Let’s Ask Jim ?

Question from Shirley in Arizona: I seem to have a learning disability and it is caused by an old instructor that has not kept up with what is going on in aviation. I now have almost 100 hours of training, had 65 hours before I soloed and over 50 hours before I took the Knowledge Test. I don’t know whether I am a cash cow to him or if I am that bad a student. I am scheduled to take my medical next week. I need to make a decision about this flying stuff and him. Please help me.

Answer from Jim: to “Taken Advantage Of”: This happens and I’m sorry it did to you. The Practical test Standards booklet would do both of you some good and it cost about $5.00 from Sporty’s and other aviation outlets. A sequence of events should take place in a very neat order when working with a student pilot, and your guy seems to have lost his copy. We recommend the Medical first, the solo in the first 20 hours along with the Knowledge test taken and passed, checkride at about 55-60 hours. If a proper interview was done prior to training start, you should also be out of money at this point. My advice would be to visit the next airport over yonder and take a ride with an instructor. Tell them you are just looking for an evaluation so that you will know exactly where you are in the program. It would be unusual for you to be this far behind the learning curve and still be able to find the airport on a regular basis in your car. After the ride, please contact me again. (I’m sorry to say that not all teachers are instructors and vice versa. You sure went out of your way to prove that old adage.)

Jim Trusty (Lrn2Fly@bellsouth.net)