Training Tip: You wanted answers
Spring is coming and the pace of flying activity is about to pick up, so it’s a good time to settle those age-old questions that student pilots, pilots, and instructors love to debate about flight training once and for all.
Q. I think I should fly from a towered airport. Am I right?
A. Yes, you are right. At a towered airport, you will sharpen your communications skills, interact with a wide variety of aircraft types, and develop comfort with controlled airspace operations.
A. Yes, you are right. At a nontowered airport you will sharpen your communications skills, learn to coordinate for safety with a wide variety of aircraft types, and plan your arrivals and departures based on ever-changing scenarios.
Q. Wait—you just gave two student pilots completely opposite advice about what kind of airports they should go to for flight training.
A. You are right, too.
Q. The flight school I am considering has low-wing training airplanes, which they say have some clear advantages for training. Are they right?
A. Yes. You’ll love flying low-wing airplanes. Great visibility in turns.
Q. The other flight school on the field has high-wing airplanes. Do they have advantages too?
A. Yes. Great downward visibility. You’ll love them.
Q. Is a newly certificated flight instructor a good choice to teach a brand-new student pilot like me?
A. Certainly. He or she is bursting with enthusiasm and can’t wait to fly with you. This CFI represents the future of aviation.
Q. Is an old veteran flight instructor a good match for a brand-new student pilot like me?
A. Absolutely. Sharing a lifetime of aviation enthusiasm by introducing new people to flying never gets old. It’s one of the joys of instructing.
Q. I have been told that training in a glass-cockpit airplane (whatever that is) is the way to go for my flight training. What do you think?
A. You can’t go wrong. It’s where aviation is headed.
Q. I have been told that training in a “steam-gauge” airplane (whatever that is) is the way to go for my flight training. What do you think?
A. You can’t go wrong. There are plenty of them out there, and they are not going away anytime soon.
No more questions?
Good. Looks like we have finally resolved those perennial questions. About time.
Dan Namowitz
