Airborne Instructional Techniques

[Roller Merlin]

Perhaps a few instructors here could enlighten me on their prefered methods of airborne instructional technique.

The reason I ask is that virtually all CASA and other "instructional" publications in OZ have didlysquit advice on real instructional method, but simply describe "what to do". This is akin to telling school teachers what to show to their students, instead of describing how to effectively transfer knowledge, skills and attitudes into their students using a teaching structure.

Any and all variations are welcome.

[Bendo]

*Sips Red and strokes chin...*
Well, grasshopper....
If you already have an instructor rating, this might sound very familiar or even patronising but these are my thoughts on the most challenging job in Aviation.
The worst thing an instructor can do (or anybody) is fly with the one company from Go to Woah. You will end up with 10th Generation drivel that has been passed on down the ranks and then you will end up spewing it forth too.

heaps of research ( I can't remember the author's name) into teaching suggests that the best way to start teaching is to visualise your favourite instructor or teacher from school. Try to emulate their style and in quiet moments try to work out what it was about their style that made them good teachers. Driving to and from work might be a good time to quietly go over the day's lessons, and I found reflection to be the most important part of learning to teach.

Airborne instruction was broken down for me basically into three stages: Demonstrate, Talk-through, supervise. These aren't rock-solid and depend on your student's ability, eg: i had a brilliant student who did his GFPT in a PA-28-140 and went on to do his PPL navs in a C210. I could talk him through almost every manoever and he would rarely have to be shown that sequence ever again. His best mate on the other hand had to be shown everything three times and then shown again the next week, and usually the week after that.
There are no hard-and-fast rules, sadly, I think you have to bend with the student's learning style. And because you only work one-on-one, it takes us longer to recognise those styles.
I haven't worked out a good way of teaching the less able students efficiently, which is very frustrating for everybody... Charlie Fox India? Any words of wisdom on that one?

[Vigilant Driver]

Bendo is spot on. DEMONSTRATE, TEACH, TASK. So for example on the primary effect on the elevator the lesson goes:

DEMONSTRATE: Bloggs off the controls, looking straight ahead. You pitch the a/c down. Tell him this pitching down and then you pitch up and tell him that this is pitching up.

TEACH: Bloggsie now follows through on the controls. You pitch down again, but this time you talk about the forward pressure on the stick, the increasing gap between the cockpit coaming and the horizon and finally of course the increasing IAS and noise. Same pitching up but everything reversed (of course!)

Question: Do you understand what I have just showed you Bloggs?

TASK: Brief Bloggs to pitch down, hold, then pitch up back to the datum attitude. (Just like you just taught him)
Question: Do you understand what to do Bloggs?
If happy give Bloggs control and he then has a go.

If at any point during the lesson Bloggs gets confused, stop and repeat that section. Also don't talk to Bloggs when he has control. It puts 'em off.

Final point. Surprisingly most Bloggsies can teach themselves to fly inspite of you! So let them do as much of the flying as you consider is safe!

Enjoy your teaching. It's the best thing to do in an aeroplane (besides aeros!!)

Vigi

[Dunx]

Except you're not allowed to do aero's in a Vigilant...... :)

I have found that giving Bloggs a reasonable amount of subtle praise while he is performing his 'task' boosts his confidence in his flying ability. This even works with weaker studes.

Examples are: Improved aileron/rudder co-ordination in turns

Using visual attitudes as opposed to needle chasing

smoother control inputs when pitching and rounding out.

Of course you have to balance subtle praise against usless chatter, as Vigi Driver says, that can put them off!

PS If you can find a 'quiet fequency' this is even better, so that your patter is not fighting with air traffic noise in the open FIR!!!

[This message has been edited by Dunx (edited 22 June 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Dunx (edited 22 June 1999).]

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

Patience is also a virtue....a lot of instructors (admittedly knackered old farts in the Air Force) are of the opinion "I can do it - why can't you?". Remember that you were a stude yourself once and that students make more mistakes than most. That's one way people learn. As an instructor, as well as the Demo-Teach-Task cycle, it's your job to analyse the performance sensibly without nagging the stude to death!

Oh what a fine line we tread.....!

[Charlie Foxtrot India]

Words of wisdom? Yikes!
Patience, I guess. Often the ones who are slow at the start catch up later on. A big barrier is if they feel they are being expected to do something they are not sure they understand, (lack of self confidence) and are worried about making a fool of themselves in front of their esteemed instructor.
Reminding them that you are always on their side, and a few anecdotes from your own student days when perhaps you weren't quite as perfect as you are now can help ;) ! You can of course say "A friend of mine, when they were learning to fly...etc etc"
And reminding them that you can learn more from stuffing it up first then getting it right, than you do if you get it right first time!



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[Vigilant Driver]

Naturally I save my aeros for an aircraft with shorter wings and a better roll rate!

But back to the topic, I agree that the chatter on the RT can put Bloggs off. I found this out first hand when I was doing some mutual instruction (now you can't do that in a Vigi) when I was the Capt and my fellow FI(R) stude was trying to teach me EX4.

So my top tip if you have to remain on freq (ie. on a RIS when your IMC (not in a Vigi!)) is to turn the volume on your Blogg's headset down so that he/she can only hear you.

If you can't turn down each headset then turn down the overall radio volume, but make sure you can still hear the ATCO!

Happy grass landings Dunx! :)

Vigi

[This message has been edited by Vigilant Driver (edited 23 June 1999).]

[Roller Merlin]

All fine words of wisdom, and great advice.

May I promote the obvious and provoke the oblivious by proposing that good instruction must include:
= The requirements of student eyes / hands / feet / thought processes (workcycles).
= An lower student workload by building from known to unknown, simple to complex.
= a high level of airmanship and safety.
= An established philosophy of open criticism in the pursuit of continued improvement.


Thus, efficient airborne instruction should include:
1. An efficient flight training profile.
2. Student preparation for each event, “what is purpose of exercise” (Prebrief).
3. Accurate demonstrations, using correct technique (Demo).
4. Direction of student attention to important cues and techniques(DOA).
5. Teaching of complex tasks by breaking them into easier parts(Subdivision).
6. An efficient Handover/Takeover procedure which allows safe student practise and knowing who is controlling at all times(HO/TO).
7. Tracing the student errors to their root cause, and the application of corrections. (Error Correction)

Again, open to the floor
(....he backs away, bows and retreats.....)


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Every mistake is an opportunity to do it better next time.

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

Agreed....Indeed, a capable Instructor is one who can bring out his own mistakes as a learning point (eg. screwing up a demo!!)
There is no loss of face in making a mistake - there may be if you try and cover it up!

[Tinstaafl]

Hmmmm......
Some things that are important to me in no particular order...

1. Never be afraid to admit you cocked something up or were just plain wrong. I think most students have quite well developed bullsh** meters. Trying to cover up an error just makes one seem foolish. Admitting the error makes you seem less 'godlike' & more approachable > leads to a more relaxed student > better performance

2. Give the student the opportunity to critise & suggest ways to improve her or his performance BEFORE you give your feedback. I think it's important for the budding pilot to develop the ability to self-observe, judge & correct. Even ask them to observe yourself if you like but don't be defensive about what they say, perhaps even offer your own critique of yourself.

3. Be flexible in how you teach a manoeuvre. What works with one student may not be appropriate with another. Also different methods at different points in a particular student's development may be better. eg. When I 1st teach landing, I get the student to fly level along the runway before reducing power. Once the flight path is stabilised then I get them to reduce power relatively slowly while maintaining the height above the runway, then try to 'glide' to the end of the runway, then the touchdown, then the rollout. In some cases I control throttle initially while they focus on the pitch/roll/yaw control (even that task load can be separated into constituents & offloaded where necessary). As their skills & judgement improve, and they have more capacity for more simultaneous tasks, then reducing power as the roundout is commenced becomes appropriate.

4. The above example also illustrates another point: break up sequences into as many small parts as needed so that the student's available capacity matches the task. It's incredibly easy to exceed their available processing capacity. Don't forget to add the tasks back in as they improve.

5. Talk to other instructors. We all have ways of doing things. The more you have available filed away in your 'teaching toolbox' the better you can respond to the individual student.

6. Don't display any bad habits yourself. Be damned consistent in how you execute tasks, manoeuvres, responsibilities etc.

7. Stop poor student flying technique early. The later you try to stop it, the more it will have become ingrained and the more difficult it will be to stop it. It's easier to teach the correct method from the start than to allow an incorrect method & then have to replace it with the right one. Old habits seem to have the tendency of re-surfacing time after time.

8. Control the learning environment as much as possible to focus on the task at hand eg handle radio or the aircraft while the student navigates or whatever. Also think of cabin comfort, weather effects on the efficacy of the lesson etc. Personally I loathe early AM starts, but strongly recommend them to my students in the early part of their training (to about 1st solo-ish). Thereafter I look for more unsettle conditions. Turbulence & poor vis. can really hamper the rate of skill development in the early stages.

9. Don't be afraid to re-demo something. After all you are trying to give them a model on which to base their own control inputs. Conversely, remember they are the ones who need the practice - you already know how to fly.

10. Enjoy yourself. It's a great feeling to see someone pass the various milestones and develop into a competent pilot as a result of your assistance.

My $0.02 worth...

PS: Wear sunscreen :)



[This message has been edited by Tinstaafl (edited 24 June 1999).]

[Roller Merlin]

Excellent advice for all flying instructors!

Is anyone aware of any outstandingly good reference books on Airborne Instructional Technique? The FAA Instructors Handbook is not a bad text, but is now quite dated....

[Vigilant Driver]

My club recommends:

Flight Instructors Manual by R.D.Campbell

32.50 pounds from Transair.

It really has got everything in it for the single engine Flying Instructor.

Enjoy!

Vigi