Instructors and Students... a question
 

I am lucky enough to have found a club which has instructors available almost every day. BUT..this means that I have no single person that I can call, 'My instructor'. I have two with whom I have spent the most time, and one who has given me the option of calling 12 hrs in advance for a lesson, BUT.............

I have been up with five different instructors. I'm sure they talk, but there is no coordinated discussion of a student's progress, as far as I know.

I have decided not to ask for more help. I appreciate the time they spend with me and I will not ask for more effort from these volunteers. I cannot believe how much they do for we newbies. I figure that I should be responsible for tracking my own progress and informing my instructors during each lesson.

My questions are:

1) Are there any training guides available for new students?

2) How can I track my progress without imposing more upon the people who are nice enough to help me?

3) Should I find one or two instructors with whom I feel comfortable and just fly with them?

I can take off and make my way around, but landing is still just a dream. The simulator is helping with the controls, but I need real feedback, and an empirical measure of my progress.

Thanks!!

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

You should feel comfortable with whomever your instructors are- Don't stay with just one. Move to a few. Learn each instructors ways
of expereince and teaching. A good instructor will not get mad and understand the thinking.

Each flight you should get feed back on your progress of what you did for that flight\lesson and should keep you up todate on whats next and expected of you as a student. ASK Questions, don't be timid

if you have any questions that you need clarification on, ask the instructor or even ask here on line, many here will be more than ready to help, including myself.


Rob

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

I've been an instructor for 5 years and I am the exact opposite. I prefer to have the student for their entire training. I do it this way because I know exactly what the student needs each training session. I make plans for every session before I ever show up at the field, and I keep a written track of what they have accomplished. When the day starts we sit in the bleacher for a few minutes and talk about what happened last session and what we're gonna be doing that day.

The field I fly/instruct at has a small group of flyers and we only have 2 full time instructors (I have one person that will fill in for me if I can't make a training session). The other instructor is the same way as I am, we each have our own habits if teaching and like to keep our students to ourselves. We both use the same checklist to ensure that the student gets the same training.

Now for your case. If you feel more comfortable with one or two instructors I would recommend that you sit down with those instructors and tell them how you feel and you would prefer to have them teach you. Being comfortable with your instructor is a huge help in learning. You will learn faster and have better retention of what you learn if you are comfortable with your instructor. I'm sure the instructors will feel honored. Just be aware that if you want to stay with one or two instructors then you may have to wait for them to be available at the field.

Hope this helps.

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

Would you mind posting your checklist? I haven't been able to find one anywhere. I think it would be a good thing to pass on to students so they know what to expect during instruction.

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

Some comments.

We have a great training guide, I'll get it on our web site and post a link.

As an instructor I encourage students to fly with different instructors. I still learn stuff from the other instructors when we are just sitting around talking and I would hate for a student to miss out on the wealth of experiance at our field. Every modeler has their strong and weak points and I think it best that a student be exposed to each instructors strong points. I can check over a plane but Im not an expert craftsman. But I can setup a helicopter at the field which none of the other instructors can do so I think its best for a student to get a chance to absorb the best of everyone.

Plus it gives me time to get a flight or 2 in on my own planes.

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

cwrr5, As a new flyer learning to fly RC planes, I don't know if there is really any point in trying to reading a checklist to plan ahead. For instance if the next thing on the list is figure 8's but you don't know what that means or how to do them, whats the point?? If landings are next on the list, it might not mean that you will be landing the next day. It may take a few days of doing low and slow approaches. Until you know where to turn to final, and can have the plane coming in lined up perfectly with out criss crossing to stay lined up and at the right speed every time you aren't ready to let it touch down yet! The checklist is more for the instructor to make sure that he has covered everything that you need to know to be competant and confident to fly on your own. [8D]

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

You are stressin too much about nothing. I have been teaching for 25 + years and any instructor worth his salt can fly with a student for a few minutes and figure out what to do with him. Bouncing from one to another is not the preferred way, but it won't add much time and will give you other perspectives. A good instructor will never try to change what another has taught unless the previous was just plain wrong. He will build on what has been taught.

Explain to him what you were working on with the last flights, and what you would like to accomplish with the next few flights. It sounds like you should be working with pattern work and getting ready for landing work from your description. Don't just go up and fly around. Work on specifics on every flight and you will solo very soon.

Don't worry about asking for help. They guys instructing usually enjoy helping, as do I. Its a lot of fun to watch your progress as a new pilot and it is satisfying to help guys learn. I am sure they feel the same way. Learn it well and then you can help others too. Never think you are being a burden even though some instructors don't show the enthusiasm all the time. Everyone gets burn out from time to time.

Keep with the instructors and you will be soloing before you know it.

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

I think you should stick with the smae instructor unless:
A) You can't learn something the way he teaches it
B) You just HAVE to fly and he can't take you up
The reason I say stick with one is, because the other one might do stuff different ways and teaching you different ways. I think you can learn different techniques after solo. That way, you learn the ways you can do it, and then if you can't use the new techniques, then you can stick to the ones you know.
Hope this helps
Chad

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

B) You just HAVE to fly and he can't take you up


[/quote]

This is one of my hard rules I have for people that I teach. If you "HAVE" to go flying, and you go out on your own, whether you crash or not I am through with you. If a student thinks that they know enough to go out on their own before they have soloed, then there is nothing else I can teach them.

I know that this sounds a little harsh, but there is a reason for it. I was teaching a student to fly. He wanted to go out one evening and I couldn't make it because of a conflict with work, but I told him we could go the next evening. Well (you all can probably see what is coming) he went out on his own anyway. And yes, he totaled his plane. But the kicker is that he blamed me for the crash, "Because I couldn't go out when he wanted to go".

It's sad that the actions of one moron student have to affect all of my future students, but that's the way it's going to be. So now I have the rule.

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

When he said "HAVE to go flying" I assumed that to mean with another instructor.

Newb. There's different ways to teach a landing but only one way to do it. Variety is good, try a filet of fish next time instead of a burger, you'll see what I mean.

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

barracudahockey,
it's amazing how somebody else can point something out and then you see another way of reading it. Now that you say that I see what you mean too.

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

Ya, I just thought he meant that if he goes out and his regular instructor wasn't available but there were others available at the time. [8D]

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

Just some basic information to read, and become familiar with. You can probably ink from these a useable set of "training goals" to gage your progress with and make notes for yourself what you need to work on.

http://www.ultimatecharger.com/instruct.html

http://webpages.charter.net/rcfu/BegInfo/TeachRC.html

There is a lot of reading here, also.

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

barracuda, Yes, you are correct i did mean another instructor. I don't reccomend going without your instructor till after solo. But in your case with multiple instructors it would be different

RE: Instructors and Students... a question
 

I had at least 4 instructors that took me up on a regular basis. Another 4-5 that I flew with on some occasion. So yes, I did fly with 8 or 9 different instructors. I learned something from each one of them. One instructor I flew with only once show me the best way to make my landing approach from the west side of the field. I still use that same technique everytime my approach is in from the west.

RCKen, that is a good philosophy. I agree. I never attempted to fly on my own before I soloed. I used to go to the field with no one else around and practice my taxing, but I never tried to get airborne.

A student is always responsible for knowing their own progress. I used the belief that if I felt pretty comfortable in performing a particular area of RC flight then I would tell my instructor I believed I was ready for my next step. If I was not ready then I would tell my instructor what I wanted to practice on. Weather it be take-offs, landing approaches, touch-and-gos, rolls, loops, low speed passes, power off stalls, landing, deadstick.