Concerned about Washing Out of a Flight Training Program?

First, are you paying for the flight training? 

As a customer, don’t hesitate to take your good money to a new instructor or flight school to get the service you are seeking and paying for.

If you’re enrolled in a company-sponsored flight training program, however, read on. 

Did you see my article 8 How-Tos for Airline New-Hire Pilot Training, on my website? 

If not, review it now for specific advice and suggestions for how to prepare, organize, study, and persevere to successfully complete any challenging flight training program. Even in the middle of training, it isn’t too late to pick up some pointers. (All articles referenced here are available for free on this website.)

Have you clashed with a certain instructor? Is your instructor yelling and berating you, quietly undermining your confidence and your progress, displaying bias towards you, or harassing you? Is your training partner causing these difficulties?

Look out for these and a bunch of other Red Flags that can jeopardize your training -- and your life! Do NOT allow that go on day after day. Quietly and politely ask the training program managers if you can be switched to another instructor or training partner. They might already know they have someone who generates problems or shows bias against certain flavors of pilots.

If the managers specifically ask you about the person’s misconduct, be forthcoming, circumspect but honest, sticking to the facts and emphasizing the impact it has had on safety of flight, if that applies, and on your ability to learn. If you're being targeted, please read the Halt Harassment in Aviation Checklist.

Next, are you absolutely out of your depth in this flight training course? Or are you muddling along just like everybody else? 

Try to pull back to see the big picture. For many pilots, it can seem like we aren’t getting the hang of things through weeks of training, only to have everything gel and come together just in time for the checkride. So you might be doing better than you realize. Try to take an honest and objective assessment of yourself and your progress. 

You realize you ARE behind. Now, what can happen?

These training courses are structured to fit most pilot trainees, but they don’t work for everyone. If you’ve fallen a little behind, but not much, the training managers may see that you’re still making forward progress and are getting close, and might decide to give you an extra simulator session or two, to get you across the finish line. Or they might think you have fallen too far behind, or have reached a plateau of learning, or are not worth the investment of more sim sessions. Remember, simulators and instructors are very costly.

In this situation, how you conduct yourself is critically important. If you maintain an upbeat, positive attitude — “I’m learning and improving, I’m trying my best, I appreciate the instruction and consideration given, I think I can do this with a little extra help!” — it can make all the difference. Training managers are more likely to extend help to someone who is still capable of learning and still keeping a positive attitude. They are much less inclined to offer this to someone who has given up on themselves, or who is oblivious or defensive about their weaknesses, or who lashes out to blame the instructor or program for their issues in training. 

What if you are washed out of training? How can you recover? Is your career over?

A training failure and job termination are hard blows, but these are also opportunities to learn more about yourself, grow, and come back even stronger. And your pilot career is NOT over.  

Please remember that flight training is really hard, especially in more complex aircraft and operating environments. Yet you have made it this far. That is a lot! So don’t lose faith — you can recover! My article Overcoming Failures can help.

May your dreams take flight!

© 2022 Jenny Beatty. All Rights Reserved.

Photo credit: Tima Miroschnichenko