Copyright 1999Substitute teacher
Learning to Fly...From the Ground Up, I’m Tony Seton.
When my flight instructor Captain Robert Scott was called to emergency charter duty, he arranged for me to have another fellow conduct my flying lesson. Robert is a former Air Force pilot, a couple years away from sixty. He actually learned to fly in a jet — a T-37 trainer — when the Air Force shifted away from prop planes in the early Sixties. Robert has been flying for more than half his life, and instructing for 30 years. Outside of the cockpit, he’s a soft-spoken fellow who knows how to add command to his voice when he thinks I am slow in bringing down the nose.
I have complete confidence in Robert. I haven’t a shred of fear that if I were to make a mistake, he would compensate in time. He must have a good sense of who I am as a student, since he’s spent so many years teaching people to fly. And he’s selective about his students. He only teaches those who truly want to fly.
So it was with mixed emotions that I heard that Jason was going to instruct that day. I’d never met him, but was warned that he was older than he looked. He had to be...the 24-year-old would have been carded at a toll booth. But Jason was a marvelous instructor, putting me instantly at ease as we got into the plane. Such a talent is vital for a good teacher, especially in a subject where lives are at stake. Jason exuded a certain confidence that let me focus on my flying without worrying that he could correct should I make an error.
A lot of people with the dream to fly, and the opportunity, climb into a cockpit in their early teens, sometimes before they’re old enough to drive a car. But it is not the years that make the instructor, it’s the person.
From the Ground Up, I’m Tony Seton.