I am totally with MJ on this issue. The most important skill required to fly a proper circuit and landing is to by looking out the window be able to set thr correct attitude for what ever you want the aircraft to do. If the student goes immediately to the right attitude and holds it, an out of trim condition will be obvious and they can apply a bit of grim in the appropriate direction.
I see a continuing widespread problem in flight training with students going to the circuit before they have truly mastered ex 5 to 9. That IMO is invariably the root cause of students who are not progressing in the circuit.
Finally the last thing I do before starting in the circuit is to at altitude, have the student practice the 4 legs of the circuit in the practice area. This gets them used to the rhythm of the circuit, reinforces attitude and speed control but without the pressure of landing and since each final will, of course, end with an overshoot in this exercise it reinforces this often neglected part of circuit training.
Last edited by Big Pistons Forever; 25th October 2012 at 20:02.