CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 1 | Issue 2 - 7

Chief's corner

Mother duck BY JJ GREENWAY
MY HOME IS NEAR A CITY PARK which has

a lovely lake. My wife and I frequently get our morning and evening exercise walking around the lake. This time of year, there are usually newly hatched ducklings. We’ve spent hours this summer watching them grow up. What strikes us the most is that the mother duck demonstrates exactly how the ducklings should swim/walk/forage, and, for the most part, they follow her instructions exactly. Occasionally, one will get distracted and act up and receives a nip or a reprimand, but for the most part, their discipline is impressive. Who of us pilots doesn’t remember the very beginning of their initial flight training? Most likely, no matter how long you’ve been flying, you carry with you something that you picked up early on from your very first flight instructor. Many decades and many thousands of hours after training for my private pilot ASEL certificate, I can still think of at least a half dozen things that I do because my primary flight instructor showed me how to do it that way. The other day, I watched one of my fellow CFIs as she wrapped up a lesson with a primary student. I overheard her telling and demonstrating how to secure and lock the airplane at the completion of the lesson. Although the airplane was stored in a locked hangar, she was very careful to explain the TSA’s guidelines and the reasoning behind them. I will admit to being a little lax about this issue and I know many CFIs are. However, we live in an era where security has become a very important issue. The TSA sometimes takes a bad rap for its heavy-handedness but the Transportation Security Regulations are the law and as pilots, we are bound to them. As professional aviation educators, we owe it to our students to set a good example in following them. If our students see us “blow off” federal regulations, there is a pretty good chance that they are going to do the same thing.

The same applies to checklist use. I would be very surprised if a CFI giving primary instruction would skip a Before Starting or a Before Takeoff checklist. However, I’ve seen CFIs, when out flying on their own, maybe with a student onboard, not even pick up a checklist any time during the entire flight. This might all be well and good if I’m by myself but if my students see me not using a checklist, the chance of my bad behavior imprinting on them is very real. The list of things our students can pick up from us is practically endless. One need only to listen to radio exchanges between pilots and controllers to see who gets “nipped” the most for using improper phraseology. Controllers are regularly scrutinized by their supervisors and there is little, if any, tolerance for improper phraseology. Pilots, on the other hand, sometimes make it up as they go along,

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I CAN STILL THINK OF AT LEAST A HALF DOZEN THINGS THAT I DO BECAUSE MY PRIMARY FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR SHOWED ME HOW TO DO IT THAT WAY.
and the phraseology can get interesting! Case in point—did you know that, according to the Aeronautical Information Manual, there are only two acceptable responses to an ATC traffic call? They are: “Traffic in sight” and “Negative contact.” Instead, the responses we hear usually are everything but these. “Got ’em on the fish finder,” “I don’t see nuthin,” “We’re popeye,” “Tally-ho,” and so on. Mother duck may not always be nipping at our tail feathers but in our quest to maintain our professionalism, CFIs always need to keep in mind that the baby ducks are watching every move and we’ll imprint on them for life, both the good and the bad! JJ Greenway, a CFI since 1980, has given dual instruction in aircraft ranging from the Luscombe 8A to the Boeing 767-300ER.

logbook endorsements? Have a question about the pre-solo written test? Need a copy of FAA Form 8710, Airman Certificate and/or Rating Application? Or do you simply want tips on marketing your flight instructor services? If your answer is “yes” then you’ll want to check out Flight Training’s online CFI resources page. You’ll find answers to questions ranging from CFI certificate renewal to attracting and retaining students. You can also download lessons plans and include your free listing in the AOPA Online Flight Instructor Directory. And, from time to time, you will find special offers, such as the “CFI Toolkit” with handy flight planning tools, as a “thank you” for enrolling prospective or current students in a free six-month AOPA student membership. Visit http://flighttraining.aopa.org to boost your business.

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CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 1 | Issue 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 1 | Issue 2