Because they don’t know any better, many instructors leave their students with a poor understanding of basic airmanship.

By Rich Stowell, MCFI-A

Perhaps you’ve heard the riddle, "What do you call the person who graduates at the bottom of the class in medical school?" The answer: Doctor. The maxim being conveyed applies equally well to aviation: What do you call the pilot who has met the minimum standards set forth in FAR 61.183-187? Answer: Certificated Flight Instructor. Yet whether acting in the capacity of doctor or flight instructor, that individual is directly responsible for another person’s well being. Others literally may live or die based directly on the doctor’s and the flight instructor’s knowledge and skills. …