I just finished Dave Hirschman’s column and while I understand the gist of it was more from the “responsibility” side of things (both legal and emotional), I hope he won’t stop keeping track of former students (I suspect he won’t).
Without fail, whenever I handle a tricky crosswind landing, I go into the terminal and email my primary instructor and thank him. He’s always terribly embarrassed but that’s the price of being a CFI, in my opinion. Just yesterday I reached out to my CFII about a potential icing decision I was wrestling with and he mentioned he had heard me departing our airport and that I sounded “polished.” I beamed for hours afterward and holy moly, I’m 59!
Maybe I’m just lucky to have had only a couple of instructors for private and instrument training but that time spent shoulder to shoulder discovering the mysteries (and responsibilities, hopefully) of aviation is magical and lifelong.
But an instructor is indeed only an “instructor.” They can teach it to you but they can’t learn it for you.
Eric O. Jakimier
Dallas, Texas
A graphic in “Special Treatment” in the October 2018 issue of Flight Training incorrectly identified the South Sector radio frequency as 128.125 MHz. The correct frequency is 125.125.
“Five Questions: Jaime Gialloreto” (February 2019 Flight Training) omitted the photo credit of Miss New Jersey 2018. The photograph was taken by Steven Holzinger.
The author of The February Flight Lesson “Of All the Emergencies” was misidentified. It was written by Karen Atkins.
Flight Training regrets the errors.
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