Instructor report: The sky beckons

Often, the decision to start flight training begins with an innate love of the sky. Thoughts of cars scurrying below; a golden sunset casting a soft glow into the cockpit; and a clear, beckoning sky inspire us to fly. But too often these romantic ideas are brushed aside by instructors narrowly focused on following a set training guideline, and students forget why they’re learning to fly. Where did the fun go?

TIP: “Find ways to combine a student’s other activities with flying opportunities. When an instrument student of mine had to go to Prince Edward Island, Canada, on business, we made a cross-country out of it, complete with clearing customs.” —Dan Namowitz, AOPA associate editorI am a sophomore at a college with a large professional aviation program, but, being a physics student, I sadly get little stick time when I’m at school. Waiting outside a classroom, I heard someone exclaim, “Ugh, I have to go fly today.” I was baffled. How could someone be upset at the prospect of spending time in the wild blue? I realized that in the push to get pilots through their checkrides as quickly as possible, many pilots lose sight of why we started flying in the first place. Inflexible training requirements leave little time for fun.

    TIP: “Invite a significant other or friend along for a flight and go have lunch somewhere. I know somebody who one time used a training trip to go pick up a puppy they had purchased.” —Sarah Staudt, AOPA chief flight instructorThe freedom of flight in the United States is something we often take for granted. If I wanted to, I could walk into my flying club, grab the first airplane on the ramp, fire it up, and fly to wherever I please. For most destinations, I wouldn’t have to file any paperwork or ask anyone’s permission. There are no checkpoints, no tolls, and no speed traps. Once aloft I am in control of my destiny—to borrow from the poet William Ernest Henley, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

TIP: “I tend to cover instruments—a lot, even for landings. Helps to build confidence. I do spot-landing ‘contests’ later in training.”  —Ian J. Twombly, AOPA senior content producerBut the magic of flight has been worked out of the modern flight training syllabus. We wonder why so many primary students don’t finish their training. I believe it is because flight instruction is too focused on objective measurements and government-guided performance milestones. Students who accept this kind of training may prepare for an easy transition to the airlines, but they miss so much that general aviation can give them.

TIP: “Visit every airport in your area during training. Use short fields for short-field practice, soft fields for soft-field practice. Visit airports with special features—for example, high terrain that creates shifting winds or turbulence, or coastal airports where weather changes quickly, or the really busy tower airport they hope to fly to someday—for real-world experience.” —Dan NamowitzMy own flight training was focused on the standards for the checkride. Hours of bouncing around the pattern at my home field didn’t prepare me for the type of flying I really wanted. But after a summer of rubbing shoulders in a Cessna 152, I still remembered why I learned to fly. I would read articles and watch YouTube videos about flying adventures and imagine my own flights that would make Ernest Gann (author of my favorite aviation book, Fate is the Hunter) proud. So, after I shook the examiner’s hand, I picked out a grass airstrip an hour away from my home field, booked the airplane, and packed too much camping gear. With a long cross-country and my first actual grass landing (see “Sod Season,” p. 34), I was nervous. But that flight was revolutionary for me. It was the perfect use of an airplane. It was exactly the kind of flight I had dreamed about for years. And it is exactly the kind of flight that must be included in training.

TIP: “Toilet paper slicing: Drop it from an airplane, let it unfurl, encourage your student to slice it with the wing, and watch all his or her timidity disappear.” —Dave Hirschman, AOPA editor at largeWe need a revolution in flight training: a change to focus on the reasons that prompted us to call the flight school. Instructors, I challenge you to find ways to make a student’s private pilot flight training interesting and exciting. Practice touch and goes at a different airport every time. It will not only break the routine but prepare students for flying into unfamiliar airports. Change up your student’s cross-country plan and have her divert to a grass strip. It will give her experience in changing plans and soft-field operations. Introducing fun scenarios into training will fill students with excitement, remind them why they started flying, and enhance learning.

TIP: “I’ve also had students sit in more advanced aircraft. It’s a great tool to show them where they can go with their training—and a great learning tool for them to identify instrumentation and equipment they already know. It can be a wonderful way for them to realize how much they already know when they start to identify and understand things in larger aircraft instead of feeling stuck in trainers all the time.” —Sarah StaudtFor students, you should always remind yourself of the fun. It’s easy to get lost in the training regime and blindly follow your instructor’s lead. You are the one paying the money: Demand your instructor pass on as much information to you as possible through exciting training flights. Pick somewhere cool for your cross-country. The minimum of 150 nautical miles doesn’t mean you’re limited to that distance. There are countless opportunities for adventure within a 250-mile radius from every airport—why not start exploring them now? Begin to unlock the excitement of flight for yourself from the first lesson.

TIP: “Grass-field takeoffs and landings. Tailwheel introduction. Aerobatic introduction. Take them on a flight in actual IMC. Bring one of their friends or a spouse on a training flight.” —Dave Hirschman

Training this way benefits both the instructor and the student. By training in different environments and having a wide variety of experiences, safety is enhanced. It is common knowledge that complacency kills. Why not nip complacency in the bud during training?

Those who accept status-quo training are doing themselves a disservice. No two flights are the same and flexibility is important. If you are only familiar with flying a certain way, you may be unable to adapt when the unexpected happens. Furthermore, without ever experiencing the freedom of flight, your love of the sky may fade. You could end up being a pilot who is just going through the motions, putting your safety at risk.

Employers want to see a variety of experience. Don’t let yourself be just another 1,500-hour CFI. Be the 1,500-hour CFI who visited every airport in the state or the aviator who flies out of grass airstrips more frequently than off pavement.

As I sit in another physics class on a sunny day, I can’t help but let my thoughts take flight. The theory of relativity, I suppose, applies to airplanes as well. We all fly but we each experience it from different frames of reference. Some pilots see the airplane as a way to get from point A to point B. Many see general aviation as the path to the airlines. But others are here for the journey. We don’t mind flying slowly because it means more time in the air. We don’t mind the lack of fancy glass avionics because nothing beats the view from above. We realize true freedom can only come from wind beneath your wings.

Garrett DeMeyer is a private pilot and college student who lives in Ohio.