Are you a good flight instructor?

That is the question that was posed to me the other day when I was meeting with a potential new student. Wow, what a question.

So, do I answer that with a resounding YES and sound like a pretentious jerk, or do I say no and risk losing credibility with the guy and loose a client?

How about the middle of the road - "I think I'm an 'OK' flight instructor". Well, most people don't want mediocre, right? Especially when it comes to learning to fly a big, scary airplane in to the wild blue yonder!?! (Ok, the airplane is hardly big - its actually "micro" compared to some people's impressions of aircraft).

For what seemed like about a 5 minute stare in to space, I started to quickly think - "What is a GOOD flight instructor?"

Some might think that the best flight instructors know it all, exude an air of ultra-confidence, and have the demeanor of a military Sargent. I don't think that any of these are the case and I don't think that an instructor even NEEDS to know EVERYTHING. The best instructor knows how to tailor the information in such a manner that the student is able to learn it and find the answers to tough questions when the answers aren't already known. In the airplane, a demonstration of a maneuver, with cool, concise explanations, providing a safe environment (looking for traffic) is what you want.

So, what did I say? I said just what I wrote above and that I treat every student with respect. A round about way of saying "yes"?? You betcha!