CFI-A Lesson 5

Today's lesson never had a chance. Last night, I was too intrigued with the thought of finding a way to watch the football game on my computer to verify my lesson plans were complete and ready for today - strike one. This morning, I couldn't get myself out of bed when the alarm went off because I was so tired from being up most of the night listening to Andrew coughing in his room - strike two. Feeling the rush to get out the door so Susan could be at Andrew's school in time, I again did not ensure my lesson plans were complete and ready for today's lesson - strike three.

When I arrived for my lesson, I realized that I had not printed out any of the material that I needed to cover for today's lesson. No problem, I thought, I'll just grab my documents off the Internet at school and print them out. Unfortunately, FlightSafety Academy locks down their network and allows access to only a few sites; Microsoft Office Live is not on the approved list. So there I sat, unable to present my lesson plan from memory, feeling like a fool. And the worst part is that I basically forced my instructor to charge a no-show fee for the full 3.5 hours of brief and flight. There's nothing that irritates me more than spending money wastefully.

So what did I learn from all of this? Preparation is the key to success. A flight instructor must be thoroughly prepared for each lesson. It is unprofessional to be anything less. The problem with that point is that achieving thorough preparation is a hard goal to achieve. Nothing and no one is ever perfectly prepared for everything that might happen. I must at least be prepared with all my paperwork in order and a detailed plan for what will be covered on the ground and in the airplane. My future students deserve nothing less.