RVator

My Feedback: (1)

There is guy that lives in my area that wants to learn how to fly. His wife asked me at Christmas what kind of plane to get him. She ordered a Hobbico 60 RTF and we helped him break in the engine New Years Day. He has since gotten a flight sim and has been flying that. We have had more wind this spring than ever but we met this morning and had a good day to fly. I let him fly my son's LT-40 with a Saito 56 first on the buddy box then I put the maiden flight on his Hobbico trainer. Next flight using my 9C as the buddy box Suitcase trimmed it out for him and let him fly his airplane. He did very well and I can see the sim helped him with his right and left and not overcontrolling the airplane. This guy is in his late 50's and is ready to learn something new. Suitcase and I plan to help him through the summer and cut the buddy cord when he is ready. I have let many people fly my trainers on the buddy box but Earl is the first student to take up the hobby.
The 60 size Hobbico came with a 65 OS LA and a 6 Channel Futaba comp radio. For the money it a great deal and the bigger plane really shows up good and flys straight even with the wind gusting today.
Suitcase also put a maiden flight on his World Models Ultimate 40. He used a 46 OS FX on it. It really flew nice, not the stalling,snapping killer that some people think it is. He had one deadstick and made a very good landing with it.

alfredbmor

Looks like you are a good instructor. There are three instructors in my local field and they are very different in the way they instruct their students. I personally think that the best instructor is not that one that knows everything and fly better than anyone, the best instructor is that one that creates confidence in their students and make grow up the group.

Nathan King

Amen. There's so much more to a truly good instructor than a proficient pilot.

Bretd123

i would love to be an instructor, i don't know why but I love to teach people how to do stuff. I guess it makes me feel "good"

Bretd123

i would love to be an instructor, i don't know why but I love to teach people how to do stuff. I guess it makes me feel "good"

sorry, an accident[:-]

hogflyer

I love it when a student makes his first solo knowing I was the one who helped him gain those skills and competency's, and then see him move on to more advanced aircraft. But to me one of the best rewards of being an instructor is when one of your students becomes an instructor himself and solos his first student.

Hogflyer

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

This seems to be the topic dejur so I will chime in a bit here.

The instructor should be a person with the correct temperment to teach another person without making them feel slighted. He also should be able to recognize what is happening during the flying session and be able to make corrections while teaching the finer points of that correction without making the student feel as though they just made a mistake that could ruin their whole RC flying career.

Most good instructors know enough to do that, as well as know enough about the finer points of the hobby to make sure other issues are covered, such as pre-flight, and post flight. A bit about batteries, charging, engine starting, tuning... not an absolute expert, but one that knows enough to make sure you do not make a major mistake and destroy your plane or hurt someone in the process.

As has been pointed out, I have seen and heard so many so called experts that I just would not like to fly with, let alone have instruct me. The one that instills confidence, teaches the correct way to fly, and allows a person to learn and grow is an important point and one well taken.

CGr

RVator

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks everyone for the kind words. My main instructor was AMA Hall of Fame Member the late Dave Robelen. He taught Suitcase and I not just how to fly but many things about model aviation. He was known for small indoor electrics but was equally at home flying gliders,pattern,sport,and gaint scale IMAC planes. If I can pass on just a small part of what I learned from him it will help the next guy.

Now I ned to get through the next week of our annual outage at work and finish my son's Dixie youth baseball season of Sat and Sun games. Then the rest of the summer will be free for flying.

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

In general, a good instructor is not afraid to say "I don't know," and can ask someone else a question.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

FatOrangeKat,
This really isn't true. The instructor needs to know his material before he starts to teach it. If he doesn't know how to answer the questions that a beginner is going to ask then he probably shouldn't be teaching. If for nothing else it should be for a confidence factor. The student wants to know that the instructor is going to be able to successfully teach them to fly, and more importantly be able to save their airplane, and it hurts that confidence when the instructor can't answer the basic questions being asked by the student. If an instructor isn't qualified to answer these basic questions then they are doing a disservice to that student and the hobby in general.

Ken

red head

You know KEN in a perfect world you might be right, but we ALL know that at MOST fields if you can find someone to help you you are probably lucky. If you find someone that has a few good answers your really lucky and if you find someone that has ALL the answers you are probably DREAMING.

I know a lot of guys that sit on the side lines and have all the answers, but don't expect them to get off their duff and try to help someone. When I first started all I wanted was someone to think about helping me, now i just think about helping others the best I can.
ENJOY !!! RED

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Redhead,
I never said that an instructor needs to know everything. Goodness knows that I don't know everything about this hobby, and I don't claim to know it all. But when it comes to teaching the BASICS of flying I do know how to answer the questions that a beginner is going to ask. And that is what I am trying to point out here. If an instructor doesn't know how to answer these questions maybe he shouldn't be instructing. Am I dreaming for a perfect world?? Probably, because I do know that there are a lot of instructors out there that don't know their stuff and are probably the only ones to step up to help. But that doesn't mean that we should "settle" for this situation. Situations like this are why we see newly soloed pilots who don't know how to use the rudder for anything more than taxing. Why we see them not knowing how to handle a deadstick landing. I point this out in my post above because we should be trying to set an example to newer pilots as to what an instructor should know to teach. If a question is asked like it was above, and I don't say what I did, then the guy walks away from here thinking that it's ok to instruct without knowing what's needed to properly teach this to others.

Yes, I may be in a dream world. But I am simply trying to raise the bar for the level of instruction being given in someplaces so that students learn better than some are being taught right now.

Ken

red head

KEN:

I do agree with you even if it didn't sound like it. I tried for years to raise the bar but it seemed like the harder I tried the more excuses people came up with to just let the new guy take off and land and he was good to go. Another thing that gets in the way is that now days people don't want to take the time to really learn they just want to DO IT !!! If people won't go all the way with me I won't put my name on a certificate, but I will still help if I can. I think we are probably on the same track!!
ENJOY !!! RED


WHEELS DOWN, I'M LANDING !!!