Pace,
I think your last post is somewhat contradictory. The question is whether you can teach SA as a skill, which you seem to deny is possible. Firstly you say that you can't teach people to do anything, merely improve. Which implies that everyone who starts flying training may or may not be endowed with a thing called SA. If you have it, an instructor might be able to improve it. If not - tough. You can't improve what isn't there. Kind of like the "right stuff".
But you finish by questioning whether anyone can be trained to a certain standard e.g. running a mile in 4 minutes or achieving pole in a formula 1 car.
This is different. Taking the latter - yes you can teach someone who has never driven before how to drive a formula 1 car. Whether they will be able to get round a lap in one piece in anything near 1 minute 23 seconds (the standard) is another matter. Even with The Stig for an instructor!
So back to SA. As pilots we all like to think that we have "good SA". Well I'm quite happy to admit that when I started flying I had none. Zilch. My sole focus of attention was in controlling the beast. Over time and with good instruction, practice and above all experience I'd like to think that my SA has improved. True, not everyone can be trained to a "set level" of SA (whatever that is), but the basic techniques for keeping track of events outside the cockpit can be taught e.g. "stop talking for a second and listen to that other guy on the radio, where is he, what is he doing, how will that affect you?" or, "we took off on R/W 27 into a strong headwind, is it really appropriate to be doing a forced landing into a field heading east?"
BJ
Last edited by Black Jake; 31st Mar 2011 at 15:06.