste time, money, and effort. Among all the variables in learning to fly, the instructor is the keystone, the one critical piece that can hold the whole thing up or let it topple over.

The student-instructor relationship can be a great help for students who luck out with a good match, but it is a disaster for those who weren’t so lucky. Leaving something so important to chance seems like an illogical way to do business, but that’s how many schools operate.

Incidentally, the quality of the relationship is not always related to the skills of the instructor. Great instructors sometimes fail at meshing with a particular student, and less-than-stellar instructors can get many students through quite successfully. Personality, more often than not, is what determines a good match.

Among all the variables in learning to fly, the instructor is the keystone.The difficulty is in knowing when to call it quits and move on. This month contributor Budd Davisson explores a few of the reasons in “It’s Not You, It’s Me,” beginning on page 38. His story is essential reading for all those wondering if a breakup is the best option.

There are movements to reduce the chance nature of a student/instructor match. Two ideas, in particular, are gaining hold: an instructional pool, or—where that isn’t practical—a more considerate pairing process.

The concept behind an instructional pool is simple: With highly standardized training, jumping from instructor to instructor is easy and efficient. Instructor scheduling conflicts and personality differences don’t get a chance to become an issue if you fly with a new person most times. Some schools assign an instructor who will oversee the student’s entire program, much like an adviser at a university. Under the best of circumstances, this approach can provide a stable group of instructors who all teach the same items the same way. Or it can be a poorly managed process where students relearn the same thing with a different instructor.

In a smaller school, simply having a more engaged pairing process can work wonders. Here a manager or chief instructor meets every student, and considers everything from the student’s reason for learning to fly to budget and lesson scheduling preferences. Done well, this process can result in a great pairing that suits the student perfectly. The worst-case scenario is that the student has a friend to turn to for guidance or a new instructor.

Learning to fly is hard enough. Personality conflicts shouldn’t have to weigh on that challenge. And they don’t have to, thanks to one simple fact—you have the power of the purse.

Email Editor Ian J. Twombly at [email protected]; Twitter: ijtwombly; and visit Flight Training on Facebook.