Flight Training - June 2014 - 40

STUFF HAPPENS.Breaks or delays in
flight training aren't uncommon. Weather;
health; work schedule; aircraft maintenance;
personal finances: All are issues that can
affect your progress. A switch-up in instructors has a multi-tiered impact, however. The
familiar presence in the right seat is no longer
there, and now you're with someone whose
teaching style is unfamiliar. You'll have to
log additional time flying with the new CFI
so that he or she can properly evaluate your
skills. Additional hours mean an additional hit
to your wallet. Toss in the prospect of having
to review some tasks to suit your new instructor's standards, and that could mean even
more time and money spent.
For some, there's little impact. "I had this
happen twice," said Timothy Metzinger of
Fairfax, Virginia. "In both cases a nonevent, as the school had processes in place
for handoffs. The new instructor style was
different, but I never felt like I lost time
relearning/re-demonstrating."
For others, the change takes a greater toll.
Karmen Krueger of Owen Sound, Ontario,
Canada, said she enjoyed flying with her
first instructor, who impressed her with his
confidence and safety attitude. When he left
to work for a private jet company, she said,
his replacement was technically proficient,
but had an awkward personality that she
found disagreeable. "It was never the same,
and really I didn't want it as much," she said.
She stopped taking flight lessons.
"I had multiple CFIs move on to other
jobs when I was taking lessons in Hartford,
Connecticut, at the local FBO," said Jamie

THE FAMILIAR PRESENCE
IN THE RIGHT SEAT IS NO
LONGER THERE, AND NOW
YOU'RE WITH SOMEONE
WHOSE TEACHING STYLE IS
UNFAMILIAR.

40 /

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Beckett, an aviation writer in Winter Haven, Florida,
and contributor to Flight Training. "It was annoying,
then frustrating, and ultimately infuriating." The
Part 61 flight school kept no master list of records on
its students, so each time Beckett was handed a new
CFI, "I'd have to go fly with [him] for two or three
hours (at my expense) so he could see where I was in
my progression. Then the cycle would repeat."
Beckett ultimately took his business to a full-time
career-oriented flight school in Florida, where he
completed his private pilot certificate with 103 hours,
"mostly because I'd been the king of stops, starts,
new CFI introductions, repeat."
Beckett's experience at a Part 61 school is not presented here to suggest that all Part 61 schools operate
in the same fashion. They don't. But Part 61's lesser
record-keeping and accountability requirements
should be kept in mind (see "Mom and Pop or Flight
Training Inc.?" page 41).
WORKING FOR YOU.For nearly every sad story
of a flight student left to pick up the pieces, there's
a corollary tale of conscientious professionals who
strive to prevent the disruptions from becoming
permanent.
"When I moved I always [directed] my students
to who I thought were the best instructors at the
school or airport where I was working," said Chris
Batcheller of Wichita.
Similarly, Beckett says that when he became a
flight instructor, he found himself on the other side
of the fence-having to leave a handful of students
behind. He credits the example of a chief flight
instructor named Frank Gallagher. "Under his leadership, we (the CFIs) were encouraged to prepare
our students for our eventual departure by making
sure they knew other instructors on staff," he said.
"We flew with each other's students on stage checks,
which was an important pre-solo, pre-cross-country,
and pre-checkride safety procedure that verified we
hadn't left them with holes in their training in their
understand due to an inadvertent omission of
material during training."
Laying the groundwork in this fashion
meant that any transitions were easy, Beckett said. "I simply met my students and
explained that I was moving on to another
opportunity and that I would like to assign
them to CFI X, who they knew and had
flown with before."
Tim Busch, who is owner and manager of
Iowa Flight Training in Cedar Rapids, said he
employs several strategies to keep students from
experiencing the loss of a flight instructor. "First,

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Flight Training - June 2014

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