I remain thankful for your involvement in growing this online community. I appreciate you becoming a part of what we are trying to do.
Let me take a moment to tell you a story.
I started flight instructing when I was 21 years old. I was hired on as an intern at GAVTC (Georgia Aviation Technical College) and was given 3 pre-private pilot students. 2 of these guys had never been in an airplane before, and 2 of them were several years older than me. I lucked up and got some of the best students. Our little airport in Eastman, Ga sat next to a pond and, during the summer, the fog would roll in right around 7:30am, right as most students were showing up for their classes. My guys would gladly show up at 5:00am to get that first flight of the day in. It wasn’t uncommon for us to be landing right as the soup was rolling in. The majority of the training being conducted required VFR conditions so no one would fly until around 10:00am after the fog cleared back up. Because of the quality of students I had, I had already logged the day’s first flight.
As a new instructor, I really appreciated my students and their drive. That commitment made them stand out, and I noticed that the type of drive they had was contagious.
As a student in the program, it took me a little bit of time to develop the type of drive my first students had, and I can honestly say that I didn’t have it in the early stages of my flight training. It took me a little longer to get it. At some point, however, I did develop that commitment and drive and, in the process, I began to notice something else: The people with that kind of dedication and drive seek each other out. Students who were driven would seek out the instructors who were driven.
It wasn’t a coincidence that the most driven instructors produced many of the top performing students.
I probably developed that type of mentality and approach to what I was doing somewhere in the middle of my instrument training. For me, however, it didn’t happen all at once but rather seemed to build as I progressed. I performed better working on my commercial rating than I did working on my instrument rating. By the time I got to the Commercial Multi-engine rating and then onto the CFI (Certified Flight Instructor), it was on! They say the CFI is the hardest checkride you will ever take. I went in nervous until the DE (designated examiner) asked the first question. At that point, I knew where in the PTS (pratical test standards) book he was reading from. I smiled and easily answered the question. I was solid and confident because I knew the information. There was probably a slim chance that he could ask me anything in that book that I wasn’t prepared to tackle.
As a new instructor, I wanted to put my students in that position as quickly as possible.
I wanted them to feel like I did when I took my CFI ride when they were taking their Private ride. Yes, we covered the lesson plans. Yes, we logged the time and practiced the maneuvers. We did all that was required, but, because my guys had heart, we did so much more. I became close friends with my students and still keep in touch with several of them to this day. We would go out together and discuss flying. We took extra time to discuss scenarios, career planning, accident data, wake turbulence, and what to expect on the stage check evaluation and, eventually, the checkride.
I won’t forget those first 3 students and the days of their checkrides. 2 of them went the same day, and, much to my surprise, the examiner invited me to ride in the back and observe. My student was OK with me riding along, and I got to observe what happened first-hand.
What happened? They killed it!
They had the confidence they needed because I had drilled them hard, and they knew that they could handle everything that was coming their way because they OWNED the information. They knew it and were prepared. All 3 passed on the 1st attempt. This was a big deal to me because they were my first 3 sign offs. I was still a new instructor and was observing a FAA DE filling out the paperwork to certify that my students were now new private pilots!
I wanted to share that story with you today to let you know something about the core values you will find at the AvigationPro website.
Even though that was over 10 years ago, I still have that drive, and I believe that if people have the data, if they know what they are getting into, and if they know the variables, then they will be successful if what they choose to do.
An owner or operator will make a winning decision if they have a comprehensive understanding of the situation. A pilot in training can position themselves for success with the right drive and the right information.
AvigationPro exists to make that valuable information available to you.
