Two months down

I was looking through my logbook and realized that I'm just finishing up my second full month of flight instructing.

I passed the CFI checkride on July 20^th, then didn't touch an airplane for over a month. My first lesson with my primary student was on September 4^th.

Then it was down to AEL for the CFII, which I passed on September 13^th and my instrument student started a week later.

So, since that week in September I've given 33 hours of dual. That's not a lot, but more than I thought I had. I'm still feeling my way around a bit most days but it's surprising how used to it I've gotten.

It's been more fun than I expected and certainly more challenging than I'd anticipated.

The funny thing is, the highlights so far haven't been what I would have expected. I don't know exactly what I expected the highlights to be, but I sure never thought I'd be as proud as I was the first time my primary student rolled the airplane so gently to a stop I could barely feel it, for example.

With my primary student, we've been working the traffic pattern to get him ready to solo. He'd been having trouble lining up on the center line when turning final, which meant he was never really getting stabilized. The landings themselves were getting smoother, but the center line was still elusive.

I was starting to wonder if that picture would ever come together so I had him fly right down the runway at about 10 feet a few times and keep the airplane right over the line. We'd done this exercise a few times before but I think he was too overwhelmed by other tasks at the time to really concentrate on what I wanted him to see.

Then, on our last lesson, something clicked. He turned final and automatically crabbed ever so slightly and tracked the center line all the way to the runway, at which point he forgot to flare and we bounced higher than I thought possible.

But despite the bounce I was tickled, since he'd overcome the center line hurdle and I knew the bounce was an anomaly.

I've been saying less and less in the air and letting him get used to making his own decisions since he'll soon be out on his own. If all goes well he'll probably solo in another four or five hours, which will be a big day for both of us.

There's really two kinds of satisfaction in play here. The first is just the overall enjoyment at watching somebody who could barely taxi the airplane 20 hours ago turning into a pilot. The second is watching all the smaller individual accomplishments along the way.

It's pretty damn satisfying to watch somebody get over their own hurdles because I remember just how impossible it felt and then how good it felt once I'd gotten past a particular barrier (of which there were, and still are, many for this semi-skilled pilot.)

I really need to pick up some more students. Not so much for the hours or the money (although more income would be nice) but because it's just so much fun.