DLV,
"The flare is rarely the problem. It is the gyrations after the flare ie drift, balloon,yaw etc, that causes most concern with ab-initio students. Certainly you should not have to resort to statements of mathematical angles to teach someone when to flare in a C150. Just quietly say, "Watch how I do it, Bloggs and follow me through please" As someone said in an earlier post, students have learnt to land au natural since flight began."
Gee whizz! I had almost forgotten about the "observational osmosis" theory of flight instruction. It is just a little easier than learning the "piano by ear" or taking the Spartan approach to survival training!
Actually, Checkers (who was already residing high in my regard) has elevated himself further - he faithfully reported something in which others had shown interest and demonstrated sgnificant maturity by passing on how he fitted the Jacobsen Flare into his instructional toolkit. He neither denigrated nor exaggerated, he merely acknowledged variety and utility. His reward? "Sit down and have a cup of tea"??? Shame on both your houses!
I have just been through an exercise where I had to revisit what I used to do quite "naturally", ie without conscious thought or analysis. I had some difficulty remembering how I did it, what cues I used, what control movements I used and most importantly what trade-offs I used. Certainly, I could have invited someone to "follow me through" without explanation, but then they would have been trying to emulate my thought processes as well as my physical manipulations
without understanding. The few instructional successes that I have had (in 21 years of trying to do it better) have occurred when I have been able to explain the mechanics of what I am doing, the thought processes behind what I am doing and the ways that I occasionally modify the processes according to what I see. Jacobsen attempted to do that and, while I am personally ambivalent, has developed a significant following. In short, the technique/explanation/call it what you will has produced the goods for a lot of people - it seems to have earnt the right to survive.
Perhaps you and deehav should share a "Bex and a good lie down" while the rest of us recognise the balance in Checker's intentions, if not in his "watch me and follow me through".
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Stay Alive,
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