The CFI

You’ve all met “Bob”. I’ve asked if I can reveal his true identity. Masked no more – He is Russ M. – Creator of Pilots. This post is about how he managed to live through having me as a student. There is an old CFI saying that goes something like this. “Be careful, all the students ARE trying to kill you.” The saying is old, and fortunately most of the CFI’s as well. Good ones don’t let their students kill them, that being the main point of early instruction. I don’t know if Russ would agree, but I don’t think he truly feared for his life at any point during our time together, but I do know that I provided, well, challenges. I was his first, probably only student to …

• Land so short on 33 I missed the runway altogether. He pointed out the error of my ways as we bounced delicately across the bump where grass and runway meet.
• Get lost on her solo cross country causing him to receive a call from the FAA.
• Learn to land by body language, requiring a second solo.
• Cause him to receive compliments on his manhood from my husband and daughter based on his ability to teach me and willingness to get into a plane to do so. Not wanting to embarrass Russ, I’ll not share the exact nature of those compliments.

I’m also his only former student to…

• Be detained at an airport by Homeland Security, Police and Border Patrol. (That’s another story to follow.)

In spite of the challenges, Russ got me through and during the same period created pilots out of two friends, and my husband. The photo is Russ (second from right) and those four pilots he created.