Part 1 - Know What You Want

Should be an easy question shouldn't it. You want to be a pilot, you want to free your feet, surf the sky, hang with the angels. Or is there more behind your decision to become a private pilot? Are you doing it to get a job, to take your family on vacations, business, or some other reason?

Let's take a look at some of the reasons people become pilots.

Are you getting your license for the pure joy of flying? Awesome! More power to you! This is a great reason to begin flying, maybe it's something you've always wanted to do. From your first flight you will have an overwhelming sense of excitement. Be careful though, you are still susceptible to the pitfalls of training.

Maybe your getting your license for business. Again another great reason to get your license. You will quickly realize the benefits of flying to expand your business or meet customers face to face instead of through the phone or emails. You will also realize that it is another expense for your business and you better be ready to make a commitment to your companies "aviation department".

Maybe you just like to travel and want to experience places that are just a little to far to drive too. If you've done any searching about aviation then you obviously know about the $100 hamburger. You know, when you jump in a plane, fly somewhere new, grab lunch and fly home. This could be great way to take the wife(or significant other) and kids new places for the weekend!

Maybe you've accomplished a lot in your life and are looking for the next step. Maybe you want to be recognized as a pilot! That's awesome! People look up to pilots, those who can jump in a small aircraft and take control of their lives and others. BE CAREFUL with this one. If this is the reason you might be falling into a big trap of just trying to get your license so you can be recognized as a pilot.

Whatever your reasons are you need to understand what you want to get out of your newly minted private pilot certificate. If you know what you want then the next steps, and your training will go a lot smoother and you will not have as many pitfalls. Being a pilot is a great privilege and demands that you are diving head first into it! Step one.....complete!

Rightseatpilot

Getting Your Certificate

While I've written about my experiences I've been thinking back about when I was going through my training. I initially got my private pilot certificate outside of the University of North Dakota at a local airport near my hometown. Now that I'm a CFI-I I've read a few books and articles about how to attract, keep, and retain students. One of the best books I've read is "The Savvy Flight Instructor", a must read for all CFI's.

I started thinking on the other side about what students need to do to stay motivated. As is always discussed by CFI's is the standards student, the one who is extremely motivated at the beginning and looses motivation as the training goes on, often times quitting before even obtaining their Private Pilot Certificate.

What can a student do to stay motivated and achieve their certificate? In the following posts I will discuss this and provide some helpful ideas.

Part 1 - Know what you want

Part 2 - Plan ahead

Part 3 - Finding the right school

Part 4 - Stay involved

Part 5 - Understand the curve

Part 6 - The light

Part 7 - continue to learn

So check back and stay up to date! Expect the first post in a few days!

Rightseatpilot

I've Caved

I am embracing technology and have decided to start a twitter feed for RightSeatPilot. The blog and Twitter will be my way of letting everyone know what it’s like to be a flight instructor. I’m not going to abandon the blog, it will still be my primary source for posting stories and ideas.

http://twitter.com/rightseatpilot

However, I thought it would be fun to let people see what I’m doing during my day(and nights) as a flight instructor. Follow the twitter account as I will be posting what I’m doing throughout the day, flight or briefings, which course, any thoughts before or after lessons.

http://twitter.com/rightseatpilot

This is just a more active way for me to stay involved. Hope to see you follow me soon!

http://twitter.com/rightseatpilot

RightSeatPilot

No secrets

"There are no secrets to success. It is a result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

~Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - and later, Secretary of State. After a Stunning victory during the first Gulf War

This quote jumped off the page when I first read it in Never Fly Solo. I instantly started thinking about how this is so true in every aspect of life. Whether it's school, sports, getting a girlfriend, or flying. Take college football for example athletes watch film all week on the upcoming team, usually anywhere from 3-5 hours a week. Preparation. They spend summers and off seasons working in the gym getting stronger, more in shape. Hard work. After every game every play is evaluated and graded, the plays that you got wrong are talked about in meetings and adjustments are made for the following week. Learning from Failure.

This quote also made me think about how it related to flying and instructing. As an instructor it is my responsibility to prepare the student, kind of. I am responsible for assigning homework, study items, things to do to prepare for each lesson. If I don't do that I'm not giving my student a chance to prepare for the lesson properly and fairly. Now it is up to them to take it upon themselves to actually come do the work and come prepared.

Flying is hard work. Sure, flying is meant to be fun but to be proficient requires hard work. You aren't just within commercial standards the first time you try a steep turn. It takes practice, work, sometimes it won't come easily to your students. But don't let them give up, find new approaches to teaching/executing a maneuver.

I've learned a lot from failure, and like to let my students fail at things as well. Think about it, which landing do you remember more? The one you greased in or the one you screwed up bad and thought you were going to go through the runway? Which one did you learn more from? As an instructor you need to let your students make mistakes, so they can learn from them. I will always let my students make mistakes, as long as it doesn't put us in a dangerous situation.

Siouxpilot

New Ideas for a New Year

With the new year here and everyone making plans and promises we should find new ways to keep the fire burning for our desire to fly. Here are some ideas for keeping that fire burning, if you have any feel free to post them.

Add a new rating or endorsement: This is a great way to keep you in the airplane. Not only are there certain requirements you need to meet but it also increases your knowledge and ability. If your a private pilot consider adding your instrument. If your a commercial pilot look at adding a CFI, nothing will improve your knowledge more than teaching someone to fly.

Fly a new aircraft: Along the same lines of adding a new rating. Get signed off in a new aircraft, perhaps a high performance or complex airplane. Or just meet new people at your local airport and try to arrange rides in their aircraft.

Go somewhere new: All of our dreams about flying started with being able to go places. Now's the chance to try. Fly somewhere for the weekend, fly to a golf course that's just to far off to drive. Take your wife or family to dinner in a different city at a new restaurant.

Take someone flying: There is no greater joy than taking someone up for the first time. Offer to take up a neighbor, or a best buddies kids. The look of enjoyment on their face will remind you why you first wanted to fly.

There are a lot of good reasons to fly and as time passes we tend to forget about them. Flying should be fun and not just a chore or something you do. Enjoy yourselves, bring joy to others with the gift of flight, and have a safe year.

Siouxpilot