CFI Assignment #2

Here is another blogging assignment for my CFI class.

Question #2

You have a new student that you picked up from another flight instructor. What are you going to be looking for in the students folder to give you an indication of where they are at? what questions are you going to ask the students previous instructor? What questions will you ask the student? What techniques will you use to figure out where the student is in their ground knowledge?

Answer

This is a really tough question. During my instrument, about half way through, my flight instructor landed a job with and airline and was gone. It was a difficult transition as a student to make. My new flight instructor had to re-asses me and try to jump in with training where ever I was.

You may think that being part 141 would make the transition smoother. However, you need to be careful thinking you know where a student is by looking at there folder and seeing how far along in the syllabus they are. Just because my old flight instructor and I had gone over everything in the syllabus, doesn't mean that I learned everything, or that I even remember covering somethings. To make matters worse, my old CFI had marked everything we had gone over in the folder with a 3. If I did really bad on a maneuver, I got a 3. If I nailed a holding pattern, I got a 3. So my new instructor really didn't have an idea from my folder how I was doing with different areas.

So, if I was looking in a folder of a newly transfered student, I would check to see what marks the student had been recieving so far. I would check how far along they are in the sylabus. I could look over the paper work as well. Is there medical or student certificate expiring soon? Maybe look over the airplane check out quizes or pre-solo quiz. I would not use the folder as a crutch. I would be sure to asses the student myself and ask the student and the old CFI questions.

If I have get a new student from a flight instructor, I am going to make sure that I have a talk with instructor that is transferring me the student. What were the students strengths and weaknesses. What might have not been gone over very well. Were do they feel the student is in the training? Also I would ask questions that don't pertain to how far there training has come along. What are there career goals? How is the students attitude? What are the students goals with flying? Have you picked up any diffence mechanisims? What type of learners are they, visual, kinesthitic...?

I would also ask the student several questions. Many being the same. What are your goals with flying? How much time do you devote to your training? What do you feel some of your strong points are? How about areas you would like to work on?

Discovering were the student lies in knowledge areas seems to be the hardest. After a couple of flights, you can quickly find out what kind of motor skills the student has developed. I would start finding out were the student stands in there knowledge skill by doing some oral quizing. Maybe have the student explain some things to me. I would let the student know that I wasn't testing them, and if they can't answer some of the questions or explain things, that is ok and expected. I'm just trying to get a feel for were they are.

You may be able to find out alot by taking a flight as well. Ask about airport signs. See how well they can handle the radios. Can they set up a traffic pattern, or do they know what airspace we are in.

Overall, I think this would be an extremely difficult situation. I would need to be completly objective and not assume anything in my assement. I would need to make sure that I don't assume the student already knows something and leave a hole in there training. Although, as in instructor it would be my job to do this quickly and efficiently, as the student does not want to waste money while I am attempting to make sure there are no holes in the training.