first female student

Female students are great for two reasons.
1. They tend to listen a lot better. Obviously this one is individual specific, but USUALLY the guys tended to think that because they had read it in a book or slacked their way through ground school or (my favorite) heard it from a roommate they had it all figured out and they had to screw up a few times trying it their way before they'd really listen to the CFI. The gals usually didn't have that problem.
2. After 1.5 in a 172 in Texas in the summer, the gals smell a LOT better than the dudes.
 
The idea that everyone is the same and should be treated the same and taught the same is bunk. Anyone who says men and women are the same has never dated, been married, much less had children of different sexes. Sorry- they are different.
The only female students I have ever had issues with were... "more mature". Even then they were very good at the ground work they normally just did not have the confidence in themselves and their ability to fly. Once we overcame this issue they were normally great pilots.
I would also agree with the statement that the best students I have ever had were females. I would probably have to go down about five students before I got to the first guy. Several of the girls were natural pilots. One was so good that I took her up for some aerobatic and spin training to "kill time" while waiting for her to turn 17 so she could take the check ride. Even there I would show her something once and she would duplicate it. The only issue I had was the rampers always wanted to help her and they sometimes got distracted when she was around. I was once walking out to an airplane with her, looked up at the airplane, and noticed that the ramper was so enthralled with her that fuel was running all over the wing of the airplane and onto the ground.
I also found that you can eliminate at least one of the hazardous attitudes- macho. I don't think I ever flew with a "macho" female pilot and if you look through the accident data base you will rarely find cases of female pilots buzzing their boyfriend's house. Not saying it never happens, just that it is very rare.
 
About a third of my students were women. A trend I started to notice is that they always had a good time learning to fly. Most would show up and leave with a more positive attitude and didn't dwell on or beat themselves up if they had a bad flying day. They seemed to be content and patient with what ever pace they were learning. Overall, I think they respond to and accept constructive criticism much better.

I would describe the private pilot learning curve of women being more shallow and progressively moving upward. With men it increase sharply with many plateaus along the way... Men tend to be much to hard on themselves, in such a way it prohibits any learning from taking place.

I used to dread having middle aged men as primary students... They're way to emotional....
 
Don't let the student change your outlook on what is really happening just because she's got boobs. Unfortunately men sometimes bend standards when boobs come into play - both for and against the student depending on the situation.

Keep the same standards and expectations for this student as with all your other ones.
 
moxiepilot said:
Don't let the student change your outlook on what is really happening just because she's got boobs. Unfortunately men sometimes bend standards when boobs come into play - both for and against the student depending on the situation.

Keep the same standards and expectations for this student as with all your other ones.
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I LOVE boobs.

But yeah. Treat her just like every other student. You should always be trying to figure out their unique learning style, not just for the ones that are different.
 
But yeah. Treat her just like every other student. You should always be trying to figure out their unique learning style, not just for the ones that are different.[/quote]

Agreed. Just don't try to teach them to parallel park the 172, it's not in their DNA.
 
moxiepilot said:
Don't let the student change your outlook on what is really happening just because she's got boobs. Unfortunately men sometimes bend standards when boobs come into play - both for and against the student depending on the situation.

Keep the same standards and expectations for this student as with all your other ones.
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Right. I heard of a DE who passed a realy hot IR applicant even after she almost forgot to lower the gear.
 
jafra98 said:
A student is a student no matter the gender;).........
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50% of that statement is BS. The majority of the women I've endorsed have used the T&A card numerous times for easy evaluations, didn't work when it came to safety. Or the attitude of I'm too weak to hold the rudder in my leg is shaking! (after 15 seconds of engine out ops) I have to say I've had my fair share of wimpy lazy men and ballzy women. The other 50% is true gender is gender attitude and determination has to be a positive constant across the board.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2
 
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