Let a Student in Your Life …
Jim Davis has a passion for instructing. He has been training civil and military pilots, in the air and on the ground for 50 years. His other passion is writing, which he studied at Curtin University in Perth. You can see, and buy, his two pilot text books PPL and Flight Tests at www.jimdavis.com.aufrom New York.
I am nearly always extremely nice to students in the air, but I have occasionally let them have a broadside on the ground. The second worst example was with Frank the Yank – a middle aged guy
At my little flying school in George we always had a braai to welcome new pupils. While standing around the fire with beers in our hands and good will in our hearts, we chatted to the new arrivals to make them feel at home. I think there were only three of them that month.
I was asking Frank to tell me about New York as I had never been there. I said something stupid like, “I’ve heard that New Yorkers have a reputation for not being very friendly,” rather hoping he would refute this allegation. On the contrary–and I remember his exact words–he said: “What’s there to be friendly about?”
Obviously I thought he was joking – but he certainly wasn’t. He was the most unfriendly, obnoxious character I had ever had to deal with. We all hated him.
One day I was on the phone when he came into my office and started waving his arms around and
