Please help your instructor teach you. I was training a middle aged guy on the buddy cord and was getting very irritated. It seemed that everytime we were going to fly he had to spend hours contacting his friends so they could go with us. By the time he could gather up his group the wind would start blowing and he didn't want to fly because he though it was going to be too much for him. If i had a dime for everytime i heard "why don't you just fly it and show them what it can do" On days when the wind was still dead calm i would hear "i'm nevous there is too many people here". I love teaching people to fly and never try to embarrass the person i am teaching but please don't waste our time. Learn to fly! THEN invite your friends. Get some time under your belt before trying to play the hero and introduce people to your new hobby. Remeber what your intructor is there to do! Help YOU learn to fly. Not put on a demo for your buddies. Don't shoot your self in the foot by inviting people you don't want to see you crash.

Good point RR

You would have loved a couple guys I taught years ago. They crashed their first trainer and the following week came out with their second (built from a kit in one week). On the side of the fuselage they had inscribed "Born to Die".

Thank you minnflyer. Don't get me wrong i'm not trying to discourage the sharing of our great hobby. Anyone who flys should be proud of it. This is just something i needed to put out there without putting the spotlight on any one person.

Born to die LOL that sounds like a good start!

Seems like you were being too nice of a guy . I would just tell him exactly what you wrote here. You're not there to put on a show because that's a waste of everyone's time. Let him know your rules of teaching, if he doesn't agree he can go find another instructor who's willing to put up with it. You have your own things to do I'm sure so don't waste time with such non-sense.

Oh yes we did eventualy solve that problem. On the morning of his first take off i told him that he will have to do everything including a few practice aproaches and if he didn't want to fly today i'm going enjoy the day flying my stuff. He did very well. Starting, takeoff, pattern. From the back i hear his friend yell "do a -" Well, next thing you know his plane is falling from a tree. He looks at me and said "i guess i should have stuck with the plan huh?" . After that we never had another problem.

Ah, yes. I find myself often reminding students (or recently solo'd flyers) to fly the plane, don't pay attention to any demands from the spectator section, fly the plane, don't listen to the kibitzers, fly the plane, listen only to communications from the pilot line.

What's the old saw? Aviate, navigate, communicate, in that order. Communications are with other pilots (or the flight deck boss), not the spectators. (If you hear "Landing!" or "Dead Stick!" or "I AIN'T GOT IT!!!!", you can listen..)

This is a good topic for instructors to review often. And to review with new folks. It's good you brought it up, Rotor.

Dave Olson

I didn't invite ANYONE to watch while I was learning. My messy flying was to much for even ME to watch[:@], let alone a guest audience!!

And even to this day, when I happen to dead-stick, which isn't often, I hear them in the background trying to tell me how to land it.

"HEY GUYS.. I've not crashed one in a dead stick and I ain't gonna start now, so LAY OFF and BACK OFF". is what I hear myself saying.. Jeech.

The audience can be a distraction, that's for sure.

CGr.

Hey CGR are you going to make it to Muncie this year June 13-15th

We've been talking about it. We have several that participate in the Pattern events. I may be able to squeeze that in this year, depending on our work travel schedule.

CGr.

I have advanced to the point that I am being asked by newer members to help them with various things like balancing the plane, checking the plane, setting up the control surfaces, and tuning / troubleshooting engines.
I have known all along that the instructors were treasures, but it wasn't until I was asked to give up my own time to begin helping others that it really hit home on how much time and effort the instructors put forth.
To all of the instructors out there THANK YOU for everything you so graciously do and help with.
it is not unreasonable at all to demand the student to be punctual and to pay attention during the instructional period, that is only common courtesy.

well put...sometimes a student doesn't understand what he's asking

I'm brand new at this, and even I understand that my trainer has planes he wants to fly and stuff he has to do. We are so lucky that people VOLUNTEER to train us; he wouldn't even accept (or at least said he wouldn't) a token 6 pack of appreciation! Definitely don't waste time that's being offered to you out of generosity, I agree.

I didn't post this to make any beginners feel uneasy about asking for help or to be put on the buddy box. Alot of us enjoy teaching so don't be afraid to get help with your new bird. Just remember that your not going to wake up one morning as a 3D master. You have to put in the stick time and you have to give it your full attention.

good lesson to learn!!! this reminds me off the first time I "flew" (I use that term loosely) my T-28. to further elaborate not only would I be maidening a new plane, but this would be the first 4 ch plane I've ever flown. and I'm self taught so I didn't have an instructor to help me out. so anyways... I was taxiing the plane around to get a feel for it on the ground and my Dad starts in with the "are you going to fly it or what?" I wasn't ready yet but instead of taking my time till I was comfortable after the third or fourth "come on already" I gave it full throttle and got way to aggressive with the elevator, pulling the plane vertical. it started to bank a little to the right, and still being in the 3 ch mind set I gave it way to much left aileron semi inverting the plane, right about now was where panic set in and with the lack of experience I had, I did what I'm sure almost any rookie would do... I was thinking "it's going to crash, I better pull up" and I did. you can guess what followed. the damage was a broken motor mount, damaged wing, smashed cowl and the spinner had a nice black mark on it from where it greeted the asphalt.
what did I learn from this??? #1. planes aren't made to bounce off the street inverted
#2. Never listen to anyone who's not more experienced then you, unless there willing to pay for the damages there "advice" causes!!!

I have made that mistake recenlty. I had put together a brand new 90 size heli and had only one hover on it. I wasn't going to bring it to the field because i wanted to check it out a little more before i flew it again. Well my dad drives over to the house and sees that i wasn't going to bring it. After listening to him go on and on about how he wanted to see it fly i went and grabed it. Well at takeoff all was great. I didn't do any 3d with it just slow loops and rolls. Well, guess what ,something had come loose causing one blade to flutter then fold up. Now i have $3000 falling from 100ft. The kit was almost a total loss. You can bet i'll never again go agaist my better judgment again. I've always been that type that will not fly until I and only I am ready. For some reason i just let it go that day.