Quote:
Originally Posted by e90pilot
I'm no driving instructor, but I was a full time flight instructor for 4 years and I train new pilots at the current company I work for. As far as a completely new pilot reading up on concepts or playing lots of Flight Sim, it can go either way. It was more dependent on attitude rather knowledge. If someone was more open minded it was easy. No unlearning required. If you get some cocky smartass (aviation usually attracts this kind of personality) its tough because they think they know more than you. Usually that's when I reach in my grab back of dirty tricks and scare the shit out of them (before they scare the shit out of me lol). I'm guessing sure driving isn't too different. Keep an open mind, and don't be too certain you understand a concept until you really do. OP you seem like an open minded guy, so your instructor will like you.
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I completely agree that driving, like flying, can’t be self-taught from books alone. You also need competent instruction and hands-on experience to bring it all together. That’s why I recommended the Skip Barber Racing School in my initial post. That said, book knowledge and memorization are essential for all technically competent aviators (operating limits, emergency procedures, VFR/IFR minimums and procedures, systems, aerodynamics, aeromedical factors, flight planning, weather, etc.). In fact, the flight maneuvers are the easiest part of flying! The personalities of aviators and race car drivers are very similar too, which is probably why I enjoy flying, driving, and the camaraderie found at airfields and race tracks so much. I’ve been hooked on both since I first took the controls of my first aircraft (UH-1) and race car (SCCA Spec Racer) in the early 90’s.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been all that impressed with the club-sponsored HPDE instruction (classroom and in-car) that I’ve received in that I had to unlearn or ignore what some of my BMWCCA instructors taught me because it contradicted what I was taught at the Skip Barber Racing School. For example, the club almost always set up the braking, turn in, apex and track out reference points (cones) so that students would late apex. Of course this is safer than apexing early, but I actually had a BMWCCA instructor get really upset with me because I methodically braked later and turned in earlier until I was using the whole track while exiting the turn (on the Uphill at Lime Rock). This was after I already had some racing school and track experience, but I was new to driving with BMWCCA so they made an instructor ride with me. I announced what I was doing and intentionally tracked out so that my left tires were at the outside edge of the track. I was in control and safe so I was really shocked at what a p***y my instructor was. Also, the BMWCCA taught “new” students to brake in a straight line on all corners (no trail braking). It seems that some clubs only teach trail braking to their advanced students, so the conventional wisdom is that they’re the only ones capable of trail braking at club-sponsored HPDEs. Go figure... These are just two examples of improper driving techniques I heard from BMWCCA instructors. My appraisal is that some of these club instructors are primarily there to get free track time and they possess little more than basic driving knowledge and ability.
That’s just my experience with a handful of BMWCCA instructors though, and I'm sure there are some very good ones out there.