Thread: Feels like my wheels are spinning...unmotivated CFI -Will travel for training!

I did the dual xcountry today, that I started planning in last October. I feel like my CFI is not motivated to get me finished up. He was distracting me pretty much constantly the whole time and of course I could not hold my altitude and heading and drifted off quite a few times. It was also light to moderate turbulence the whole 3hr trip with winds gusting over 25K in all the airports. He had to land the plane, it was way above my skill set. During the debrief, I received no positive comments. He told me "there is no way your gonna pass your check ride if you can't hold altitude and heading" and also pointed out the mistakes I made and suggested I go to the practice area and work on those things and suggested using a timer and plan to hold 3500 and heading for 4 min, reset timer, change altitude and direction, repeat as needed. We did go into control tower airport ( something I said we should probably wait on but he talked me into it) and I did ok with the radio. What we did was a Private Pilot cross country, not Sport Pilot cross country and I think he don't get it. I was expcecting to return and him say to me "Now plan out a 75 mile x country for your solo", but it wasn't what I heard. I did this sport pilot thing cause I thought it would be less money. I'm already at 5K (at least) so I'm quite pissed. Oh yea, another comment he made was "Sport Pilot is just for fun flying, if you think your gonna use the plane to travel you'll wind up killing yourself". That was before we even left! I'm really feeling like throwing in the towel. My only other choice is to go for the PPL where I would have a selection of CFIs and aircraft. I can get a medical but not sure how easily as I had some issues in the past. This was another reason for going the SP route.

Feeling a little deflated and definatley a lot lighter after I took the 500.00 from my pocket..

I need a finish up specialist. Someone who has a CT, has DPE on hand and can get me done. I got a week off in May (14-21) and will travel if necessary. I live in the eastern Minnesota area. I already have all the required training and hours minus the solo cross country. I also passed the knowledge test already.

Sorry for my rant, I really want to fly but this guy makes me want to quit.

James

Hi James,

Try not to get too down. Take a break for a couple of weeks.
Sounds like you really have a PITA for a CFI. You really need to find another one. This guy isn't doing you any favors, flight wise or money wise. I would stop with him and not give him any more money and hunt for another CFI to finish up. Sounds like it would be much cheaper. I'm sure there is one some where in your area. Does this plane belong to a flight school? Call Eric Swisher at Copper City Aviation in Bisbee, AZ. at 520-266-0515. He's very good, knows the CT and very relaxed and won't stress you. You will fell good after just one flight with him. I bet he could finish you up in no time. Tell I sent you if you decide to call him.

James,
Go to this web site and ask for any instructor up your way. Post under the training section.

http://sportpilottalk.com/index.php

Originally Posted by Roger Lee

Hi James,

Try not to get too down. Take a break for a couple of weeks.
Sounds like you really have a PITA for a CFI. You really need to find another one. This guy isn't doing you any favors, flight wise or money wise. I would stop with him and not give him any more money and hunt for another CFI to finish up. Sounds like it would be much cheaper. I'm sure there is one some where in your area. Does this plane belong to a flight school?

Hi Roger,
The plane belongs to the FBO which he owns, so its his plane. Its the only CT or Sport plane within 250 miles of where I live. So I am pretty much stuck with him. If he sold the plane, it would be game over for me unless I bought my own which is way out of reach at this point. I've been dipping into my retirement money for training as it is. The further I get into this CT, the more I realize what a mistake I made. Not cause of the plane but the circumstances. I might have to try to pass a medical which will most likely get deferred so I would be grounded for while and risking permanently. So not sure what to do. I doubt he would let another CFI teach in the plane.

James

James

Hi James,

It sounds like a trip to a close LSA CFI may be the best way to go. Going the 300-500 miles for a few days may be better. Sorry for all the problems. It shouldn't be like this, but there are a few CFI's that may make better Pinata's. Buy him a one-way ticket to Tucson, I have plenty of sticks.

Originally Posted by Roger Lee

Hi James,

It sounds like a trip to a close LSA CFI may be the best way to go. Going the 300-500 miles for a few days may be better. Sorry for all the problems. It shouldn't be like this, but there are a few CFI's that may make better Pinata's. Buy him a one-way ticket to Tucson, I have plenty of sticks.

I'm going to give Eric a call. If he can finish me up, it might be worth the cost of travel. I'm also trying Scott, (from this board) who runs a LSA school school about 3 hours away and I think has a CT.

James, I did a quick search for Minnesota. Here's some prospects. Occasionally, I hear about CFI's like the one you had. There is absolutely no reason for this. This is a serious sport but the bottom line is if one isn't having fun doing it, what's the point? Totally agree with all the rest here, drop that looser you're currently training with.
http://www.aviationschoolsonline.com...ols/Minnesota/

Originally Posted by James253CT

I did the dual xcountry today, that I started planning in last October. I feel like my CFI is not motivated to get me finished up. He was distracting me pretty much constantly the whole time and of course I could not hold my altitude and heading and drifted off quite a few times. It was also light to moderate turbulence the whole 3hr trip with winds gusting over 25K in all the airports. He had to land the plane, it was way above my skill set. During the debrief, I received no positive comments. He told me "there is no way your gonna pass your check ride if you can't hold altitude and heading" and also pointed out the mistakes I made and suggested I go to the practice area and work on those things and suggested using a timer and plan to hold 3500 and heading for 4 min, reset timer, change altitude and direction, repeat as needed. We did go into control tower airport ( something I said we should probably wait on but he talked me into it) and I did ok with the radio. What we did was a Private Pilot cross country, not Sport Pilot cross country and I think he don't get it. I was expcecting to return and him say to me "Now plan out a 75 mile x country for your solo", but it wasn't what I heard. I did this sport pilot thing cause I thought it would be less money. I'm already at 5K (at least) so I'm quite pissed. Oh yea, another comment he made was "Sport Pilot is just for fun flying, if you think your gonna use the plane to travel you'll wind up killing yourself". That was before we even left! I'm really feeling like throwing in the towel. My only other choice is to go for the PPL where I would have a selection of CFIs and aircraft. I can get a medical but not sure how easily as I had some issues in the past. This was another reason for going the SP route.

Feeling a little deflated and definatley a lot lighter after I took the 500.00 from my pocket..

I need a finish up specialist. Someone who has a CT, has DPE on hand and can get me done. I got a week off in May (14-21) and will travel if necessary. I live in the eastern Minnesota area. I already have all the required training and hours minus the solo cross country. I also passed the knowledge test already.

Sorry for my rant, I really want to fly but this guy makes me want to quit.

James

James,

I'm assuming weather is the reason for the long delay in between the beginning of planning of the flight, and actually doing it. Long delays are going to slow you down, and make your skills rusty.

What makes you believe that the CFI is unmotivated in finishing your training? Have you talked to him about your concerns? Don't assume that is why he was distracting you. Get used to it. Your DPE is going to try to distract you, and your future passengers are going to distract you. You need to be able to fly the plane well, even when there are distractions in the cockpit. It's part of the training.

One of the issues I really dislike about SP / LSA, is how the AOPA, EAA, etc. have all pushed the point of how it's cheaper to learn to fly, and you only need half the hours, even though they only eliminated 20-25% of the training requirements (i.e. 3 hours night, 3 hours of flight by instruments, etc.). I personally agree that a 75nm x-country isn't enough. Would you experience any weather changes, terrain, etc., in that short of a flight?

A safe pilot takes as many hours as it takes to make them safe. Just remember that the retirement account does nothing for you, if you kill yourself in a plane crash. Be the safest pilot possible. I'd imagine that a pilot in a bad situation isn't worried about his current lack of having fun.

Will you be able to use his CT if you finish your training elsewhere?

Originally Posted by No Regrets

James,

I'm assuming weather is the reason for the long delay in between the beginning of planning of the flight, and actually doing it. Long delays are going to slow you down, and make your skills rusty.

What makes you believe that the CFI is unmotivated in finishing your training? Have you talked to him about your concerns? Don't assume that is why he was distracting you. Get used to it. Your DPE is going to try to distract you, and your future passengers are going to distract you. You need to be able to fly the plane well, even when there are distractions in the cockpit. It's part of the training.

One of the issues I really dislike about SP / LSA, is how the AOPA, EAA, etc. have all pushed the point of how it's cheaper to learn to fly, and you only need half the hours, even though they only eliminated 20-25% of the training requirements (i.e. 3 hours night, 3 hours of flight by instruments, etc.). I personally agree that a 75nm x-country isn't enough. Would you experience any weather changes, terrain, etc., in that short of a flight?

A safe pilot takes as many hours as it takes to make them safe. Just remember that the retirement account does nothing for you, if you kill yourself in a plane crash. Be the safest pilot possible. I'd imagine that a pilot in a bad situation isn't worried about his current lack of having fun.

Will you be able to use his CT if you finish your training elsewhere?

Hi Roger,
If I finished up somewhere else, I think it would be no problem to use the plane. Like I said, he is not motivated to finish me up. I say that because he doesn't even have a DPE for me to use and when the airport is closed there is no access to the plane. The airport is closed after 12pm on SAT and all day sunday. I work for living, 8-5pm and he has shown me no flexibility. I've asked him a few times if he would fly on sunday or sat afternoon and he has never agreed, so I stopped asking. That leaves me a 4hr windows 1x per week to train or fly. So if its bad weather on SAT and Sunday is calm and clear, I can't fly. He did say that once I finished my training, he would give me access to the plane when the airport is closed. He's way too paranoid. And as far as the distractions and such, they were excessive given the weather conditions and my flying skills. I would never fly with 25K gusts at this point. The weather was mod turb for the whole area. I want to be a safe pilot, I guess you had to be there and trust if you were, you would understand. He even sneered at me asking him to refold the map for me because the course we flew continued on the back of the map. After the control tower sent me on heading different of what I planned, I had a hard time, regrouping and getting on course. He would not let me use the gps or ask the tower for vectors or even momentarily set the auto pilot. Those are all acceptable things to do. Maybe he just old school, I don't know. This is his first time teaching sport pilot and he is not even sure what the requirements are. I told him I needed an endorcement for Light-Sport Aircraft That Has A VH Greater Than 87 Knots CAS: § 61.327(b) and just he acted like he didn't hear me. I am paying top dollar and expect top quality training. I feel like a guineea pig. He is learning the sport pilot teaching ropes on my dime.

Originally Posted by runtoeat

James, I did a quick search for Minnesota. Here's some prospects. Occasionally, I hear about CFI's like the one you had. There is absolutely no reason for this. This is a serious sport but the bottom line is if one isn't having fun doing it, what's the point? Totally agree with all the rest here, drop that looser you're currently training with.
http://www.aviationschoolsonline.com...ols/Minnesota/

Thanks Dick!
I'm going to make some calls this week and see what I can come up with and I'm also going to talk with him. I'm sure he is going to just tell me that I need more practice, which is true. Thanks for the list of names.

James