Flight training syllabus

[glenb]

In the process of putting together a flight training syllabus. It must be extremely thorough. I was after any suggestions of any of the things that were left out of your training that you feel would have helped you, or made you a better pilot. i.e. did you ever practice an engine fire on start up, did you ever conduct a sideslip, did your instructor show you the other methods of obtaining weather if you dont have computer access, ever practice a position advisory in the event you became uncertain of your position etc. Thanks for your help. cheers

[Jerrym]

Glen,

Firstly, you've got a hell of a job ahead of you, and I wish you the best of luck. A few years ago I re-wrote a training syllabus through to PPL for a flying school just outside of Brisbane. It took me about 6 months, but I learned a lot about the day VFR Syllabus, and how to write a training syllabus.

Firstly, use the Day VFR Syllabus as your guide. I sat down with the syllabus one rainy week, and marked in both the flying and theory parts, where each element was taught, and where and when it was assessed. I broke the GFPT training into 3 sections. Pre-Solo, Pre-Area Solo, and Pre-GFPT. I then decided where each part of each element was to be taught, and to what standard was to be achieved by the student at each stage.

This was also done with Block 1 of the theory part of the syllabus, and I eventually came up with what I called a link map. This was basicially a table where you could see exactly where each element was taught, and when it was assessed (pre-solo exam, prior to flight, . . . . . )

At the end of the day, it's the Day VFR Syllabus that should dictate what is taught to a student, rather than what one instructor teached compared to another. As CASA is moving closer and closer to Competency Based Training your training syllabus', and assessment instruments (training records) should reflect this.

If you want to have a bit more of a chat about it, drop me a private message. I might not respond for a few days as I'm flying an aircraft from Brissy back to Perth where I'm now based. I'm happy to give you a hand if you like. Good luck. :ok:

JerryM

[The Bunglerat]

To what extent are we talking? If, for example, you are designing a syllabus to cover not just PPL but CPL also, may I suggest a stronger emphasis on cockpit avionics? Specifically: How to properly use the GPS/NAV/Autopilot and to better understand their interaction with each other.

I know I'm going to irritate the 'old school' brigade who insist that real pilots should be able to navigate with nothing more than a cheap watch, a half-chewed WAC and a bad tempered compass, but I continue to be astounded by the number of CPL holders who don't know how to fully utilise ALL of the available equipment in their aeroplane. Even if it isn't equipped with the latest hi-tech toys from Garmin, most aircraft fitting the requirements for the CPL syllabus will have at least an autopilot with NAV capability. Nevertheless, ask the vast majority of newly minted CPL's to fly a leg on autopilot, and I guarantee the best they'll come up with is to set HDG mode and just fly it off the bug. The idea that the autopilot could actually capture and maintain a VOR radial or GPS track is simply beyond them.

Not that it's necessarily the fault of the student however. Without having a go at Instructors as a group, nevertheless many of them are simply continuing the outdated traditions of their own Instructors before them. They were taught to do things the 'old school' way, and as technology has increasingly found its way into the cockpit of light aircraft, they have been reluctant to embrace it or to fully understand it themselves. Thus, ignorance prevails, and so we have ended up with successive generations of Instructors who are either unwilling or unable to teach it to their students for lack of their own understanding.

Let me be very clear when I say that nothing will ever replace good old-fashioned stick-&-rudder and dead reckoning. However, it really is the 21st century we're living in now, and the technology is here to stay. Granted, not every flying school operates a fleet of training aircraft with all the latest bells and whistles, but how about we pull our collective heads out of the sand and get with the times. I would argue that a good pilot is not only someone who can demonstrate the aforementioned attributes, but someone who knows every component of the machine he or she is operating - and utilises EVERY available resource to get the job done.

This is what I'd like to see more of in our flight training establishments.

[jetbrett]

I believe more courses could be more thorough. Use the VFR Flight guide, (little book same size as ERSA) available from CASA. That has a lot of useful information in it which u kind of dont get taught in a general syllabus. I mean wether you want to base the teaching of the course around it is up to you, but personally i would get students to actually study the book, and have maybe an exam on it, because the info in it is so very thorough, and would make any young pilot a better one because of it. Also another idea that springs to mind is go to an area where there is a small strip then pull the power on the student, first of all see if they can find the strip, and then they can get to land it aswell, it will make them a better handler, because anyone can set up a forced landing with high and low key points, and when they get to 500' they can point to the field and then go around. Wether or not they would have pulled it off in that instance will be never known. Anyway good luck with it, you have got a big task ahead of you. Have fun, JB