bage881

So I have a situation, I was assigned a "green" a.k.a New Flight Instructor , pretty young, no more than 4 years older than me...I'm 22 years old.

I subsequently flew with another instructor who was much more mature, before we set off he asked about my previous experience etc. (Only 10hrs logged)... for that entire flight, I basically did everything preflight, taxi, takeoff, land (It felt like an actual lesson, he just sat next to me and told me what to do and basically corrected me. Etc)

Now with this "Green" Instructor I get the sense that he's a bit hesitant with me, E.g. he would ask what I've done already, I'd tell him and it feels as though he's for better words (hogging the controls) he went through the checklist, basically himself while I just sat there like an idiot pretending like I don't know what to do, but with the more mature Instructor it was the complete opposite...It's like I'm doing over stuff that I already know! And it's frustrating!

I'm on a time constraint and I feel like I'm getting nowhere with this youngin..what do you guys think?

satpak77

get a new instructor, done, period.

FlyJSH

It's your money, you choose who you want.

bage881

Thanks fr the input, I made the necessary changes this afternoon after I posted this.

JamesNoBrakes

Never EVER accept substandard performance here. Make sure you ALWAYS do your part, but a good instructor should have you doing everything that is practical for experience. They shouldn't be too concerned about time and be balancing a good amount of experience with what they have to work with. They should be planning for this.

You are the customer when you are a student.

Cubdriver

No harm no foul at this stage. When a student teacher relationship is low in hours it is perfectly ok to say hey, I just don't feel right working with this person and would like to try another one. Later on when you have tried another one or more and selected one you can work with, beware of the mental pitfall of thinking the plateau you find yourself in is your instructor's fault. Chances are it is simply a learning plateau, and they tend to occur when the instructor raises the bar to send a student to a checkride and the student to wonders why previously they were doing so well and now they are so incompetent. That's your instructor trying to groom you for your checkride. Pony up some more effort, stick it out and push on to the finish. Get a second opinion if you like, but do not change instructors late in the training game.

USMCFLYR

One of my concerns would be that a student so new to training might not even realize which CFI is actually giving him/her the better instruction. Remember the 'Karate Kid'. Didn't even realize he was being taught muscle memory!
But like others have said; its the student's time and money. Do what feels right and reap the rewards/or suffer the consequences!

Cubdriver

Asking a CFI you approach for their pass fail rate and total hours of dual given would be some basic things to know, and the Gold Seal is another way to show the same. None of those metrics are guaranteed, you can have a mediocre Gold Seal instructor. You could call NAFI and ask them, and the local FAA district office always knows some names. They will give you the most expensive names most likely because they will know who has been around a long time, raising their rates accordingly. Some of the better deals are found at local colleges with flight training departments, they often have new instructors who just need a chance to get started. The most reliable thing would probably be to enroll in a part 141 school with a good reputation, but do some homework on that first. Part 141 takes a lot of the guesswork out of it by teaching a standardized curriculum. Part 61 ad hoc training can be good too, but I would try to find it through a flying club. The least likely method to show consistency would be a local CFI who has a day job, unless they have a really good reputation. I have also seen some strong Part 61 schools run by former airline pilots who lost their medical or just like teaching. Some of those can be excellent.

lowtimepilot

Don't feel bad. I had to let go of 2 instructors. One was stringing me along, I think to make himself more money. The other just wasn't working.

JamesNoBrakes

I always told my students that they were the most important person. If they had an issue, I would take it as high as I could to resolve it, but I would also tell them that this would just be "one channel" and they would also need to discuss their issues with the manager if I couldn't resolve them. This way it wasn't just one person talking to them, because management would often think that if they weren't hearing from students, they "must be happy". I told them that at the end of the day, they are the customer and though management might not like it, they aren't going to turn away a motivated paying customer, even if they aren't able to pair him up with the instructor that would be most "convenient". As an instructor it's to your highest interest to do the best you can. I've known plenty of low-time instructors that did an amazing job. They had the drive and motivation as students. Stopped and took the time to really understand things. Really knew how to explain things and provide useful learning.

On the other hand, don't judge an instructor by how "fast" they get you to a certain rating. Rate them on how quality they teach you and how much you learn. It's about quality of instruction and value.