first female student

I only had trouble with one. She out ranked me ( Officer vs. enlisted), was an engineer, and never had trouble with anything before in her life (flying didn't come naturally.) She was my only failure.
 
i always told my students that you have to treat the airplane like a lady when flaring. Be gentle. Without thinking I said that to a female student. Right after i said that i was like of frick i shouldnt of said that. She laughed and said well i guess its a good thing i am a lesbian. I couldnt speak the rest of the flight.
 
Most of the best pilots I have ever known have been women. Many of my mentors have been as well. Some of those same pilots have given back to their communities by working with girl scouts or boys and girls club through Women in Aviation.

I was so impressed that I joined that organization myself.

A student is a student, but I believe that women work harder and are less willing to accept sloppy flying. They demand perfection of themselves.

The only question is whether or not you will show up to her lesson well prepared enough to give her her money's worth.
 
Mach.12 said:
Anyone have any thoughts on different methods for teaching a female vs male?
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I never noticed any gender-specific differences.

But I did notice several with a "I've Got a Minority Flight Instructor, Now What? Tips, Tricks and Idiosyncrasies" book. That was odd.
 
Not so much worried about their skills, just wondering if there is a better way to present information.
 
The only thing I would b eworried is about is how your student views navigation. Girls tend to think in terms of I turn left at the mall than I need to go southwest. I've heard of some instructors playing the chalk map game to help them out.
 
actually though that student in my previous post was the best. like it was said. women students work ten times harder then guys. I had to make homework assignments for her for the E6B because she wanted practice.
 
I figure if it's that much of a difference, HEY CFI: You're doing it wrong! :)
 
The only differences I've seen are the ones you already know about, just applied to aviation. Guys tend to do stupid stuff and ask questions later. For example, guys will fly into a nasty crosswind they can't handle, then screw up at a really bad time, so you've got to be ready to jump. Girls tend to think it through and not get into those situations. I had a female student who was an excellent pilot, but I was constantly on her about pushing her boundaries and getting out of her comfort zone. Sharpest student I've ever had. I never had to tell her something more than once. Most if the guys on the other hand... "More right rudder... more right rudder... MORE RIGHT RUDDER!!!! GAAHHH!!!"
 
I only had one. Incredibly intelligent, doing a doctorate in some kind of polymer film science that was way beyond my ability to understand much of. She is now with NASA, and cursing Obama. She knew all the material at day 1. Spent as much time sitting in the airplane on the ground practicing as she did flying. Breezed through the checkride with minimum hours.
 
I had a female student when I was instructing for the Naval Academy Introductory Flight Screening program. We were in a steep turn, grabbed her bag, yacked in it, rolled it up, and rolled right on her heading and said "so what you're saying is I need more back pressure in order to keep the nose up to keep the vertical component of lift from decreasing."

I was amazed. She was by far my best student.

Then two days before she was about to go down to Pensacola for training, the Navy decided that they had too many people in the program and decided to send anyone with any kind of a waiver to go do other jobs for the navy. She had wanted so badly to be a Navy pilot, and was the best one I saw come through the program. Sucks.
 
I'm going to assume that you treat all your students with respect and, as you learn more about their personal needs and motivations, refine your program appropriately. Therefore: treat her like any other student.

There are as many differences among the 51% of the population that is female as the other 49%, so you're be better served thinking in terms of "what does this potential pilot need" than "what does this female need?"
 
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