Wayne Hendrickson began his pilot training in January of 1988 and received his Private Pilot certificate in August of that year. He received his Airframe Mechanic license in October of 1990 and his Powerplant Mechanic in June of 1991. In November 1992, Wayne began working as an aircraft mechanic for Mesaba Airlines in Detroit. After leaving Mesaba, he worked as a technician for both the Ford Motor Company and the U.S. Postal Service. While working for the postal service, Wayne decided to continue his pursuit of his lifelong dream of becoming a commercial pilot. He added his Instrument rating in February 2000 and received his Commercial Pilot license in August 2000. He left the postal service in October 2000 to work as a flight engineer for Zantop Airlines and received his Flight Engineer license in November of that year. In June of 2001, Wayne received both his Certified Flight Instructor and Multiengine ratings and began teaching in July, adding his Instrument Instructor rating in December of 2001. In April of 2002, he bought N5174H and began Wayne and Plane Flight Instruction at the Oakland-Troy Airport. Wayne received his mechanic Inspection Authorization in June 2002.

The Mission and Goal at Wayne and Plane

At Wayne and Plane, Safety is paramount. The mission is to provide the very finest in flight training to produce the safest, most proficient and competent pilot possible. While flying comes with some inherent risks, those risks can be mitigated to make flying a very safe activity.  How is this achieved? Through proper primary and advanced training in aircraft that are scrupulously maintained to the highest standards in the industry.

“When I started Wayne and Plane in 2002, I made a deliberate decision that I would focus on quality of training over volume of training.  When a school starts to add planes, they have to hire instructors and increase the number of students to keep those costly planes busy. The maintenance obligations increase, increasing the reliance on more and more people, making it increasingly more difficult for the manager to monitor them all effectively to know with certainty what’s going on in all aspects of the business at all times. I’ve kept the school at one plane and so I can train all my students personally. I personally maintain my airplane. I absolutely know what’s going on at all times with all aspects of my school, my plane, my students.

When a person starts to look into flight training, they don’t know if one school is better than the other. All schools claim to be the best. A beginning pilot has no frame of reference to know whether they are getting quality primary training. It’s only after much training and experience that they are in a position to judge whether they got the proper instruction in the first place.  By the time they are qualified to make that judgement, it’s too late.  So how do they choose a school or instructor? Usually by their initial gut feeling about an instructor based on the instructor’s personality. While comfort with an instructor is certainly important, a friendly enthusiastic persona doesn’t necessarily translate into quality flight instruction.

My primary instructor was a nice older guy, very laid back, and I felt comfortable flying with him. But as I got more experience and added certificates and ratings, I came to realize the holes he left in my primary training. For instance, he allowed me to rely too much on the flight instruments for visual flying. I actually had to go out and teach myself, as a newly minted CFI, the visual pitch references that I teach my students on their very first lessons, because I didn’t want to repeat those mistakes with my students. I became aware of all those mistakes and have corrected them so I don’t pass them on.”

“My goal is to make you a better pilot the day you get your license than I was on the day I got       mine”

My Approach to Flight Instruction

“Most instructors fall into one of two categories. First there are the young guys who are instructing more out of necessity than desire, to build time towards an airline or corporate job. They instruct as a stepping stone to the next phase of their pilot careers. The average instructor coming out of a 141 school has less than three hundred hours of total flight time and no instructional experience. Are they legally allowed to teach? Yes, as much as any other pilot who has received their CFI rating. Being young with good reflexes, they may even be natural stick-and-rudder Chuck Yeager types. But teaching is an entirely different activity, requiring an entirely different skill set. Ask any seasoned instructor and they will tell you that it takes 1000-1500 hours of instruction given before an instructor develops that skill set sufficiently to effectively instruct. But a 141 trained pilot only needs 1000 hours of total time before an airline will take a look at them, and with the current pilot shortage out there, they are more likely than not to get hired at that minimum. So that means the average instructor only has given at most 700 hours or so of instruction before they are qualified to move on in their careers, and move on they do, because in general most flight school pay is abysmal. You really can’t blame the instructor, who has spent tens of thousands of dollars in training costs. But that means that they never really get to the point where they can effectively instruct and in fact fall well short of that minimal 1000 hour dual given mark. After they move on, most never instruct again, or for the very few that do, they do it very part time and become more like the second group. What does that mean for you, the student? I’ll be blunt – the young guys are using you to advance their own careers. Again, you can’t blame the individual instructor, because this is the system that is and has always has been in place. But as the person paying and expecting the most value for your hard earned buck, is that your problem? It also means that the instructor you start with isn’t going to wait around until he finishes your training. He’s moving on, and now you have to start over with another guy, which invariably means a step back in your training as you and the new instructor adapt to each other, and that also means more cost for you, because the time with the new guy isn’t free. And just when things are starting to gel with the new guy, he leaves when he gets his opportunity, and so on, and so on. I’ve had many, many students come to me after going through four, five, six or more instructors at other schools, frustrated with the additional expense and time delays in trying to finish their training.

The second group of instructors are the older guys who work full time in other fields or are retired and flight instruct part-time primarily as a hobby, in fact I refer to them as hobbyists. And this is where I differ from either of those groups.”

“I look upon aviation as my chosen PROFESSION, and flight instruction as my full time chosen     SPECIALTY.”

“I consider myself as much of a professional as a doctor, a lawyer, or any other true professional. Most professionals choose a particular field in their profession in which to specialize.  A doctor, for instance, might choose internal medicine, surgery, or research as his specialty. Aviation is really no different. A pilot flying for United or Delta has chosen airline flying as his specialty, a corporate pilot flying a Gulfstream has chosen that as his specialty, etc. I’ve chosen and have dedicated the majority of my professional pilot career to the specialty of flight instruction. I long ago surpassed the 1000 hour dual instruction given milestone, and I don’t dabble in someone else’s profession as a part-time hobbyist. I’m not interested in moving on to an airline or corporate job. I truly love to instruct and feel grateful everyday that I was lucky enough to find what I love to do and get paid to do it.”

“So some final advice to you as you decide which training option is best for you. If you are shopping around for a product like a new car, for instance, shopping something like price for the exact same model equipped the same is smart. But it’s different when it comes to shopping a personal, professional service. It is not an apples to apples comparison. There are great instructors and poor instructors and everything else in between.  Ask your prospective instructor what his experience is, what are his career aspirations, where he wants to be in his flying career in the next six months or year, how many students he currently has or has finished in the last year or two. Remember, it’s your time, your effort, your money, and you deserve the best bang for your buck. I hope you seriously consider Wayne and Plane to fulfill all your flight training needs, but whatever you decide, good luck in all your flying endeavors.”

Wayne