The Supervisory Process
At one of our Flight Instructor Refresher Courses in 2016, we had an unusually large number of Class 1 and Class 2 flight instructors in attendance. We put their collective efforts together as part of a special assignment. We asked them a question, and their responses were near unanimous - whether the instructor worked at a small school, or a large one.We asked them: "What would you like new flight instructors to know about their role in supporting the instructor supervision program?" Here are their answers:
• Follow the instructions laid out by your CFI or supervisor. Whether in an Operations Manual or verbal, they are there for a reason you may not be aware of yet.
• Conduct training in accordance with the school's syllabus, policies, handouts, and procedures. There is a reason those were developed the way they were. If you have an idea to improve them, please share with your CFI so that it can be evaluated by experienced eyes. If it's a good idea it will be incorporated for everyone. If there is a problem with it, the CFI will explain why the change can't happen.
• Whether a CARs requirement or a company requirement, both are equally important. Company requirements are there to address CARs requirements or other issues that have come up in the past. If you are unsure why you are required to do something, just ask.
• The CFI and supervisors are there as mentors and it's normal to have questions. Please ask as soon as you run into concerns with a student; don't think you have to fix it on your own - it can result in unnecessary stress and cost
.• Supervision isn't just about a supervisory flight. It's about briefings, PGIs, groundschool, planning training, paperwork, and everything else - supervisors support all aspects of this.
• Supervision should be an ongoing dialogue, not a single top down event. Take initiative, ask questions, and work as a team with your supervisor. Then when a need for an additional supervisory event comes up, it doesn't have to be a big issue.
• Supervision doesn't mean two flights per the CARs for Class 4 instructors. ALL instructor classes require supervision and the CFI determines how, and to what extent, based on a variety of factors. Best practise in industry for newer instructors is that each student gets a supervisory flight every 10 hours. During this flight the supervising instructor samples a variety of exercises, and may teach a new topic as well.
• Paperwork is a required part of the job. PTRs, logbooks, and license applications need your constant attention to ensure compliance with the CARs.
• It goes without saying, but this is a part of your professionalism as a flight instructor. It goes hand in hand with other supervisor concerns such as keeping to schedule, arriving to work on time, and providing a customer service driven training experience.I think these answers are worth pure gold to Class 3 and Class 4 flight instructors everywhere, and hope you find them useful. If you're interested in having discussions like these to renew your flight instructor rating, in lieu of a flight test, learn more about our Flight Instructor Refresher Courses.