Ways to put it across.

[VeeAny]

Further to Nicks Urban Myths Thread,

How about we put together a ways we teach / describe things thread.

All us instructors have things that we use to describe the way things work, just have a look a the low g thread to see what I mean, one problem 10 differents ways of describing it.

What analogies do you use and in what context.

I am laying claim to the teetering head like a towrope / articulated head like a towbar analogy !

I would also like to know how students / qualified pilots generally think about in simple terms some of the more complex things we deal with even if they don't teach it. Some of the best ideas I ever hear come from my Students, not the other way around.


V.

[Ascend Charlie]

You want analogies? OK...

Teaching the basics of hovering.
I keep a metre-long piece of wooden dowel in the office. I get the new student to balance the dowel on one finger. Bloggs does it easily.

I ask Bloggs to describe what he/she is doing - they cannot. "Err.. you sort of do whatever you have to do to make it balance" they say.

Correct, says I. Same as in the hover. Your job is to make the attitude stay in the one spot in the window - forget the grass below or the fact that we are drifting, that will come later. Concentrate solely on keeping the picture flat and in the right spot. Do whatever you have to do to make it stay there. Sometimes you push forward, other times you pull back. And sometimes, when the machine is moving backwards, you have to resist the urge to push forward, and instead pull back, all to get the attitude to stay where it should be.

Back to the stick. Where were your eyes while balancing it?

"Err.. dunno ... the top maybe?"

Correct - do it again to prove it. See? Now, look at your finger and try to keep the dowel balanced. (Bloggs then hits self on head with stick.)

So: the attitude is the tip of the stick. Watch the attitude, and do whatever you have to do with your hand (on cyclic) to make it stay there. In the early stages, if you look at the grass or the movement over the ground, you will lose the attitude. With time, of course, you can hover by watching a blade of grass, but in the early stages, until you grasp the way of controlling the attitude, keep the eyes outside on the horizon.

[VeeAny]

exactly the kind of thing i'm talking about.

It doesn't matter if its right or wrong, as long as it works.

Thanks for your ideas.

V.

[Head Turner]

Spot turns in the hover.

I get the student to keep the cyclic 'pushed' towards the wind direction as the turn is executed. This stops any downwind drifting.
In the briefing room before flight I do a dry run with the student holding a broom handle (cyclic) and turning round keeping the broom handle pointing in the same direction so that he/she can see the position that is required by the cyclic to hold a constant position over the ground.
I apply this to the action of the cyclic also when briefing sloping ground by having a square board loosely nailed to the floor/lower end of the broom handle. Lowering this apparatus to the floor where a suitable object is placed to represent the slope. The board touches the object and tips to an angle, representing the fact that the cyclic must stay perpendicular throughout the landing and takeoff.
Many of the tricks are harder to explain that demonstrate.

Last one... Use the CRP5 Flight Computer to demonstrate the effects of compass errors due to dip when accelerating and turning. Northern Hemisphere.
Turning;-
Align the rotary part (window disc) so that North is against the TRUE HEADING. Holding the computer so that the NORTH end is dipped down to represent the compass in the aircraft flying towards North. Now make a turn with the computer as you would if flying, you will see that to maintain the dip angle the rotary part of the computer must be moved to place the NORTH to the dip (rotating the disc clockwise 10-15 degrees). A right turn will show an apparent turn towards the west (345-350 degrees).
Accelleration;-
Holding the computer on an Easterly heading (E against TRUE HEADING marker on fixed scale) with the computer tilted so that NORTH is dipped down make an acceleration with the computer as if in flight and move the rotary part to maintain the dip angle and this will show an apparent turn toward north.

Students can clearly see the effects of dip affecting the heading.

[vaqueroaero]

One of my favourite ones was to pull a circuit breaker and simply wait and see how long it took people to notice. Easily done in the R22.

Some people would go for ages without seeing it. I used to use either the rotor or engine rpm tach.

I would do it to drive home the point of an effective instrument scan
I know for a fact that this has prevented one engine failure in a 206 when an oil line split. The guy saw it and landed. He phoned me a couple of days later to thank me for embarrasing him so much with the circuit breaker trick. He never forgot it.

The other one I always found helpful was doing pedal turns left and right with only their right foot. It seemed to help in the early stages of understanding torque.

Can't think of any others right now, but when I do I'll post them.