by Dean Zakos
“Get in, and pay attention,” Obie gruffly told me.” – from the short story “Threading the Needle”
If you think back, you likely had many mentors over your aviation career. It may have started with a pilot who was a friend or a relative who first introduced you to the world of aviation. It certainly continued with your certified flight instructors, who taught you the skills, gave you the knowledge, and imparted the basics of primary flying, instrument flying and, perhaps, commercial and multi-engine flying to you. A boss, a check airman, or a chief pilot may also have been involved. It likely continues to this day, with fellow pilots you fly with, talk to, and learn from.
A good mentor, if performing the role well, serves two essential functions for the mentored pilot. First, he or she must be seen as a coach providing sound advice and the necessary structure and learning to establish and further the mentored pilot’s performance and development. However, there is a second, and equally important, part to play. A good mentor is also (or should be) a role model, who consistently displays high standards, sets a good example in a classroom or cockpit, and is there to support and encourage the mentored pilot.
We all recognize that flying has changed over the years. I am not referring to the laws of physics, and the importance of thrust, lift, weight, and drag on an airframe which remain dominant and immutable characteristics of flight. I am referring to many other aspects of flying: aircraft design and materials, powerplants, avionics, FAA regulations, methods of teaching, the emphasis on what to teach and, most importantly, the varied capabilities of the men and women today who harbor some dream of flying.
A student pilot no longer solos in six or eight hours. It is more likely now in 10, 20 or, for a few, even more hours. Can a student pilot still solo in a small number of hours? Certainly. The reasons why most student pilots do not are many and complex. Pilots learn at different rates and absorb information in various ways. Some students require more visual learning, others more verbal cues. Some students require more repetition and support, some less.
All of us, I am sure, if we remain committed and work diligently, can obtain substantially what we desire from aviation, but it may take a little extra time and, possibly, more assistance for some than for others. A certain percentage of pilots are more linear in their thinking, in which they consider an idea or process to begin from a point, follow a series of connected steps, and end at a point. Other pilots, instead, are more comfortable making connections among unrelated concepts. Both ways can be effective. Some pilots ace the practical tests and checkrides… others slide by just under the wire. Some pilots easily master straight-and-level flight, climbs and descents, steep turns, and landings. Others do not. Some instrument-rated pilots readily develop the habit of a good instrument scan and excel at single-pilot IFR, others struggle. We all continue to learn and expand, at our own pace, our understanding of weather, aircraft systems, safe habits, and the finer points of airmanship.
Today, an honest designated pilot examiner (DPE) may admit he or she has encountered a student for a private pilot checkride who does not understand and cannot explain how a four-stroke gasoline engine operates or identify what a windsock is and what it tells a pilot prior to takeoff or describe what carburetor heat is and why you need it on certain aircraft engines. These deficiencies, although possibly attributable to the quality or rapid or uneven pace of flight instruction, also underscore a lack of fundamental and personal flying know-how. Can knowledge-challenged pilots become great pilots? Absolutely! They may just need assistance from more senior pilots who have lived and flown in the real world for a longer time. That is why all of us, as pilots, have an obligation to be good mentors when we can or when called upon.
I will always be grateful for the circumstances I found myself in after I learned to fly. Like many pilots in GA, I knew I would not follow a path to a career in aviation. I chose to fly for fun and for the personal challenge. When I worked full time, my flying was mostly confined to weekends. Flying alone, I faced a steep learning curve to absorb and understand piloting knowledge and flying skills beyond the minimums the FAA requires. Luckily, the local EAA Chapter on my airport arranged flyouts for breakfast almost every Saturday morning when there was good VFR weather. The result: a random mix-and-match of pilots and airplanes, where I often found myself flying in the left seat with a more experienced, more knowledgeable, and more talented pilot in the right seat, or the reverse, where I could sit in the right seat of someone else’s airplane and observe a better pilot in the left seat. The experiences and knowledge I gained were invaluable.
The need for inexperienced pilots to find mentors continues today. I believe the two initiatives that can make the most significant improvement in Part 91 GA accident rate fatalities over time are (1) the mentoring of new private pilots and new instrument pilots, and (2) recurrent emphasis and instruction in Advanced Qualification Program (AQP) scenarios. AQP, a voluntary, data-driven, scenario-based program, was started by the FAA and the airlines in the 1980s and is now slowly filtering down to non-professional pilots. AQP for GA takes the form of approximately 20 specifically identified real-world flying situations that are either not adequately covered, or not covered at all, by the FAA’s formal training requirements. The results of AQPs are real and impressive.
I am not in a position to assess when a pilot moves from the status of “inexperienced” pilot benefitting from mentoring assistance to “experienced” pilot who is capable of providing such assistance. I am reminded that all pilots, no matter how senior, are “always learning.” Logged flying hours as PIC are clearly a large part of experience, but not the only factor. Ratings, varied flying experiences with weather, long cross-country trips, mountain flying, and “stick-time” in different types of aircraft, are beneficial as well. Additional mentoring opportunities may also exist for more senior pilots who have lost a medical or who have given up their certificates, but who can still sit in a right seat or share past experiences with a mentored pilot.
At this point in my flying life, I fall somewhere along the middle of the scale – no longer a novice, but not close to being the most experienced pilot on the airport either. Each of us has to make such an assessment on an individual basis.
The FAA also believes in the value of mentoring programs. See, e.g., Adams et al, Best Practices in Mentoring in Aviation Education, Federal Aviation Administration, v.1.1., December 2009. The focus of the FAA publication is on new private pilots and new certified flight instructors. However, newly-minted instrument pilots could also benefit from the same type of mentoring programs.
Mentoring programs for pilots can and do borrow heavily from the business world, where mentoring high-potential employees by more senior employee/leaders in a structured environment is now well-established with proven value. These programs can be formal or informal. The FBO providing flight instruction at the local airport, the local EAA chapter, or local CFIs can all be part of the planning and implementation. In addition to your local flight school or FBO, other resources who encourage mentoring or may provide opportunities are the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and the local Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP).
The framework of a program could be as simple as voluntary sign-up lists of pilots seeking mentoring and experienced pilots offering assistance, and then matching mentored pilots and mentors based on needs and capabilities. The mentor relationship may involve discussions on the ground or in the cockpit. The mentor may simply act as a resource for a mentored pilot for questions and provide useful suggestions on how to improve flight planning, flying skills, or practical knowledge. Subject matter such as weather, personal minimums, aircraft systems, decision-making, best practices, and flying knowledge, could be identified and agreed upon by the individuals.
I must emphasize that what I am suggesting is in no way, on either a legal or practical basis, intended to replace proper ground and flight instruction required by FAA regulations. The mentor/mentee relationship is never to “instruct” and would only supplement and support the mentored pilot’s formal training and experience. If you think about it, some form of the mentoring process has occurred from the beginning of powered flight, albeit often in less organized and less structured ways. The military and the airlines have greatly benefited over time from their systematic processes of matching junior officers with senior officers on the ground, in simulators, and in aircraft.
Not all GA pilots are lucky enough, on their own, to find and have available mentors willing to assist. We can change that.
Here is what the FAA suggests for roles and responsibilities of mentors:
– The mentor needs substantial and relevant experience matched to the needs of and goals of the mentored pilot;
– The mentor needs to approach the relationship more from the perspective of a trusted friend or teacher, willing to be a resource in a non-threatening and non-judgmental manner;
– The mentor will need to bring strong communication skills. As a pilot, it can be difficult to convey a concept effectively if it is not already clear in your mind. You will need to have mastered the subject matter to be able to explain it to the mentored pilot;
– The mentor needs to understand the goals of the mentored pilot. For example, does the mentored pilot want to engage in recreational flying for fun, personal transportation for business or pleasure, or to pursue a professional aviation career?;
– The mentor will need to convey and accept a mutual understanding of the responsibilities of both the mentor and the mentored pilot. The mentored pilot will always act as PIC. The mentor will not and cannot act in any way as a surrogate CFI; and
– The mentor will need to understand the importance of, and establish, a personal long-term connection to the mentored pilot. A continuing, committed relationship is the most effective form of mentoring.
In addition, the FAA provides the following general guidelines for mentor pilots:
– Listen to the full story of the mentored pilot;
– Ask what specific assistance the mentored pilot needs from you;
– Help the mentored pilot better define the required assistance, prioritize concerns, and decide what additional information is needed going forward;
– Remember, you, as mentor, are only a resource; the final decision always rests with the PIC;
– Affirm the mentored pilot’s decisions, e.g., “based on everything we have talked about, I believe you have made a smart decision.”
– Follow up with the mentored pilot later. Have the mentored pilot describe and reflect on what his flying experience was like post-mentoring. This is essential to building the kind of critical thinking, self-assessment skill, and judgment that you are helping to develop through the mentoring experience.
When many pilots first learned to fly or when they first obtained an instrument rating, they may not have been exposed to a community of experienced pilots they could turn to for advice. Personal minimums, flight planning, radio phraseology, avionics, and maintenance were subjects I knew a little about when I started out, but I lacked the depth, breadth, and nuances of knowledge and expertise that other, more experienced pilots possessed. A pilot can certainly struggle through without assistance, or delay questions, as many do, for a required flight review, but I cannot help but think that many Part 91 incidents and accidents I read about each month could have been avoided or minimized if only a mentor had been available to a new private pilot or new instrument pilot.
In addition to encouragement, what a mentored pilot may need most is a better, more understandable explanation of subject matter where experience or knowledge is lacking in post-checkride flying. A highly regarded flight instructor I know believes that an instructor is “extraordinary” when he or she can break down a complex subject into simple, easy to understand, portions. A mentor can do the same thing, so long as the mentor thoroughly understands the subject. The key is to recognize how the mentored pilot best learns and tailor advice to that. A mentor may find, over time, that there may be more than one way to impart information. I know from my own flying experience that there is seldom only one “right way” to teach something or do something in an airplane. A clear advantage of the mentor/mentored pilot relationship is that alternatives can be explored and then either adopted or discarded, depending on what the mentored pilot is most comfortable with or best suited to in his or her flying. A mentored pilot, without the mentor relationship, may, on his or her own, arrive at the same conclusions, but likely only after trial and error and, possibly, serious mistakes along the way.
We can all recognize the needs of new private pilots and new instrument pilots. We also know that there are many experienced and skilled pilots who may, if they are asked and if they can devote the time, be willing to establish a mentor relationship. A deliberate and thoughtful match between these two groups can result in the mentored pilot’s skills and competencies being enhanced, the mentor’s hard-earned knowledge and skills being passed on and put to good use, and a promising chance over time to reduce the rate of GA incidents and accidents.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dean Zakos (Private Pilot ASEL, Instrument) of Madison, Wisconsin, is the author of “Laughing with the Wind, Practical Advice and Personal Stories from a General Aviation Pilot.” Mr. Zakos has also written numerous short stories and flying articles for Midwest Flyer Magazine and other aviation publications
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this column is the expressed opinion of the author only, and readers are advised to seek the advice of their personal flight instructor and others, and refer to the Federal Aviation Regulations, FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, and instructional materials before attempting any procedures discussed herein.
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