Trial Flights

[Seanus Maximus]

hello all.

Out of interest, to what level do other instructors go to with trial flights. Does anyone explain in detail balanced turns with rudder or do you just let them use aileron, or not even bother with turning. And does anyone go as far as to let people try to land on a trial flight. just wondering ....

[foxmoth]

Depends very much on the person, if a genuine interest in going further then I will brief and do basic effect of control, if as sometimes happens, they book a full hour, then you can do pretty much the full EofC excercise. At the end of the trip I will often try and let them land the aircraft, but this depends on how they are getting on. You will often find if you get them to land that they do a really good job because they are doing as you tell them rather than trying to do it for themself.
Often a trial lesson is done as a present for someone and they are not wishing to go further, in this case I do a very short brief and let them do as much actual flying as they want to. In both cases I will try to do the preflight without to much explanation apart from enough to keep them interested - idealy I will do this before they even arrive, but of course this is not always possible.:8

[Seanus Maximus]

thanks foxmoth - think i might try pushing interested first timers a little harder.

[FlyingForFun]

At my school, at weekends when it's particular busy we have volunteers who help us by refuelling aircraft, manning the phones.... and also briefing trial lessons for us.

Last year, there was a lot of debate about the contents of the trial lessons - and therefore the contents of the trial lesson briefings that our volunteers gave. There were several heated discussions in instructor meetings, during which the only conclusion we came to is that it varies from instructor to instructor, day to day, student to student.

The only advice we could give our volunteers is to describe the primary effect of rudder and then explain that it's perfectly possible to fly a modern aircraft without using the rudder at all, and that your instructor may well prefer you to not use it. Or he may show you what it does on its own, or alternatively ask you to combine it with aileron, in which case he will explain it in more detail.

Personally, I don't bother with it, unless my student is interested in doing a PPL. In this case, I generally try to first of all show the primary effect of rudder, and then elicit from the student that it doesn't feel right using it on its own. Then I demonstrate adverse yaw, explain how to use rudder to counteract adverse yaw, and get them to do coordinated turns for the rest of the trial flight.

But there are exceptions to the rule - some people know they don't have the money or time for lessons, but want to learn as much as they can on their trial lesson. And others may want to take up lessons, but clearly don't have the coordination or aptitude to make balanced turns on their first ever time at the controls. So being flexible is the rule.

FFF
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[Whirlybird]

I'd be interested in similar discussion on what rotary FIs do on trial lessons.

I've come to the conclusion that here too flexibility is the key. I sit the new student down and ask what they want to do. I also find out their previous experience - have they ever been in a light aircraft, have they ever been in any aircraft, have they ever taken control, have they ever been in a helicopter. It gives me an idea if they're likely to panic, and even if they'll need a few minutes to get used to the experience. As for briefings, recently I've started doing them IN the helicopter. It saves that glazed expression when you first draw a T-bar cyclic on the board, and makes it all less strange and potentially scary. After that it varies tremendously, depending on what they want and how good they are. But since a very keen, very quick-learning student got airsick, I'm tending to slow things down a little more than I used to, even with the people who pick it up fast.

What do the rest of you do?

[Cricket23]

....and if you want some feedback from someone who took a trial flight, and has gone on to complete a PPL.

On my trial flight the instructor didn't worry too much about the rudder, but we did explore the secondary effects of controls, and also the stall (because I asked him to). Essentially, once we were clear of the airfield he let me have control. The flight was a combination of sight-seeing and flying the aeroplane as per his instructions.

On the return trip, I flew it and landed it too, although of course heavily supervised. This for me was a bonus and I didn't stop talking about it for ages.

Overall, I enjoyed the flight more because I wanted to fly it as much as I could, but then again, I knew that I was going on to PPL stage.

As has been said, flexibility seems to be the key.

C23

[hugh flung_dung]

Flexibility is definitely the name of the game but, except for the very nervous, I think it's important that they get a feel for various aspects of flying - not just EOC. I would normally brief primary EOC, the importance of attitude ("take a mental photograph") and the basics of medium turns (but explain that I'll be using the rudder for them on this trip) - with meet'n'greet this takes about 10 mins using a model (no writing on whiteboards!).
I don't agree with the idea of giving a full chalk'n'talk Ex4 brief unless it really is the first trip of a course. I also don't like the idea of someone else doing the briefing - this is an important time to build a relationship with the stude, not just a formality to be gone through.
In the aircraft I show them how to taxi (whilst doing the taxi checks) and then get them to taxi to the hold. At the hold I explain the checks as I do them. I'll probably get them to do the take-off, then takeover for the checks and to demo the climb attitude and primary EOC, then hand control back so they can practice primary EOC in the climb. Once settled I'll talk them through turns and (usually) climbs/descents, local landmarks (house, airfield, etc), then get them to fly back to the airfield. At some time they'll make an R/T call and there'll be some laughter about something. The importance of Lookout and Attitude are emphasised at every stage.

Afterwards: a brief recap, explain how to take it further, sign the certificate and bid farewell. This is all easily done as a 30 min trip in a 60 min slot.