Most new CFIs, with all good intentions, try to help too much. They consequently micromanage and monopolize the flight experience, eliminating most “learning opportunities” for their students. The greatest gift an educator can provide after presenting a lesson outline is allowing a safe place for their learner to independently make and correct their small errors; “flub it up and fix it.” This creates the critical “learning opportunity” essential to building confidence and proficiency. For the new CFI, this sloppy flying can be excruciating since every pilot wants perfection. But humans learn by doing, trying, and experimenting.
This “experimentation” obviously needs to be guided carefully, but the savvy CFI carefully avoids helping too much once the learner has achieved a level of basic competence. The ultimate goal in flight training is to get out of the plane. The CFI is there to coach and assist; guiding the learning situation with a velvet glove.
A striving for perfection is built into good pilots, and new CFIs can easily fall into the micro-management habit. It takes conscious effort and commitment to overcome this tendency and allow space for errors. The new and scared CFIs most commonly exhibit “over-control” and never release the yoke (or the mic) for this “experimentation.” They can create an oppressive environment and also never stop talking long enough for a learner to process and assemble information. The end result of micromanaging is a pathetically nervous and dependent pilot with no “command authority” or true skills – a “mouse in a maze.”
Instead, I personally advocate putting training pilots “in charge” as early as confidence and proficiency allow. A major part of aviation safety is assuming responsibility (rare in modern society). I call the building process “incremental mastery,” and the reward for every student is a “half solo” as soon as a learner is in command of the basics. This challenge is carefully briefed and designed to be fun and diagnostic – for both parties involved. The lesson allows a new pilot to handle *everything* all the way out to the practice area (pre-flight, taxi, run-up, radio, etc) with no assistance from the CFI (arms folded, mouth shut). This experience validates the training and immensely empowers the student. If the CFI is a micro-manager they squirm and suffer in the right seat but often discover some new personal strengths also – trust takes time.
By 3-5 hours in the air, most eager learners can accomplish this “half solo” with no problem. Briefing and accomplishing this “half solo” is amazingly empowering and educational for the learner. They immediately see the result of their time, money and effort. Encourage them to debrief their own performance after the flight – you will be surprised! This debrief also builds the essential safety habit of “after flight assessment” that every pilot should perform.Your learner is then ready (and confident) for experiencing slow flight stalls and emergencies.
This process of “incremental mastery” should continue right up until the check ride. Every time your learner exhibits competence in a maneuver or area of flight, they “own it” and command the process from that time forward – e.g. “show me your stall series.” Of course, polish and correction can be added to tighten accuracy and enhance understanding all the way through training. But it is vital to allow your learner to fly “in command” as early as feasible.
By the time a pilot in training departs the nest, fully alone for real “solo,” they are more confident, skilled, and safer. They already know they can climb, turn, and descend accurately because they have continuously demonstrated this component of the flight. Full “solo landing” is just another incremental challenge in the full continuum of becoming a pilot in command. And for confident, empowered flight applicants, the FAA checkride is much less intimidating and they generally excel. By contrast, evaluating a cosseted candidate attempting true control is painful on so many levels. This is made worse by the realization that the CFI who recommended this person actually created these problems rather than solved them.
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It has been years since the FAA embarked on a mission to release a single handbook for aviation weather. Well, the wait is finally over. On December 22, 2022 the FAA published FAA-H-8083-28 Aviation Weather Handbook. It is now available for 
Every honest DPE hates to issue a disapproval notice for an applicant at any level. But this “tough love” is the necessary “safety correction” for unqualified learners. When the 8710 is submitted to the FAA in IACRA, the understanding (and briefing) is; “you are now a private pilot, unless you prove otherwise. You start with 100% on every FAA evaluation!” If the system works correctly, with the CFI and DPE working to the same standard, an unsatisfactory outcome should be rare. An “unsat.” crushes the applicant’s dreams and it’s very hard to put a positive spin on this otherwise negative experience. But try this one; “we saved you from dying from a serious deficiency of skill in a certain area.” Of course, these exact words are not appropriate in a postflight briefing, but that is the harsh reality. Aviation is very unforgiving of errors or deficiencies. My mentor DPE, still testing with 44 years in the business, offered this advice to me when I started 25 years ago; “You never fail anyone, they fail themselves!”
The target audience for 
For safe instrument flight, skills are obviously an essential requirement. But the knowledge component is critical – and often underappreciated. Here are some common weak areas from recent 
If you are still treating GPS as a new navigational system, get over it. The
The FAA has a plan for this and has extended the service volumes of many VORs to create a system called 
on the Gold Seal portal). Russ is a talented and committed educator. He really dug into the details and kept a lot of DPEs busy with his detailed questions. 
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Excellent slow flight skills are the secret to “full-control landings.” Pilots seldom ever fly slow except when landing (several seconds of exposure) and usually have lost their feel for rudder control. The interrelated pitch and power requirements in slow flight are also vital to achieving solid control. So step one is to leave the pattern and work through slow flight in detail with a savvy CFI. Mastery here immediately pays dividends with better landings. The newer FAA focus on entering slow flight and also powering out is really “working your core muscles!” Take a look at the SAFE Extended Envelope Syllabus and add some full deflection steep turns (while slow). This adds some real confidence to a pilot’s landings. It is essential to be fully in control – “aggressive PIC” – when landing.
Finally, putting all the skills back together again yields a more comprehensive understanding of landing and illuminates items many pilots missed during initial flight training. Landing is not just “glide, flare land.” It really requires a more nuanced approach requiring a subtle “level-off and hold-off” in the middle. There are five (or more) steps to a good landing. Most pilots ignore or minimize this center section and try to “force a plane to land.” In actuality, the only good landing is achieved by stabilizing all the proper conditions and “waiting for the plane to land.” Patience is not something most pilots are good at; especially in the level-off/hold-off phase of landing. I encourage all my initial landing learners to count “one potato, two potato, three potato” while in the level-off to build patience until the aircraft settles into the flare phase of landing. Every airplane will talk to you here…be vigilant and patient when landing! AOPA also has a bunch of resources on landing better 
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Another vital skill mentioned in the AC that is the “reasonableness 
The mission of SAFE is to build pilot and CFI professionalism by sharing skills and knowledge (education) thereby enhancing aviation safety. This picture embodies the essence of that mission for me; two aviation professionals eagerly learning and growing. Michael Hare (blue hat) is a SAFE board member, who in addition to flying fighters in the Air Force, spent years as a captain with a legacy airline. In retirement, he is mentoring new CFIs and generously sharing his many hours of experience with pilots and schools (and working for SAFE). But he somehow got a bug about competing in the national aerobatics competition (with the stated goal of “just not finishing last”). So I introduced him to Jim Wells at Sun N Fun a few years back. Jim is a longtime CFI in everything with wings and has flown (and won) competitions at the national level. He now is an aerobatic judge for the national event and has lots to share with others. Sharing ideas and techniques, and spreading aeronautical goodness, is the heart of SAFE. Both of these talented individuals are aviation mentors to many new pilots and CFIs.
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