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Old 19th Nov 2009, 00:01
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Dudley Henriques
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
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A long post for a very basic manoeuvre, I liked your Paragraph 5 of the main article "Enter the rudder etc....."

Keep it balanced.

Tmb

About the "long post". I want to make sure both of us are on the same page with this. :-)))

Let me expand a bit more if I may.

Flight Instructor's opinions on any given subject will of course vary, and in addition to this one has to consider when suggesting training regimen that flight training and safety programs and the approach to these programs will vary somewhat from country to country.
One thing almost every flight safety work group I've either attended or taught over a period of 50 years agrees on however when we gather and begin discussing accident prevention, is that there are all too many accidents that occur throughout the world that could have been prevented had the pilots involved in these accidents had a more sound understanding of the "basics".
The post you refer to as "long" is NOT meant to be a lesson plan for the instructor to take along with him/her in the aircraft when giving dual. I think most instructors will agree that you teach your theory on the ground and "keep it simple" in the air.

The very essence of good flight instruction is the ability to take what might be a complicated subject for the student and present it in the EXACT way the student, based on YOUR deduction of that specific student's ability to comprehend, will best be able to understand and comprehend what you are teaching them.

In almost every situation, this will result in the presentation of simple analogy while in the airplane, with the theory behind the analogy being presented on the ground where the student isn't stressed.
Turns are indeed basic to all flying. As instructors, WE might know that the secret of a good turn is keeping the tail lined up with the nose, but if WE don't understand the basics of how and why this works the way it does, we sometimes can come up short when "teaching it" to the student.
One of the things we have noticed from feedback over time on the flight safety work groups where I have been involved is a marked tendency by many newly certificated pilots toward over concentration on instrument cues when performing basic VFR flying. This stems from several sources;
1. Instructors who over compensate toward panel referencing during initial dual instruction due to misinterpretation of the integrated training syllabus
2. The advent of desktop flight simulators and students coming into real world aviation from this background where instrument cues are paramount and control pressures are non existent coupled with CFI's who allow this reliance on instrument cues to persist at the expense of teaching visual cues and attitude flying.
3. We have seen a marked problem with students brought down to pattern altitude and into take offs and landings where visual cues are critical and the error margin correction windows are narrower, before these students have received adequate training in the basics that are an absolute MUST before the take off and landing phase of training can be entered correctly.

Bottom line here is that the better the INSTRUCTOR understands the basics and how important they are, the better the instructor will be able to deal with this all important phase of the learning curve.
So I just want you to understand that what I'm writing here as a "long post" isn't meant to be something I want instructors to be taking along on a clipboard while giving dual.
If on the other hand, after reading a "long post" like this, an instructor finds just the right words (hopefully just a few while giving actual dual :-) to help a student toward a slightly better understanding of the "basics", then I'm one happy camper for having been allowed to be of some assistance.
God knows I received enough assistance along the way.
:-))
Dudley Henriques

Last edited by Dudley Henriques; 19th Nov 2009 at 00:29.
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