Originally Posted by
jonkster
so we need to teach them good stick and rudder skills, prepare them for the most likely contigencies and to avoid overwhelming them in their early training with information but instead tailor it to their stage of progress? And encourage them to learn more about their aircraft and its systems , airmanship and aviation in general?
if so, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Reckon that is an ideal most would aspire to. Not sure it is a revolutionary idea though but do acknowledge it isn't always done well.
In terms of what I do badly in instructing, I suspect that many of the issues pilots really come unstuck over are often human factors rather than pure stick skill deficiences and teaching people and organisations how to operate to avoid the issues human factors throw at us is actually the thing we do quite badly as instructors (and organisations and regulators), not because we don't care or try but mostly because I don't think we as humans know how to best train people not behave as humans, or we think that if people are alerted to human factor issues they will not fall trap to them.
Tell me how we can better teach that area and that would be revolutionary.
Thank-you for that reasoned response jonkster. You're right about the basics, but when I say the basics, I really mean the basics. If the foundation isn't sound, nothing built above will last.
What's revolutionary about it is how those basics are taught, and what specifically isn't taught because it doesn't correspond to the appropriate level on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs at that particular time. In simpler terms, the most important skills a pilot needs in the ab initio phase is how to control attitude, in pitch, roll, and yaw, plus power, because it satisfies their need for security. That's all.
By allowing the student to repetitively practice each element of power control, for example, while preventing any and all secondary effects without the instructor continually interrupting, and only interrupting after he's repeated the same mistake a few times, then demonstrating correct technique once while explaining why his attempt isn't working, before allowing him to continually repeat the exercise in rapid succession again. The idea is for the student to spend the most time manipulating controls, not the instructor, but not so much he doesn't know correct technique.
After those fundamental foundations are laid properly, each successive element is taught and repetitively practice in rapid succession until the technique is established in muscle memory, and the visual, aural, and other sensory signals are correlated in short term memory, which will transfer to long term memory as training progresses by ensuring each control element is performed so it looks the same way each time without requiring reference to instruments at all. No other information is included until the student has those foundations established, exactly as the priorities are listed. Aviate - Navigate - Communicate. Once the pilot is capable of controlling the aircraft in pitch, roll, yaw, and power, that satisfies the basic need for security in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, enabling him to more easily focus on achieving higher levels by applying those basic skills. Obviously, there's more to it than this, but that is an outline of the methodology that is repeated each time a new skill is taught.
Your comments about Human Factors are excellent. Specifically, this bit, "I don't think we as humans know how to best train people not behave as humans". Man, I could go on for hours about Human Factors, but here's the executive summary relative to that comment - Our goal isn't to train people how not to behave as humans, rather, to acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses, and capitalize on our strengths first, before strengthening our weaknesses. People know how to use their senses already, so let them use those to learn how to control power and attitude first, before complicating things. Get the picture?