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Another Endorsement for Bruce Bohannon

C

Crewser1989

Member
I started looking for folks to train with since the shop was about to finish my RV-4 and I haven't flown GA in years. So after doing a little research I came to find out Bruce Bohannon, and his RV-8, wasn't too far from me.

After flying all weekend with Bruce I can say, without a doubt, that he is the most exceptional CFI I've flown with. He will sit around and talk aviation for hours. His lessons are peppered with real life anecdotes and incredibly useful analogies that always bring you back around to the bigger picture that he is trying to get you to understand.

If you want to be spoon fed, however, Bruce is not your man. He is not gonna mince words with you and he is going to let you know when you are doing wrong. That is a quality I respect. If someone shoots straight with you when you are doing wrong, then you know when you do it right you've actually done it right. He is going to challenge you and you are going to be better for it. DO NOT confuse this straight-forwardness as him trying to play 'stump the dummy' or that he is trying to prove he is smarter than you (both qualities I have seen in other CFIs I have flown with). Bruce teaches the way he teaches because it is effective and it will save your life. Period.

I'd recommend Bruce to anyone that can leave their ego at the door and come prepared to soak up as much knowledge and experience from this man as they can. Best money I've spent learning to fly.

TL;DR - You're not gonna find a better CFI. Go fly with Bruce.
 
Crewser1989 said:
I started looking for folks to train with since the shop was about to finish my RV-4 and I haven't flown GA in years. So after doing a little research I came to find out Bruce Bohannon, and his RV-8, wasn't too far from me.

After flying all weekend with Bruce I can say, without a doubt, that he is the most exceptional CFI I've flown with. He will sit around and talk aviation for hours. His lessons are peppered with real life anecdotes and incredibly useful analogies that always bring you back around to the bigger picture that he is trying to get you to understand.

If you want to be spoon fed, however, Bruce is not your man. He is not gonna mince words with you and he is going to let you know when you are doing wrong. That is a quality I respect. If someone shoots straight with you when you are doing wrong, then you know when you do it right you've actually done it right. He is going to challenge you and you are going to be better for it. DO NOT confuse this straight-forwardness as him trying to play 'stump the dummy' or that he is trying to prove he is smarter than you (both qualities I have seen in other CFIs I have flown with). Bruce teaches the way he teaches because it is effective and it will save your life. Period.

I'd recommend Bruce to anyone that can leave their ego at the door and come prepared to soak up as much knowledge and experience from this man as they can. Best money I've spent learning to fly.

TL;DR - You're not gonna find a better CFI. Go fly with Bruce.
Click to expand...

I didn?t feel too current in GA light airplanes since I?ve been flying heavy helicopters for a living the last 12 years. If you?re in Kansas you passed three RV-8 CFIs in North Texas on your way to Houston. Only one of them is in the Van?s recommendations here so I initially didn?t know about the other ones either. I trained with David Austin and now I?m looking forward to flying with the other two so I can add their experience in the RV-8 to David?s experience shared with me.

What was your taildragger experience previously? How many hours did you fly with Bohannon?
 
Another plug for Bruce Bohannon

I have to echo Crewer's comments about training with Bruce. I just finished up two days of transition training with him yesterday and without a doubt, in the 40+ years of flying I've done in the military, commercial, and more recently in general aviation, he is without a doubt the most personable and knowledgable instructor I've ever had. I've only recently gotten my tailwheel endorsement in a Luscombe and showed up at Bruce's hangar with less than 10 hours total tailwheel time. We flew approximately 6 hours in two days and I could have easily done more but left there confident that I can safely fly my soon-to-be finished RV8. I'm by no means an expert...my limited tailwheel experience is proof of that, but Bruce will work with you until you get it right.

Like Crewser said, Bruce doesn't mince words. In fact, he can talk aviation non-stop and leave you hungry for more. His ability to communicate clearly and help you understand why you screwed something up and how to fix it puts him in a class of his own. Both days I left his place thinking I had been sucking on the end of a firehose of aviation wisdom and practical flying skills. My only regret is that I didn't have a tape recorder to record everything he said both on the ground and in the air just so I could go back and review.

I don't know how many landings we did in those two days; to me, it didn't seem like that many, but in reality he has you fly a fairly quick pattern which becomes second nature and truth be told, I lost count. Expect to become proficient (more or less) in three-point landings before moving on to wheel landings. Also, he will hit you with a few distractions and surprises if/when he sees you starting to get too comfortable.

The bottom line for me was that he quickly brought me up to speed at "keeping it straight," his mantra for just about everything. He was demanding, but in a straightforward way that convinces you that you can fly the plane better than before. On top of that, as my skills improved the training became pure fun. Like others here who have trained with Bruce, I can't recommend him highly enough.

J. Baker
RV8
 
Pilot135pd said:
I didn?t feel too current in GA light airplanes since I?ve been flying heavy helicopters for a living the last 12 years...

What was your taildragger experience previously? How many hours did you fly with Bohannon?
Click to expand...

I hear ya! I really hadn't done any GA stuff in almost a decade so I am pretty rusty. I only have about 5 hours outside of the tailwheel training I did with Bruce, but the time I spent down there was far more helpful than the other tailwheel time I had logged.

I ended up getting just over 10 hours with Bruce so I significantly increased my tailwheel time. All of this was done in preparation to fly my RV-4 that is finally getting out of the shop.
 
rockbottom said:
I have to echo Crewer's comments about training with Bruce. I just finished up two days of transition training with him yesterday and without a doubt, in the 40+ years of flying I've done in the military, commercial, and more recently in general aviation, he is without a doubt the most personable and knowledgable instructor I've ever had. I've only recently gotten my tailwheel endorsement in a Luscombe and showed up at Bruce's hangar with less than 10 hours total tailwheel time. We flew approximately 6 hours in two days and I could have easily done more but left there confident that I can safely fly my soon-to-be finished RV8. I'm by no means an expert...my limited tailwheel experience is proof of that, but Bruce will work with you until you get it right.

Like Crewser said, Bruce doesn't mince words. In fact, he can talk aviation non-stop and leave you hungry for more. His ability to communicate clearly and help you understand why you screwed something up and how to fix it puts him in a class of his own. Both days I left his place thinking I had been sucking on the end of a firehose of aviation wisdom and practical flying skills. My only regret is that I didn't have a tape recorder to record everything he said both on the ground and in the air just so I could go back and review.

I don't know how many landings we did in those two days; to me, it didn't seem like that many, but in reality he has you fly a fairly quick pattern which becomes second nature and truth be told, I lost count. Expect to become proficient (more or less) in three-point landings before moving on to wheel landings. Also, he will hit you with a few distractions and surprises if/when he sees you starting to get too comfortable.

The bottom line for me was that he quickly brought me up to speed at "keeping it straight," his mantra for just about everything. He was demanding, but in a straightforward way that convinces you that you can fly the plane better than before. On top of that, as my skills improved the training became pure fun. Like others here who have trained with Bruce, I can't recommend him highly enough.

J. Baker
RV8
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better! The whole experience really made me more confident overall.
 
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