Flying USA – September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 FLYINGMAG.COM | 59

visits to rectify. I’d rather pay up front.
I am OK with a more austere bed-
side manner in a mechanic whose
work is untarnished. Expertise super-
sedes nurturance. When you pull
your airplane inside Bob’s hangar, he
immediately conducts a compression
test. No “Hi, Ben. How’s things?” It’s
just cowls open and ratchets f lying
because the man likes a warm com-
pression reading. You can talk later.
I come from a world where niceties
are very important. I talk to actors
carefully. They need a particular
tone from me to do their best work.
They need assurance. Bob needs
nothing from me. He works on my air-
plane, and I sleep soundly at night.
Vitally, I f ly soundly at night know-
ing that he spent more time on my
airplane’s well-being than my own.
This is a fair trade-off.
The effects of bedside manner
change dramatically when you get
into f light instruction. Here, the goal

is quite different. While every engine

is essentially built up in roughly the

same way, every pilot requires a dif-

ferent approach. Things get inter-

esting when the part being built up

is you. My mother is a therapist. She

ran a private practice for many years,

in that time treating hundreds of

patients. She said that when choosing

a mental health practitioner you really

need to make sure it’s the right fit. If

you have a broken wrist, there’s the

orthopedic surgeon everyone agrees is

the best, bedside manner be damned.

Finding a shrink is more akin to dat-

ing. The most qualified person may

not be the best match for you. In avi-

ation, CFIs are closer to therapists

than orthopedists. Yes, they all must

convey the same material and knowl-

edge, but how and if that occurs varies

wildly between instructors.

Bedside manner is crucial in these

interactions because it influences

how the student learns. A student

who is made to feel stupid for ask-

ing a question will think twice before

asking another. He may let some-

thing slide that he does not fully

grasp to avoid the discomfort of

being judged. Somewhere down

the line that deficiency will reveal

itself to the student—hopefully not

on  a solo f light.

Neil Korman trained me for my

private pilot certificate in 2012 and,

later, for my instrument rating. He

gave me all the right tools. He taught

me to be cautious but confident,

showed me how to f ly approaches

with a partial panel, and made me

listen to the plane. Initially, I didn’t

think I could make my turns to base

and final without an airspeed indica-

tor. He convinced me otherwise. He

imparted on me good decision-mak-

ing skills. The single exception where

I ignored his instruction was in the

spring of 2018, departing Telluride,

Colorado, where I was caught out by

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