One thing people often ask is why we’re so open about what we teach. We’re happy to share our knowledge because this isn’t something we want to keep to ourselves.
Even if you know exactly what we teach, it’s still difficult to teach it well if you’re not a good instructor and you don’t understand the methods behind it. Teaching isn’t just about knowing the information. It’s about knowing how to pass that information on to another pilot.
That’s why I’m happy to do interviews like this and explain the way I think about SIV and pilot progression. If more instructors start thinking about the psychology behind learning, how to build confidence and how to teach people step by step, then the overall standard of SIV improves. That’s good for everybody.
I don’t come from a position of fear. In an open market, I think you just need to focus on being the best you can be. Even if you share your knowledge, other instructors are still going to bring their own flavour, their own experiences and their own way of teaching. They’re not you.
I also think the market is big enough. There aren’t enough good SIV courses, and there isn’t enough supply for the demand that’s out there. One of the biggest problems pilots have is simply knowing who to trust. Most of the time it’s based on word of mouth, and sometimes it’s trial and error, which isn’t the safest way to choose an instructor.
If sharing knowledge helps raise the standard of SIV, then that’s a positive thing. Better instructors create better pilots, and better pilots make the sport safer for everyone.
For me, that’s much more important than trying to keep everything to ourselves.