On 25 Sep, Mike Borgelt wrote: > That's about what I said. The training is deficient in that those things > aren't taught or not taught properly. There is a lot of bullshit spouted > around the average gliding club bar and this is a bad place for an > inexperienced pilot to learn this stuff.
That part about the bar is unfortunately very true - and I have seen experienced pilots take spouters of nonsense firmly but politely to task on occasions...but probably not enough. As for the training being deficient - well, it certainly isn't perfect and that makes it deficient. However, at the two clubs where I instruct, the IPs make significant efforts to ensure that all instructors are up to date. At DDSC there is also a XC panel, which oversees the XC training and (club based) ratings - a system we are instituting at Caboolture as we move to XC out of Watts Bridge (and eventually from Caboolture itself for experienced pilots). > Insist on 500 hours solo accident free before beginning instructor > training. That way you might at least know something useful to teach and > will have developed judgement which hopefully you can pass on. Why 500 - why not 750 - or 250? These are purely numbers and have no linear relationship to airmanship, flying ability - or, most importantly, to instructional ability. > At present an instructor is all too likely to be a low hours/experience > pilot who has done a half baked GFA instructors course. Their accident rate > doesn't seem to be any better than the non instructors. It would be > interesting to see their accident rates per hour compared to cross country > pilots who do 50 hours up per year. Hmm - well, in the last 12 months I did a touch under 200hrs - and flew heaps of XC (including 4 competitions). Right at the beginning of that, I had the "Alice and the Rabbit Holes" incident. From that I learnt HEAPS (and am still finding nuances that apply to many aspects of my flying and the training I am involved in). I believe that this incident has been extremely positive for me (and I hope by my writing for others also). At the beginning of this 12 month period, I had just gained my level 1 instructor's rating - and have just been upgraded to level 2 instructor. However, I don't have 500 hrs (let alone 500hrs solo and accident free - will probably have 500hrs solo in 6 months if the season is good though)...so by your estimate, I should not be instructing, let alone be allowed to send people off on their first solo. I do, however, have well over 1200 launches... I'd be very interested in knowing what you think I lack - and how having 500hs solo, accident free would make me a better instructor. BTW as an ex student and ex academic, it has been my experience that the best lecturers/teachers/instructors are those who have had more, rather than less, difficulty mastering that which they are teaching - and these people may well have been involved in an accident/incident (eg heavy landing) because of that difficulty. Interestingly, I first gained an instructor's rating with the air cadets in the UK - which involved a 6 day continuous course...and I would suggest that the time I spent with the level 3 instructors leading up to regaining my instructor rating to be at least as good (if not better) than that highly formal RAF run/organised course in 1972. I am certain there are ways we can improve instruction - you alluded to one already and to the CASA stuff in another email (pls could you give a bit more info so that I can go and find it). It's great to have you contributing this way - many thanks. Your knowledge and experience are far too valuable to be lost to us in the gliding movement. -- Robert Hart [EMAIL PROTECTED] Strategic IT & open source consulting +61 (0)438 385 533 Brisbane, Australia http://www.interweft.com.au -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
