Originally Posted by
Checkboard
I was taught a simple, quick, light backhand slap to the face. The instantaneous reaction is for the student to put their hands up to their face, and that breaks the psychological lock they have on the controls.
The scenario was a small turbulence bump, the new student reacting by “bracing” themselves on the yoke, pushing it forward, with the sudden nose down resulting in further “bracing” - and a viscous circle panicked lockup on the controls the result.
Also never had to use it, but was it part of my instructor training from a very experienced 60 year old instructor.
Likewise, I have had to do that once to an introductory flight student who had a mild panic attack quite unexpectedly. Worked fine and they were very understanding about it afterwards. My 'last resort' option has always been either the fire extinguisher or crash axe (the blunt side...) or one of those fuel sample glasses with the screwdriver attachment. Would hope I'd never need to resort to that.