Sorry to whine but I'm getting burnt out instructing.

Dislikes:
People not showing up when you let them know you're out.
People crashing their plane because they wouldn't wait for training.
People never sticking with it.
People just trying to fly for something new or different without really caring about it.
Kids learning, but not able to get to the field.
I guess this one is kind of selfish - not getting flying time for myself because I spent all afternoon training kids that are going to go home and play video games and not even care about the flying.
People saying, "Why don't you ever take me flying" when they are the reason for the first dislike.
People getting cheap junk equipment when they were advised against it.

Sorry for the rant.

Jeff A

Ah, instructor burnout.

Take a break for a bit, and see if you feel better about it next flying season. Sometimes a bit away from this kind of thing is necessary. And recovering from burnout takes real time, not just a weekend or two.

If there are two local clubs near you, be an instructor at one, but just a regular joe pilot at the other.

I (almost) always bring one of my own planes to the field on beginners night, just in case no one shows up, then the evening isn't a waste, I get to fly!

Sometimes saying "no", or at least making a point that on random nights that aren't "beginners time" that you want some time to fly your own planes in between taking up students might help.

Personally, if someone does something stupid on their own and breaks their gear, I don't let it bother me. I figure they just had a learning experience. If they don't show up, it's their loss of stick time. Not sticking with it is natures way of saying that some folks just don't love aircraft the way many of us do. And that's ok. I'm not "super instrutor", I'm not responsible for guys staying with the hobby or breaking stuff when I'm not around, and I can't afford to loose sleep over stuff I can't control. Would I like to "make it better"? Yep, I would. But I can't worry about it.

Kids are kids, some will stick with it, most wont. I'm beginning to think a large number will drop it, but come back to the hobby later in life, like 20+years later. So plant the seeds now, and don't worry if it takes many seasons for the crop to show up.

Venting is good, and I hope you feel better

I feel better. I especially like your comment about being a "Joe Flyer" at another club. I am doing that tonight. Going to meet at a friends club 45 minutes away and fly some coroplast. Can't wait. Thanks for the comments.

Jeff A

One thing that I do is I do not take on any students after July 4. That way there is flying season left for me after the students finish up.

Yes, I get frustrated here . My gripe list:
[gripe mode on]
Students just want to do loops and rolls. Never practice turns and approaches. Yes "flying in the pattern" is boring, but you need to get smooth with the controls.

Those stupid trainer buttons, My thumb falls asleep. A switch is better even as you can keep your thumbs on the sticks. Real annoying when student takes off toward the pits and you have to find the left stick.

Test flying. I have crashed too many planes. These guys slap something together. Ignore my doubts and still expect me to fly it.
[gripe mode off]
Last weekend I had a student that needed verly little input. He has spent MUCH time on a simulator. His second flight he landed.

If I get a decent laptop, I'll set up a simulator and bring it to the field.

Our club has 3 instructors. Some others will help. If one wants to fly, another will help a student. Maybe you need to get more pilots to volunteer. We can "offload" students to 5 different instructors as needed.

It takes training to be a good instructor. A buddy an I worked out what was "good practice" and a general lesson plan. But once a student learns the basics and just needs someone to "backup." Most decent pilots could do.

Then again there are a few that I would NOT want for them to help.

Burnout is a problem. There is a new club in Stone Mountain. I'm one of the few that will work as an instructor. Whenever I show up I can guarantee someone will want help.

Yes, do just say no. In our club instruction is "as available" unless you reserve a specifc time.

Maybe you should try to get more instructors. Bring it up at the next meeting.

I'm considering and "Instructor training" program to get "2nd-level" instructors that can help if we are busy or out of town.

I know the frustration. A student called me and said they wanted help. I said I would be out of town this weekend. They showed up at the field and some "unknown" instructor crashed his plane. I asked all the instructors and noone knew what happened. They were there, but apparently they left before the student arrived.

Hear is a good one ! why learn to fly straight down the middle of the run way so many times? I can loop ! OOPs, well I would rather do this or that, hell I can fly when do I SOLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since I am still a pilot in training I'd like to give some input here. I think that most students believe the world rotates around them. They don't seem to realize that they are not paying the instructor for lessons to learn to fly. Most instructors do it on a volunteer basis. Students must be humble and have respect for their teachers time. When I go to the field I usually telephone my instructor a few days before and ask if he will be available. If he says yes I show up at the agreed upon time. Usually what happens is he has lots of other people who have questions. So I usually get my equipment set up and ready to go. Then he will stand beside me while I am flying or hovering. I usually try to get in 3 flights for the session. After I am done flying I usually prod him to go fly one of his heli's. I fly with a very helpful group of guys who are more than willing to stand beside you or get on a buddy box for a flight. This way there are many people available to help you. When done I usually thank him profusely for helping me. Unfortunately my family and work schedule doesn't allow me to get to the field as much as I would like. Sometimes weeks pass before I can get to the field. My instructor understands this. I told him when we started that I was committed to learning to fly no matter how long it took. My flying skills are improving as I go along.
Jeff it just sounds to me like you are burned out and need to take a break. If your students don't tell you I will tell you that I am greatful that there are people like you in the hobby so that others can learn to enjoy this wonderful hobby.

I am an instructor and a student. I have been teaching all the local guys to fly RC Helicopters. I have been flying those for 3 years and that's all I have ever flown.

On the other hand I have never flown planes and just got done building my Sig LT 40. I am remembering how exciting it can be to have that new toy sitting on the shelf. Now that I have the darn thing built I am waiting for my instructor to return. I have to wait 2 weeks before he can help me with the finishing touches.

The advantage I have is that I taught my instructor to fly Heli's now he is going to teach me planes.

I guess my point is it's a give and take thing. You have to give of yourself in order to recieve the help when you need it.

I feel your burn out frustration as I wasted an entire day waiting on a guy that never showed. Trust me I won't do that again. My suggestion is set rules for your students. If they don't follow the rules drop em to the next guy. Eventually they will get dropped or they will catch on.

Another suggestion is that your club makes a standard set of rules that ALL students MUST follow. This will protect all the instructors in the club and keep all the instructors a little more sain.

Thanks for all the great words guys.

Current plan:

I'm going to continue to instruct at the several camps I do every summer.

For the club, I'm going to cut back a little and set harder ground rules.

Thanks again.

Jeff A

Jeff, Our club has a scheduled training night every Thursday. I only teach on Thursdays. It sounds like you need to practice a polite but FIRM NO.

Crashed too many poorly built airplanes? If you're doing a thorough preflight you can probably pull out an elevator or aileron, oops I'm sorry you didn't get that glued in properly. Take it home and I'll see you next week!
Or I'm sorry I don't do test flights.

On your flying night; Jeff can you give me a hand? Your answer; "No, sorry not tonight, I teach on Xdays, and Xdays only. This is my flying night. When you start teaching you will understand my position." You only have to do it twice, and be consistent, and they stop asking.

HTH
Tom teaching for 6 summers straight now

Our club used to have "instructor night". Two or three instructors would be at the field and help whoever showed up. It was nuts; with, at times, 4 or 5 students standing in line waiting.

Now it's the student's responsibility to contact an instructor (they're given a list of names and numbers), and set up date and time that are good for both. It makes things much easier on the instructor(s). You can take on a new student if you want, or not. You can fly on your own Tuesday, or help a new guy.

Our club's best instructor hasn't even flown for about 4 years now. He would train students, 4 or 5 a night, 3 to 4 days a week, May through October for two or three years. Never said no; if he came to the field and was asked, he'd help.

You want to talk burn out? Don't risk your enjoyment of this!

Just my thoughts.
Dennis-

Our solution is a sign in board. The student prints in his name and the time he arrived. After each flight you put a checkmark behind his name. The next free instructor helps the guy with the least amount of checks.

Gee.... These comments are the same as many CFIs have in the real plane world... the only difference is that you can bill them for no shows.. Some are motivated and others are not.

In over 5,000 hours of instruction given you get the ones that are happy, thank you and move on. The ones that go on to instruments and multi. And then the rare ones that go on to be instructors... just like in RC.

I'v been lucky I have three students that went on to be major Airline Captains and one that was the Chief Flight Instructor at the University of Oklahoma... she had a major confidence problem and used up three instructors before solo at 38 hours.. She was later hired by the FAA.

Hang in there take a break and enjoy our great hobby.. and thanks for your efforts.

Well from a students point of view I wish my club was more organised about it.

First - everyone new has to have a "free checkout" type flight by the head instructor - which sounds like a great idea if you can find him. He only flies on Saturday and he's prone to miss 4 weeks in a row at times.

After that it's a free for all. There's no designated times/days of training and no designated list of instructors. Basically students bring a plane out and hope it's an OK one and try to flag down someone to give them some time on a buddy box. I've seen a few people show up and have someone volunteer to fly them on a buddy box that I just saw fly by themselves and let's say I wouldn't let them fly my plane - IE there's no minimum requirement for them to train someone else.

Luckily I met a guy who can meet me during the week during lull times and less distractions. Hopefully I can stick with him my whole instruction cycle. I don't like the idea of having XX instructor for a few flights and then YY instructor for a few more.

I've brought it up before and I get yelled at here by students and instructors but I wouldn't mind a pay system. Nothing wrong with free instruction and I would want that to be still available. But when I have the time off during the week I wouldn't mind paying for more intensive instruction since I would be eating up an instructors own flying time.

I never bring my plane out on the weekends because "if" I can find an instructor on the weekend as soon as you get in the air 2-3 more people will start hovering over the runway etc.. or doing aerobatic flight on both ends of the pattern and it's very distrcating while trying to just learn to do a figure 8.

Take some time off and fly for yourself. I did that and it helped a ton. I actually have been letting others teach and I fill in. I am taking on a couple new ones for fun, but not going to over load like I did before. I am flying my own planes again and enjoying it.

Been a member of the local club for about 5 months - there every weekend - someday soon I should have a plane to fly. Club is very small with one instructional pilot and no current students. No lines behind the IP - good deal. Only IP available - not so good.
Now I have some things to consider when I have a plane and am ready for some instruction.
Have an idea that may be somewhat scary to some but I think it may be worth considering. You know that relatively new pilot that you consider to be a capable pilot? Use them as supervised instructors. Chances are he is proud of his new skill and would like to show it off a bit (could be scary) as well as share it. This is also good for a supervised instructor because it forces him truly think about what is happening (going to happen) and why, and it reinforces the training he has received. The reason I bring this up is for work I did a fair amount of training and would often send the new guy out with the last trainee. Recieved good reports from both sides - 'he told me a bunch of stuff that no one else had' and 'now I know why you told me this was the best way of ...'
Just an idea anyhow.

Some of the gripes provided were the reason we have discussed starting a paid service for instructing, Have a scheduled free evening during the week but also offer another night for a fee for people that perhaps are taking learning more seriously and want more exclusive instruction, at least for the one night you would have people who were really wanting to learn. Or you could charge a pre class fee , and if they do not show up as scheduled you keep the fee, if they do show up you refund it. With the price of ARFS as low as they are and package deals we will always get the want to do it now people, they see the cool things the planes can do and they want to do it now, not after they have learned to fly straight and level or land. These type will usually not stay in the hobby . I guess we just have to take the good with the bad. Its a good feeling when you do see someone you instructed solo and go on to build (if they haven't) or to more complex models.

i've recently solo'd but heres my advice to you, hope it helps

pick 1-3 students who stand out as people in it for the long run and concentrate most on them. You could use your own trainer to help students, use a powered glider, that way, they can't do loops, rolls ect without snapping the wings (or damaging them in osme way). That way it'll force them to get more precise, i have one of these and i practise loads staying in the circuit ect, i can fly an approach 4 feet from my head now in complete confidence . Before some peeps critisise me though, i do it when no one else is around or away from the pits and other flyers.

Also, take a break from instructing, dont force yourself to do something your not particuarly happy with right now, its YOUR hobby so do what YOU want to do

just my 1.5p

btw, the way I keep from getting instructor burnout is by activly flying competitions. The funny part about this is that at the rate I'm going, at the end of this season I'll have lots of hours in competitions, and lots more doing instruction, but not much of anything else. Still, I find both fun, so it works for me :-). And they are both really different.

More to the point, when I talk to new students, I am always clear that I personally won't always be around if there is a contest that is conflicting. We have several other instructors, so it's not a problem there.

On the "system" end of thing, we are pretty loose at my club, at least right now. A little bit ago I got talked in to accepting the "Cheif Flight Instructor" title. The system was working pretty well when I took over, so I haven't felt a need to change anything. (The prior guys did, in fact, get burned out)

But a lot of it working is due to the guys who show up and make it work. It certainly isn't anything I'm doing personally.

There are a couple of guys (and one in particular) who are experieneced pilots who don't like to instruct and won't take the buddy box, but what they do is pre-flight, repair, inspect, trim and tune and all that other ground stuff. It's great having them at the field. I've been able to bring a student back to the pits and just tell the guys there "needs more aileron and less elevator" and know that when this students turn comes around again, he and his plane will be all set to go.

We seem to have a really great bunch of students and instructors right now. Even the guys who might be perannual students are easy going about it, I don't have anyone that is hard to deal with.

On loops and rolls and stuff, I haven't had that problem. I've usually had to convince my students that a loop now and again is OK. But I do use it as a way to really push controlled straight and level flight with controlled turns in between. I won't let them loop until they show me they can get themselves straight and level and hold a constant altitude around the pattern. The biggest thing I push is being smooth on the sticks, espeically with landing approaches.

On test flying, I try to get two sets of eyeballs on the plane before a test flight, mine and one of the guys mentioned above. I haven't lost or seen anyone loose a trainer on the test flight at my field. I have grounded a couple as unsafe though. I have my own beat up trainer at the field that I will frequently use if a students trainer is grounded, just so they don't have to go home disappointed with no stick time.

Same here, but one of the other instructors has students do loops on their first flight and rolls soon after.
I have only lost one trainer, that was due to a radio problem.

What I was griping about was the lazy fliers who refuse to spend any time on the small details and consider duct tape a structural component of their planes. Someone new with a trainer will listen. Others who have been flying for years may not. I could refuse to test fly their planes, but they would just fly anyway. For safety reasons, I'll take the plane up and keep it on the far side of the field. After everyone at the field has pointed out problems with the plane, and they ignore it, having it fall apart in the air while I fly it is no skin off my nose.

On loops and rolls, I do like to get them doing a loop pretty quickly, if they master keeping it straight and level. For most folks, that's not a problem. I figure getting used to looping might help them recover from a mistake.

On test flights, I agree there is a difference between a beginner and someone who is just slapping things together with out paying attention to details.

Duct tape as a structural component huh? I dunno about duct tape, but I do burn though a lot of packing tape . It's amazing what you can get to fly with enough tape and a big enough engine. Ok, I'm kidding around here, but I do know what you are talking about. I have said to someone "gee, if it was my plane, I wouldn't fly it, and here's why, but if you insist, and you recongnize that it might come apart in the air, I'll fly it for you."

If you have the knowledge that the plane is un safe why fly IT!

You have a choice.:

1. Let the idiot who slapped it together fly it over or toward the pits. HE WILL FLY IT REGARDLESS of what you say. But, he does want you to "trim it out".

2. You fly it away from the pit area and prove it is a piece of crap.

The plane is going in the air regardless of what anyone with common sense is saying. Now, who would you want at the sticks?

Boy did you hit that nail on the head ! Some can not be told any thing in this time and age, they know it all . And if you do not believe it ask them!

No one at your field has the authority to ground a plane?