“Are you taking on any students?”
That’s how the conversation usually begins when the partially trained client is looking for a new instructor.
When the question is addressed to a CFI who has the space on their schedule to accommodate a new-to-them client, it’s often greeted enthusiastically—as it should be. But if a client has been flying with someone else, you need to tread carefully.
That first flight with a new-to-you client is a bit like going on a first date with someone who is on the rebound. You’ll likely hear about “the ex” CFI and how they did things differently.
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Expect this, and stress the use of an FAA-approved syllabus and Airman Certification Standards (ACS) as learner guidance for lesson structure.
Change Is Inevitable
There are multiple reasons learners seek a change of instructor.
Often it is about availability. The learner has the time and money to fly four days a week and twice a day, but the CFI they have been assigned to at the flight school already has a full schedule that can’t accommodate that.
Or perhaps there is a “personality clash,” which can mean anything from the learner who resents taking instruction from someone who younger than their adult children to a learner who doesn’t want the structure of a syllabus to the CFI who resents “having to be a teacher” to build their hours for the next job.
Sometimes it’s the CFI who facilitates the change. Perhaps the client isn’t following directions and, after an attempt or two to establish better communication, the CFI realizes they’re not the right instructor for the client.
More often than not, though, a change of instructor happens because a CFI moves on to a different job. When the airlines are hiring at a brisk place, it’s to be expected. When it happens frequently at a particular flight school after airline hiring has slowed, it’s often a red flag about the school’s culture.
Process of Change
Just as the student pilots don’t know what they don’t know, the inheriting CFI often doesn’t know what the learner doesn’t know, the experience they have, and the skill level they present.
For this reason, it’s best to begin the instructional relationship in the classroom. Establishing the client’s knowledge level can help create more effective flight lessons. While it’s easy to demonstrate a maneuver or inflight procedure in the airplane, if the learner doesn’t understand why it’s being taught or the science behind it, they’re getting short changed.
Depending on where the learner is in the training process, the CFI might throw in questions appropriate to a stage check for their experience level. You don’t expect them to have all the answers—make sure to stress this— and if they don’t, teach them where to look up the information.
It’s particularly gratifying to see a well-trained learner who determines aircraft performance before each flight and uses the checklist during the preflight inspection, taking their time to make sure they don’t miss a thing. This usually happens when their previous CFI models good behavior.
Other behavior results in a surprise, such as the learner who during the takeoff roll put both hands on the yoke and held the aircraft down until the nosewheel started to shimmy, then yanked the aircraft off the ground. That was a new one for the replacement CFI.
This habit was quickly traced back to a particular instructor who had recently departed the school. It took a while for his former students to unlearn the two-hands-on-the-yoke-during-takeoff behavior and recognize and call out airspeed and liftoff speed while allowing the airplane to take off normally.
Sometimes It’s an Airport Challenge
Negative transference, doing something that’s the correct procedure at airport A but the wrong procedure for airport B can also be a challenge.
An example is a pilot trained at a nontowered airport and therefore accustomed to making position reports in the pattern. The tower controllers are usually polite when they advise the pilot that this isn’t required unless requested.
Close-to Check-Rides Change
Change of instructor when the client is relatively close to the check rides is particularly painful.
To the clients: There is a chance the new-to-you CFI or even the owner of the flight school will claim you need to repeat all the training sometimes with vague excuses like insurance purposes or citing school policy. Always ask to see the policies in writing—they often don’t exist.
To the CFIs: Initiate a mock check ride using the ACS as the metric of evaluation. Make it the full ride, beginning with an oral exam followed by a flight with certificate and rating appropriate maneuvers. This lets both the CFI and client know what, if any, work needs to be done to reach check ride status and gets rid of some of the test anxiety.
The CFI should take careful notes during the process. This is also an opportunity to go through the client’s logbook to determine if all the requirements for the certificate or rating have been met and what experience needs to be acquired or polished before the big test.
Instructor Learning Curve
When working with a new-to-you client, there’s a learning curve for flight instructors.
Your job is to teach the learner how to fly, and for best results you need to approach this responsibility with a mixture of enthusiasm, confidence, and patience. The latter is the most important, in my opinion, because both the learner and CFI will have their good days and bad days. You need to get to know the client’s personality and adapt your teaching style to their learning style so you can meet them where they are.
When it works, it’s a glorious thing.
