It was with great excitement that I woke on Monday, knowing I had my first lesson, that evening.
12 hours later I was stood in the car-park, a printed certificate in hand, feeling slightly hard done by and more than a little discouraged by the experience. I had expected a feeling of euphoria and excitement for the road ahead, but instead I questioned whether I actually wanted to go through with it.
It started with me being 10 minutes late for my lesson, not something I make a regular habit of, but in the modern world sometimes delays are inevitable. Despite my ringing ahead and offering sincere apologies upon my tardy arrival I can only assume my instructor, clearly of the old guard, cannot tolerate late students and only just kept a lid on his anger as he sped through the trial flight.
We sped through the preflight checks, which given our late start was to be expected, but throughout the whole experience there was very little teaching, and not one single positive or supportive comment. Questions were asked of me, which I answered correctly in the main, only to be rebuked for lack of detail (“No runway number does not indicate the heading, it can be 4 degrees either side due to adjustments in the earth’s magnetic field”). Control was mainly limited to straight and level flight (no support given there). I was asked to make a turn, without any guidance, and rebuked when I did not apply enough rudder, and was watching the incorrect dial for our heading.
I’m not adverse to criticism in the least, but the manner in which it was delivered was as if I’d been doing this for hours, should know better and wasn’t listening to advice offered.
We landed an hour later, and no mention was made of any positive performance. I wasn’t given any encouragement or incentive to return to do the rest of my PPL at the school.
The instructor in question has reportedly taught 100s of students, and I certainly felt like the nth person he’d taught. He seemed to derive no enjoyment from “teaching” (criticising), I can only assume he was upset I was late. I would rather he had cancelled the lesson and charged me a fee to rearrange.
All in all, I reflected in the car home that I would have derived more satisfaction from handing my £170 to a person on the street, than I did handing it to the flying school. At least I might have seen some positivity.
What was unblemished was the experience of flying – there is something to be said about being up there looking down on the world/places you know and seeing it spread before you.
Tonight I’m back up in the sky with a friend who is letting me practice in his Cessna. He’s actually a superb teacher based on my last flight, and I can’t wait to be up there!
Till next time!
Rob
