A Higher Standard for Flight Instruction

I recently read an article about the issues with students dropping out of flight training. The article points to a recent survey stating that a large percentage of students find that the biggest issue is that the level of education offered as well as a lack of “community” spirit at the airport. You can read the article here. This is the comment that I posted there:

It would be nice to see instructors who do it because they love teaching. Teachers in schools are there because they have had the desire to teach for many years, it is their passion. I’ve seen many pilots move up through CFI just so that they can build time and move on. Teaching is not something that everyone is good at and those that aren’t good at it shouldnt be forced into it because it is the only way to go. This will only perpetuate the problems that students are facing. I have never known a pilot who’s has set the goal of being a CFI as a long-term career. I feel that the problem with this is rooted in how the job has been perceived for so long. We’ve made it into a stepping stone so it has become one.

Two solutions come to mind: 1. Find a new way for low time pilots to gain experience. This means more information on the types of jobs that a low time pilot can hold. 2. Give better incentives for pilots to be a CFI and stay a CFI. This could be increased benefits after a certain number of years or based on the students being produced. Better pay would also be an incentive. I’ve always found it insane that pilots are trained by peers with relatively little more experience than the student.

The career path to being a professional pilot is difficult and the economy has not helped. I just hope that some good alternatives come along that will produce better pilots and hold instructors to a higher level of service to the students.

From 141 to 61

The road to becoming a professional pilot requires quite a bit of time and effort. Any procrastination or lack of motivation can result in months of extra time as well as additional expense. One major thing that I’ve recently realized is that there are many ways a pilot can navigate through the maze of licenses, certificates, and ratings. While one route may be better for one person, that doesn’t mean it will work well for another.

The program which has been put in place by the two-year school I have been attending is great if you are going for a two-year degree, which I’m not. I’ve known that a bachelor’s degree really is what I’m going to need to get the jobs I want. I had been in communication with the four-year school for a while and had a good idea of what classes I needed to take but it wasn’t until I applied for admission did they fully evaluate my previous schooling and tell me I didn’t need certain classes. While community college has helped me cover classes that are needed for my bachelors degree, they also have requirements for courses that just waist my time and money. Unfortunately this revelation came at a time after I’ve already completed courses I didn’t need. The good news is that the courses themselves did give me good information so its not really a loss.

Another aspect to this is the fact that my flight training up to this point has been conducted under “Part 141″. Part 141 in the Federal Aviation Regulations specifies very specific requirements and step by step lessons that need to be completed in order, that trainees must complete to graduate. There is another section of the FAR’s, “Part 61″ which also gives specific requirements but that allow the student and instructor more freedom as to which order the training is conducted. Due to the fact that I no longer need to do my training under the community college’s “141″program, I can now plan out a better course of flights under part “61″ which will maximize my training to get more accomplished in less time.

Keep on Keeping on

What a year its been. I can’t believe it has been so long since I last posted! It’s definately not due to a lack of activity. Quite the opposite actually, it feels like I’ve been moving faster and faster! I wrapped up my instrument training back in the springtime and have been focusing on my commercial training over the summer and into the fall. In the past year I’ve added 81 hours to my logbook for a total of 190 hours.

School courses have been progressing as well. Each term I’m taking a full load of classes which further fills my time. I’ve moved from my two-year school to a four-year school just this past term. That has been exciting as it had been a milestone in my mind ever since I started down this road. It feels good to see some progress. The plan is to have the degree completed in March of 2012.

That is a quick update of where I’m at and I plan on getting updates out a bit more regularly now. At this point there seem to be more and more topics that I want to write about and pass along to you all. It helps me by getting my thoughts together and getting views and opinions from my readers. I hope you find it beneficial as well if you are moving through training yourself.

Aircraft maintenance blues

As of today, it has been a week since the last time I flew. Of course I didn’t know it at the time but just after the flight to CVO, a warning horn in the cockpit of the RG would stop working. Unfortunately this meant that the plane was grounded as this device is required for the aircraft to fly. The training that I’m enrolled in this term only has me needing one more flight in the RG and with two weeks to go I’m not worried about getting it finished up. This issue is to be expected from time to time as a pilot progresses through training. Hopefully there is a different plane available which can be flown. Unfortunately for me in this case, the only other RG at the school is down for maintenance as well.

Luckily for me, as of now the plane is back up and ready to fly. I’m on the schedule to get in the air tomorrow morning and I’m really looking forward to it!

A few questions for you..

So now that I’ve been posting for a few weeks I’d like to ask you, my readers, what you’d like to see more of! Are there any questions that you would like to have answered? Do you have any suggestions on how I could keep things fun and engaging?

I created this blog as a place where I could put down my thoughts as I progress through my flight training but I really want it to be something that everyone will want to check out and keep track of.

Thanks for reading!

Night flight to Corvallis!

Thoughts: Tonight was a beautiful night to fly! My instructor and I hopped into the RG and headed south down the valley. After the success of our Saturday XC flight, we decided to head to Corvallis, OR. We worked on flows and proceedures as well as emergency proceedures en-route down, as well as slow flight and stalls while on the
way back. Once again the RG performed very well and I feel like I am getting much more acustomed to the controls and feel of the airplane.

Date: 02/22/2010
Time: 18:15
Point of Origin: Hillsboro, OR (HIO)
Midpoint: Corvallis, OR (CVO)
Destination: Hillsboro, OR (HIO)
Flight Hours: 1.6
Flight Info: Jeppesen Commercial Pilot Syllabus Flight #49. Local Dual flight in the 172RG. Slow flight, short and soft takeoffs and landings, stalls.

Sunny weekend flight to the coast!

Thoughts: To change things up a bit, and because the weather was beautiful, my instructor and I headed out to Tillamook to add some cross-country time. To be logged as cross-country (XC), a flight must be to an airport at least 50 Nautical Miles away with a landing made there. When it comes to obtaining licenses, I will need 1500 total hours of flight time with at least 500 hours worth of XC time. When I’m in a plane as fast as the RG, it makes it simpler to fly out and back within the time block. This gives me some extra experience in the “en route” phase of flight and dealing with Air Traffic Control. My next flight is scheduled for Monday evening. More night flying in the RG. Really looking forward to it!

Date: 02/20/2010
Time: 11:00
Point of Origin: Troutdale, OR (TTD)
Midpoint: Tillamook, OR (TMK)
Destination: Troutdale, OR (TTD)
Flight Hours: 1.6
Flight Info: Jeppesen Commercial Pilot Syllabus Flight #48. Local Dual flight in the 172RG. This flight was scheduled to be local to continue working on the basic flight maneuvers. Flew to Tillamook (TMK) and back, performing slow flight and stalls on the way back to TTD.

Why I fly

I usually have a flight scheduled for Saturdays but this weekend I have canceled my flight as the RG is not available. There are only five more lessons that I need to complete this term and all of them require a complex aircraft. This was part of my plan as I knew that Winter Term would have less than perfect weather and so that I could get this flying done before going back and brushing up for my instrument checkride. It looks like my plan will pay off as I should be able to complete my complex lessons in the next couple of weeks and then have a couple of weeks to get my checkride done.

I am really looking forward to finishing my instrument rating. It has been a few years since I’ve gone up with an examiner and I know that I am ready. Learning to fly up-into, over, and back down-through the clouds has been challenging but very rewarding at the same time. One morning back in late summer my instructor and I took off out of Troutdale with a low layer of clouds over the airport. The layer was just high enough to meet our minimum requirements to be able to get back in. As we climbed up into the clouds I went through the various maneuvers as assigned and eventually was cleared to climb up to 4,000 feet. Right around 3,800 we came through the tops of the cloud layer and could see the beautiful blue sky above us and all the mountains in the distance. It was a stunning view and one that I had looked forward to seeing ever since I had taken my first lesson. To be able to takeoff on a cloudy day and get up to where the sky is blue while everyone else is still down below living through a gray and dreary day, makes me feel a sense of pride in all I have accomplished. The things I have worked so hard to achieve are in my hands and all I have to do is grab ahold!

First Flight in the RG!

Date: 02/08/2010
Time: 18:30
Point of Origin: Hillsboro, OR (HIO)
Destination: Hillsboro, OR (HIO)
Flight Hours: 1.2
Flight Info: Jeppesen Commercial Pilot Syllabus Flight #46. Local Dual flight in the 172RG. First “Complex Aircraft” flight. Took off from HIO and headed south to McMinnville. Enroute I worked on going from cruise to slow flight and then back to cruise. After that it was a few stalls, both power on and power off. Over MMV we did some steep turns. We flew back into the pattern at HIO and performed 1 touch-and-go and 1 full stop landing.
Thoughts: The RG is a ton of fun to fly! We got up to 145 knots while cruising down to MMV which is the fastest I’ve been in an aircraft I’m flying. It is amazing how much of a difference there is in performance when the wheels go down (wheels down = more drag = we slow down pretty quick) to when the wheels are up (wheels up = less drag = takes much longer to get it slowed down). Just by adding the extra controls for landing gear, adjustable propeller, and cowl flaps there is a large increase in things to do in the cockpit at all times. I think that what I enjoy the most is having something new to work with. As usual I had a ton of fun and loved this flight!

Back to basics

Date: 02/06/2010
Time: 11:20
Point of Origin: Troutdale, OR (TTD)
Destination: Troutdale, OR (TTD)
Flight Hours: 1.2
Flight Info: Jeppesen Commercial Pilot Syllabus Flight #36. Local Solo flight working on flight maneuvers. Flew to Scappoose and did a touch and go before heading to Battle Ground to do Slow Flight, Stalls (power on and power off), Steep turns, and S-Turns around a road. Finally I headed back to TTD to practice Short Field and Soft Field landings and takeoffs.
Thoughts: This was a good flight. It had been a while since I had flown solo so I enjoyed the opportunity to make the decisions about where to go and which maneuver to perform next. Flying around with 12,000 foot ceilings and smooth air on a Saturday morning is great! There were quite a few other GA aircraft at the outlier airports though so it was a good day for CTAF practice. Looking forward to RG training next week. It looks like our (HAI TTD) RG is down for maintenance so I will be flying out of Hillsboro airport for a while. The new environment will be fun to learn.