Unprofessionalism beyond belief
Many of you have heard about the airplane crash that occurred last week southeast of Owensboro which took the lives of two young men. I have had many conversations with the local aviation community about it, but decided I should wait a week for my anger to subside before putting my thoughts in writing. The anger is still present, but I feel it is time for the words to come forth. They probably won’t be my last on the subject.
I don’t think I’ve ever been as upset about an aircraft accident as I have been about this one. I have run out of adjectives to describe the total lack of professionalism displayed by the instructor via his social media posts before and during the flight. Just the act of posting to social media during the flight is unprofessional. The content of the posts is unfathomable.
If you are unfamiliar with this accident or the posts, they are available via a simple internet search. I will not post them here. I don’t want to look at them again.
Whether a flight instructor is brand-new and holds their first temporary certificate or is a veteran instructor with more years behind them than ahead, professionalism is vital. Whether that instructor is using their flight instruction time as a stepping-stone to an airline career or instructs for the joy of sharing aviation with others is immaterial; flight instructors must be professional all day, every day.
Those not in aviation are often surprised to learn the flight instruction is the most common entry level job of a pilot. The thought of a flight instructor to the public often conjures up an image of the graying-more-by-the-day person I see in the mirror each morning and not the 20-year-old me that passed my Flight Instructor Practical Test many years ago. Skills can be demonstrated, tests can be passed, but the maturity and judgment required of a flight instructor are put to the test every single flight lesson as an instructor. That is hard to teach, and all young flight instructors need supervision. A mentor is ideal, maybe a must-have, but in the absence of a mentor there must be another flight instructor, a formal or informal leader that wisely guides the young person and provides the mortar that fills in the gaps that naturally occur from inexperience and helps build a professional flight instructor. Perhaps the industry’s thirst for certificated pilots and flight instructors is causing this step to be overlooked in many cases.
I have yet to discuss any of the technical or regulatory issues of the flight, but other than the obvious “don’t fly into a thunderstorm,” there is one technical issue on this flight that I would certainly approach differently. This flight was intended to meet all the night flight requirements for a Private Pilot certificate in one flight. I believe students will learn more by breaking up the night flight requirements into at least two flights. Nighttime is an alien environment for the student pilot, and piling all the requirements into one flight denies them the opportunity to absorb the peculiarities of night flight and apply what they have learned on their next night flight. It’s legal and expeditious, but also fatiguing and rushed.
The NTSB will do a thorough investigation of this accident and many months from now will issue a final report. The factors that led to the indefensible decision to undertake a night cross-country into the weather that evening will be analyzed. But any professional that views the social media posts of that night will note the impatient instructor drumming his fingers on the fuselage of the airplane while posting derogatory statements about his student when he should be teaching and conclude that link in the error chain to be the most egregious factor that night. The young student and his parents certainly thought he was flying with a professional and competent flight instructor that night, and that night the instructor was neither. All flight instructors must learn from this, and we all must strive to do better.