Private Pilot Flight Training and Instruction Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM Instructional Frustration I must admit, I am somewhat discourged with primary flight instruction. Students that don't prepare for the lesson, don't do their homework, fail to show up, whine about the cost, fail to take responsibility, etc. There are some who just want you to open their skull and pour in years of knowledge and experience without themselves lifting a finger. It didn't take me long to experience long waits for a scheduled student and then to be stood up. It's one thing at 2:00 pm on a Tuesday, but quite another at 6:00 am on Sunday morning. Some of these problems could be caused by the modern training environment: flight schools which promise that it's easy "just stick the CD-ROM in the computer and "boom" the ground school is over and promises the same that they will be a pilot in 40 hours. When I tell students that they can expect to spend 65-75 hours in the plane and 200 to 300 hundred hours studying - they look at me like I'm from outerspace. Gene's response: I too have experienced all of the frustrations you have mentioned. I have experieced it in thirty years of teaching flying and in another thirty years of teaching public school. I pride myself in successful teaching where others have failed. I was a teacher of retarded children who found that previous instructional damage was the major cause of difficulty. The same has been true of my teaching of flying. The inability to apply themselves to the required study by flying students is a reflection of their previous school experience. As flight instructors we must rebuild attitudes and habits. We must motivate because we have, in flying, one of the greatest achievements of mankind. One of the things we, as instructors, must instill in our students is an acceptance of a life that is filled with delay and frustration. Flying is that way, be it weather, maintenance, scheduling or otherwise. Learning to fly is a maturation of the student to accept that which cannot be changed and to change the changeable. Written by Gene Whitt Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM