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Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 08:36:17 -0600
From: Snowbird <snbird@ibm.net>
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Subject: Re: Advice on free CFI -- is he any good?
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Ken wrote:

> I just started learning how to fly (4.7 hrs).  My CFI is a friend of
> the family and he's teaching me for practically nothing.

Lucky you.  There's no reason a priori to doubt this; but, the real
test is your own progress.  Almost every student will encounter "flat
points" but you should see progress, and have a clear sense from your
CFI of what changes he wants to see and what specifics he wants you to
work on at each point.  Free instruction *can* be worth what you pay!!

> We don't have much ground instruction.  He tells me what to study, I
> study it, and I ask him questions about it the next time we meet.  He
> also asks me a few questions (very few) about the suject matter to see
> if I really understand it.  I get about 10mins of ground for every
> hour in the air.  Other students get up to an hour (or even more) of
> ground for every hour in the air.

I certainly didn't have an hour of formal ground instruction for each
hour in the air; like you, I read up on the lesson topics and
studied on my own, and asked whatever questions I had.  If you 
understand something from reading and studying on your own, and
confirm that understanding with some questions back and forth, why 
spend an hour discussing it?

Just make sure you *do* get all your questions answered, but there's
no reason to doubt your training simply because you aren't getting
1 hr per lesson of ground school.

One suggestion, to be certain your training is complete, why not
arrange your own "stage checks" with a different CFI?  These
are required at different points in the syllabus only for Part 
141 schools, but there is no reason why every student pilot can't
take advantage of a different CFI's analysis of his/her knowledge
and skill pre-solo, pre-solo xc, a few lessons pre-checkride etc.

Discuss this with your CFI, he may even have a good idea about 
who he'd like to send you with.


> I bought this Jeppesen student kit that seems pretty comprehensive.
> What I'm most afraid of is that there are things that aren't in this
> student kit and that he's never taught me that I should know as a
> pilot.

Then don't stop there.  Read other stuff!  You can get a lot of
books from the public library, using interlibrary loan if your
library doesn't have them.  Some suggestions:

	Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langeweische
	Stalls, Spins and Safety by Sammy Mason
	Rod Machado's Private Pilot Manual
	See How It Flies by John Denker (on the web at
	http://www.monmouth.com/~jsd/fly/how/ )
	Gene Whitt's material (gwhitt@ix.netcom.com, free for postage)
	
The FAA puts out all kinds of free material which is of value; ask
your CFI to help you obtain these.  There are advisory circulars on
landing, non-towered airport ops, icing, tstorms etc.  Many are
available on line from www.aopa.org if you're a member.

Read the relevant portions of the FAR/AIM, especially the AIM
Again, available online though buying a copy is worthwhile.

"Flight Training" magazine offers 6 months free subscription to student
pilots, just send in a card (your CFI should be able to help you here).

For more detailed aerodynamics:
	Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators
	The Science of Flight: Pilot Oriented Aerodynamics by Dahin

For more detailed wx:
	Aviation Weather (Jeppeson Book)
	Weather Flying by Buck

For more detailed descriptions of instrument flight, VOR use etc:
	Mastering Instrument Flying by Sollman
	Instrument Training Manual by Peter Dogan
	Rod Machado's Instrument Pilot's Survival Guide
	
Concerned you're missing something?  Best answer: study a wider
range of material!

Snowbird

