By Steve Krog, EAA 173799

This piece originally ran in Steve’s Classic Instructor column in the July 2023 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.

And so, the story goes: I’m a brand new fully certificated flight instructor (CFI). I passed the checkride and have a piece of paper in my pocket that says I’m qualified to teach people to fly.

Before accepting my first instructor job, I invested in a new pair of $200 aviator glasses, a $500 aviator watch, a new leather flight jacket, and a great pair of flight boots just like the military pilots wear.

I’ve scrapped the silly white short-sleeve shirts and skinny black ties worn all through my flight training and now wear golf-style shirts with well-known logos. The new skinny jeans really make me look like I am truly the ace of the base.

I’m ready to take on the world and begin building flight time so that I can get to an airline job as fast as possible. I know everything there is to know about flying. If you don’t believe me, just ask and I’ll tell you.

Unfortunately, this attitude is often seen among new CFIs. Their primary interest is acting the part and totaling their logbook pages every day — rather than focusing on being a good and safe teacher.

My father-in-law was a career U.S. Air Force officer, flight instructor, and bomber pilot. We had many discussions over the years about flying and flight training. One thought he shared has stuck with me forever. He stated, “A flight instructor doesn’t know what they don’t know until they have given at least 250 hours of flight instruction.”

I became a firm believer in that philosophy once I became a flight instructor. I see it in real life every time a new low-time flight instructor joins our team at Cub Air Flight.

The increased interest in pilot training has expanded well beyond expectations in the past three to five years. Flight schools that once had a small handful of students each year are now faced with 15-20 primary students — or more. We all love to see the renewed interest in learning to fly, but with that we’ve exposed a major weak point in the overall flight training system.

With the demand for new pilots comes the need for certificated flight instructors. And this need has not and cannot yet keep up with the demand for increased pilot training. Ultimately, this leads to less than properly trained new young pilots.

Learning to fly is not inexpensive. By the time a person has acquired a private certificate, instrument rating, and a commercial certificate, one may well have invested nearly $50,000. Before being considered for even an entry level professional pilot slot, this newly rated pilot needs to accumulate another 500-750 pilot-in-command (PIC) hours. The most economical method to accomplish this is to acquire a CFI rating and begin flight instructing.

Becoming a CFI requires responsibility, intestinal fortitude, psychological study, dedication, and patience. Sadly, these aspects of instructor training are not covered while working on the CFI rating. A new CFI may have only acquired a combined 250-300 flight hours. And then where does an inexperienced CFI go to obtain direction and advice?

Several years ago, there was almost always a seasoned CFI on staff that a fledgling instructor could turn to for advice and direction. Unfortunately, this is often no longer the case. Many of these seasoned instructors have moved on to bigger things with commercial operations, flying charter or with either a regional or major airline, leaving the fledgling instructors to fend for themselves. Sadly, this has exposed a serious weak link in the training of new pilots as well as gaining needed experience by the low-time CFI.

The shortage of seasoned CFIs has created a problem for many colleges offering flight training, professional flight schools, and FBO flight training operations. We have a situation where inexperienced instructors are teaching new instructor candidates. The training and experience needed to become a safe, confident instructor is lacking. Rather, the instruction mostly involves completing the minimal requirements to pass the test.

To prove my point, I had the opportunity to observe a nationwide webinar conducted by a panel of FAA designated pilot examiners. Several years ago, before the heavy influx of new primary students, the average pass rate for first-time private pilot candidates was about 70 percent or greater. Today the average is barely 50 percent. To me, that is a sad reflection on the state of primary flight training.

The areas where the candidates’ weaknesses were most apparent were understanding and performing stalls and making stable approaches to land. This reflects directly back to inadequate instruction. Was it the instructor’s fault? In part, yes. But also partly no. If the instructor was poorly taught by his or her instructor, then the fault must be shared.

This situation has experienced a domino effect. A CFI seldom remains as an instructor for more than about two years — or almost enough time to gain good experience — before moving on. To train and then recommend a CFI candidate properly and legally, the recommending instructor must have a minimum of two years of experience. Some flight schools have a hard time retaining a CFI long enough to meet the two-year requirement. Consequently, we’re seeing instructors with limited experience teaching new instructor candidates.

Another issue has surfaced as well regarding proper flight training. That is the lack of commitment by the new CFIs. Rather than dedicating themselves to be the best they can be, they focus on getting through the day racking up hours instead of truly training students, and then they’re totaling their logbook at day’s end focusing on how many more hours they need to move on.

Throughout the course of our flight training season, we have many students from all over the country come to Cub Air Flight to earn tailwheel endorsements. Some of these tailwheel candidates demonstrate a lack of good flying skills.

Before beginning pattern work, we’ll spend an hour or more getting comfortable in the airplane performing turns, slow flight, and stalls. It is absolutely amazing how many of these pilots are apprehensive, fearful, or unable to demonstrate a stall. So, we spend extra time bringing these pilots up to an acceptable level of safe flying abilities by practicing all sorts of stalls, slow flight, and stable approaches to land. Again, this is a reflection on the quality and inexperience of instruction being provided to these individuals.

As a whole, we in the flight portion of the aviation industry have created our own problem. Instructor pay is low, but instructing is often a necessary step in career advancement. The demand for pilots makes rapid advancement highly desirable, so a 500-1,000-hour PIC instructor is here one day and gone the next, just as they reach a point of “knowing what they previously didn’t know” and are able to mentor the new inexperienced CFIs.

The ideal solution would be to have an experienced CFI at every flight training operation mentoring the new inexperienced instructors. Here at Cub Air Flight, we have Bob Lussow, EAA 206907, retired airline pilot and longtime CFI, working with each new instructor we bring on board. He spends time with each explaining and demonstrating how we want the maneuvers to be taught, flies with them on occasion, answers questions they may have regarding student plateaus, and then performs phase check flights with their students. It’s a great system and one that saves frustration from both the students and the instructor as well as saving the students many dollars.

I realize it may not be possible to have someone like Bob at every flight school. In his place, I would strongly suggest that the various professional flight instructor organizations more aggressively recruit the new instructors and make it easier and more comfortable for the new CFI to reach out for direction and advice.

The FAA has recognized this growing weak link in flight training. It has developed a series of webinars focused on sharing teaching methods and discussing situations that a CFI might encounter while working with a student. I would encourage all instructors to look into this as the information presented is quite helpful.

Working together, we can improve the level of flight instruction, turning out much better and safer pilots.

Let’s all have a fun and safe flying experience.

Steve Krog, EAA 173799, has been flying for more than four decades and giving tailwheel instruction for nearly as long. In 2006, he launched Cub Air Flight, a flight training school using tailwheel aircraft for all primary training.