On 14/02/2017 7:33 PM, Mark Newton wrote:
The GFA syllabus doesn’t teach that. Instead, right from lesson 1 it stresses
that the instructor is the superior, and that the duty instructor will be
running the day, and that everyone else on the field marches to that person’s
tune. So much so that if the duty instructor doesn’t show up, everyone goes
home.
Military-style chain of command.
In the PW5 accident, the pilot CLEARLY didn’t feel comfortable with the flight:
He’d had previous experience from earlier in the day that the new instructor
wasn’t familiar with; he knew there was a skill he needed to polish before he
was safe for solo flight; And, being 69 years old, one can assume that he’d
been around the traps enough to pick up enough life experience to know when
he’s being sold a pup.
As someone that has spent a lot my career mentoring, if not outright
teaching, I'm going disagree partially with these statements.
Firstly that "The GFA" teaches this. It doesn't. Individual instructors
do, because they like to be The Boss and control others. In my club I'd
say it is a 50/50 split (typically along the lines of those that are
still active X/C pilots). Some are pushing pilots to think, some push
them to be conservative.
From the teaching perspective, many students don't have enough self
confidence and it is the job of the teacher to push them student outside
of the student's comfort zone in order for them to advance. These
students, if left to their own devices, will seek comfort only in the
areas that they know already and won't want to push it. For some, that
means more than gentle nudges are sometimes needed.
I can't comment specifically about the surroundings of the PW-5 student
and that situation. But to point to this as a failing of the GFA
training and structure is, to me, a leap too far.
What I think is wrong is not the hierarchy, but how instructors are
selected and trained. Only works if you're a buddy of the CFI, and that
there is no teaching on how to teach. Our instructors are basically
expert pilots, but they are not expert educators. Fix the training of
instructors and the rest of the system issues disappear into the
background.
(FWIW, catching up on other parts - yes I agree that L2 Ind Ops and how
it is issued is not right and I really don't see why we have L1 and L2
as L1 is basically useless since you can't actually operate independently)
--
Justin
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