Originally Posted by
jonkster
Some students, stop hearing the instructor when they feel highly stressed.
You can yell at them and they will not hear you as they become so focused on what they are seeing and feeling and stop hearing altogether.
In an incident similar to the one being discussed, a student could claim (and believe it sincerely) that you never told them to release the controls.
I have also had students confirm handing over to me yet are still quite forcefully on the controls (they are basically holding on to whatever is in their grasp or I suspect used to pushing on a car brake pedal when under stress).
In this case, in a similar incident a student could claim (and believe it sincerely) that they did not have the controls and the the outcome was solely the result of the instructor's actions, not theirs.
I know SOAR is defunct so have no idea who is being held liable, if it is the instructor, I think there are surely grounds for appeal as how can it be positively determined that the instructor didn't demand control and it is not unknown for a student to have disobeyed (even if unintentionally) the instructor's commands, in a high stress situation?
Jonkster is right. During my flying instructor course at RAAF Central Flying School in 1956, spinning in a Wirraway was part of the syllabus. The Wirraway was a dual control aircraft with the student flying from the front seat and the instructor in the rear seat. On this occasion I had to "patter" the spin from the back seat while the CFS instructor took the part of the student in the front seat. There was no specific minimum height for recovery.
From 5000 ft I pattered the spin to the student in the front seat and recovered by 3000 ft. Then the CFS instructor took the part of the student in the front seat and I handed over to him and told him to have a go at spinning.
He did a three turn spin but made no attempt to recover. I told him to recover but we kept spinning. By now we had gone through about seven turns of the spin and losing a lot of height. I called "Taking over" but found the controls apparently jammed. I repeated the call and the "student" replied he was frightened. This was not funny anymore and still I could not move the controls from the back seat. I lost my cool and shouted at the student "Let go of the bloody controls" which he did immediately and I recovered from the spin.
At the subsequent de-briefing back at base, the CFS instructor said that if a student has frozen on the controls in fear then don't be afraid to use lurid language to hopefully shock him into letting go of the controls.
In todays legal atmosphere I wonder if I could sue the RAAF for my trauma caused by their instructor pretend freezing on the controls. I would have Buckley's chance of winning of course and probably get scrubbed for trying..