We have a new prospective member at our club. He has been coming around for about a month or so now. He has a 30 yr old Trainer that he kit-built then never learned to fly. Now he wants to. He has no Instructor really, he just comes out & gets whoever he can to take him up & pass over the radio so that he can fly once it is already in the air. He's asked me to help him in this way a couple of times now. I explained to him that I am NO INSTRUCTOR!!! Lol, but he insists that's ok. If something happens not to worry it is just an old Trainer. So on that basis I have taken him up a couple of times as well as other guys helping him too. He's kind of being taught by committee. So today he shows up again & asks if I will take it up & trim it out for him because he has taken a twist out of the wing & done some work on it. So I did, & I must admit this is the best I've ever felt this old plane fly. The other couple of times I've flown it for him it was pretty bad. Anyway he seems to have it flying much better now & I get it trimmed for hands off pretty quickly & pass it off to him. He's been starting to do well once in the air but no take offs or landings yet. I ask him if anyone has taken the time to start practicing landing approaches with him. He tells me no, still no landings. So I ask him if he wants to try. We get him to do a few practice approaches & then I tell him this next time around if it looks & feels good, we're going to go ahead & set her on the ground. He's pretty nervous but he agrees to try. It wasn't the prettiest landing I've seen but he did get it on the ground in one piece. It only cost him a prop. So I tell him to change out his prop & try it again. So we spend the rest of the morning doing landings. He asks about the upcoming wind but I explain to him that this is the perfect time to learn how to land, in a 15mph wind with a good 45% crosswind & gusting.. I explained that where we fly, if you learn to tackle the wind right off then you won't be one of the ones packing it in everytime the windsock gets a ruffle in it. So he sticks with it. By the time we were done the wind was cutting up pretty good & he was fighting it out with it just as good. I'd say we got at least a dozen solo landings under his belt this morning. He had that stupid looking grin we talk about in here on his face when we left & I must admit that it made me feel pretty good too. So now he can take off & land on his own even in the wind. He was really glad that I talked him into sticking it out in the wind because now he knows he can do it, & isn't so afraid of the wind.

Now I am still on rookie status as far as I am concerned & have no aspirations to be an Instructor but like I said, it does feel good knowing that I got the guy able to take off & land on his own. It was a good time & he is as happy as can be. So that was my good deed for the day.

Sounds like you did a fine job teaching him!! Kudos to you![8D]

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Good job Mark.

Ken

Great work Grump! My wife is starting to show an interest so I think she will be my first student. That way it's my money and assets at risk and not a total stranger's. Now if we could just sincronize our schedules a little better. You know this guy is looking at you like the kid who's Dad just removed his training wheels.

Mr67Stang,
Take it from me, don't try to teach your wife. I've been there, done that. I've also seen other pilots at my field try to teach their wives. Usually doesn't turn out too well. Get another instructor to teach her. You'll be happier with that in the long run. Trust me!!!!

Ken

Many Kudos to you. Great to see people getting excited about the sport

I agree with Ken. While I may be teaching my daughter someday if she ever drags herself out of bed early enough. I will NOT be trying to teach my wife. If she ever decides she would like to fly I will have one of my buddies tackle that job!

Mark,
I say this with the utmost sincerity. Im not sure if I get more pleasure out of flying, or out of seeing someone that I have taught learn to fly. Especially that 1st successful landing. When you take time at that moment to reflect on where the trainee started to where they are at that moment, it can be a very rewarding moment for both of you. Typically inciting a lasting bond of friendship between the two of you. I think the fact that we DONT charge for instructions serves many purposes, one of the greatest being that it does not ever become a job to the instructor but a way of making friends and helping people at the same time![8D]

Complete agreement on this one. When my wife got here she needed to learn to drive (she's from a big city in another country and never needed to drive). I arranged for a pro to teach her and only after he'd given her a few lessons would I let her get behind the wheel. When I would point out an error she'd get huffy. I started making sure I was around when she got back from driving lessons so I could chat with the instructor. Sure enough, he had been trying to correct the same errors!

Mr67Stang : As RCKEN said > find another instructor to teach your wife. Sleeping in the dog house isn't as nice as sleeping next to her ( I think ). Most guys learned a long time ago that you DON'T teach your wife to drive and it works the same with teaching them to fly. ENJOY !!! RED

But I did teach my wife to drive. We were just dating at the time, but when I met her she did not have her licence yet. She was 21 when she did. We have been married for almost 14 years and she is a driving pro. She can drive me crazy in 10 sec flat.

Good Job Grumpy,,, Sounds to me that you are not as much of a rookie as you think.

I soloed my first student this early spring. He's a great 16 year old kid, only problem now is he getting better then I am at flying. Damn kids. Now I'm teaching his dad to fly.