As a student the relationship with your instructor is a very important one. I am in the position where I have had 3 different instructors so far and I just wanted to make some comments on the student and instructor relationship.
So you turn up at a flight school, with no idea of how to fly, you just know that you want to. You then get into a little two or four seater plane and put 100% faith into this guy you have just met. You have faith that he knows what he is doing and can return you back to the ground safely.
As you progress you have complete faith in your instructor as he teaches you to do things that are unnatural, such as stalling an aircraft at 3500ft and then recovering it, or as he signs you off on your first solo!
The first solo is an important thing for both sides, it shows that he trusts you enough to do everything he has taught you and to go up in the air and return to the ground safely.
You also believe that his confidence in you to do it, means that you are ready and have the ability to do so.
This trust goes on to the navigation sections, spin training (youtube it and see how unnatural that seems!) Then onto your test and your license issue.
My instructors have two distinct learning styles, strict and laid back, both work equally well for me but depending on your personality you may prefer one over the other. Let me give you an example of the same conversation with each style.
Altitude drop – Laid back
“You have dropped altitude make sure you regain and maintain height, it is important to make sure you don’t lose altitude”
Altitude drop – Stricter (assuming altitude should be 3000ft)
Instructor – “What is your altitude?”
Me – “2900ft”
Instructor – “What should it be?”
Me – “3000ft”
Instructor – “Then why have you let it drop? Climb and maintain altitude, do not let it drop again.”
Both are perfectly valid ways of getting the point across and work well for me.
So it is important to find and instructor (or instructors) you gel well with as you will be spending a lot of time in the air with them!
