TIME & SKILL

"Excuse me sir, but I had to ask", there was Joel, for the first time, succumbing to frustration. He continued, "  Do you ever break down? I know you are my instructor and you are perfect with the aircraft. But, flying to you is effortless. You can assume control at any point of flying and still settle the aircraft to a stable state before landing" He continued in wonder. " Will I ever get it like you do?"
Well, Joel is one of my students. I trained him from day one and I can tell you I have known him for quite some time. Unlike most cases, he didn't get airsick on his first flight, which for the instructor can be a good sign or otherwise. Are flight Instructors really that perfect with the aircraft? Is it our gift or its some skill we learn along the way? One may wonder. Well, today you get to be in my shoes, make sure they are comfy because it going to be one hell of a ride...read on...

Who is a flight instructor? One may ask. Well, they are people who will teach you how to fly an aircraft. This includes how to actually start one to safely flying by yourself and in the end, carrying over four hundred (400) passengers across the Atlantic. That's our job and we love it.
Interview any student pilot and they will tell you how they dream of flying and commanding the aircraft like their instructors. We underestimate the value of patience and experience at times. We are all naive and in a rush when we are beginning, so doubtful of our abilities and overestimating our own doubts and fears in the initial stages. Its life anyway, and we are humans. After all, we can only connect the dots when looking backward.

Well, A flight instructor is not a god either. We are not crafted with special 'all-knowing' clay. In fact, we were once fearful as student pilots. We have built our skills and confidence over hours of training and failure. We have tasted defeat more than anyone else. We had to. Otherwise, how do you teach someone to believe when you are fearful yourself.

I could personally understand what Joel was feeling. He didn't even need to add another word on top of his quiz. I have been there myself. I have felt the urge to quit and I will tell you for free the urge is a devil especially when you have done the best you could and yet realize (at that moment) it was not enough. Frustration is the immediate hurdle prior to the price. No one is ever frustrated unless they are so close to the triumph.

I sometimes look at my trainer (Instructor of instructors) flying so effortlessly. like its not a big deal to him anymore. He can feel and anticipate the aircraft before a change occurs. Its called mastery. After all, how could you fly for over twenty years with over 20,000 instructional hours and not fly so effortlessly? The thing is, we sometimes lack the patience we need to slowly build skill. The bottom can be frustrating but we all start there. Slowly going up the ladder of both confidence and skill and before we know it, a year or two down the line we become what we dreamed of. At that point, we don't even remember the days of frustration. We have grown to appreciate it and understand that its part of the whole process. Only after setbacks can you challenge yourself even harder, making yourself better with every challenge that you overcome.

As flight instructors, we do have challenges. Every day of our lives. It's just that it doesn't show on our skin. It's not a bother anymore because we have understood how to live with it. In fact, we enjoy it at the end of the day. Every once in a while it will hit you and with all our skill we sometimes pause and take a step back. Not to criticize ourselves or the student but to try and understand the new hurdle thrown at us but as long as life goes on, we never stop being students. We may clock over 2,000 hours plus in the sky, but we are never fully educated. We take a lesson, sweet or bitter, every once in a while and that's what learning is about. Getting better with every experience and sharing it to our students hoping it will ease their frustrations and make them better. It does most of the time.

Instructors are simply pilots with better experience than the student pilot. We are not special beings. Just that we emphasise and understand the importance of good skill and safety. It goes a long way and even when the student advance in their training past the instructor's capacity, they will always remember where it all begins and only then can they look back and thank us for having patience on them when they didn't have any for themselves. It is our daily bread. And just because it scares you doesn't mean it doesn't scare me. It's just that while it's your first or second time, it's my thousandth time. It a time and patience game. Trust the clock Joel, you will laugh about it one day.


Ask Flight Instructor Kenny.