FI wants me to be positive

[Caullystone]

My FI wants me to be Positive with the controls and stop thinking too much...

.. any ideas on how to be less serious and relax a bit more?

[maxdrypower]

Yeh enjoy yourself , its not like learning to drive which is something that has to be done this is something your doing for your own personal enjoyment because you want the ability to fly aeroplanes . Dont focus on your end result , the pooey wallet just see every lesson as something your really going to enjoy . After all hats what flying with a ppl is for IMO enjoyment.

[stickandrudderman]

Get yourself an aerobatic lesson in something like a Pitts. You'll be amazed at what you can do with the controls in one of those, and thereafter you'll be a lot more relaxed about using the controls on your PA27.5.

Oh, and don't say anything funny or you might go missing!

[Caullystone]

Just found this 2001 note by Genghis the Engineer..

" you are no doubt .... used to thinking carefully about what you're doing"

Thats me... he goes on to say...

"The problem with people like you and I is we think too hard about what should actually be a skill - it's a bit like what sport coaches call "body memory". You need to train rather than educate yourself in the handling part of flying"

Thats is what I am doing wrong... how do I get over it??

[High Wing Drifter]

Strangely and just like golf, I found it was all in the grip. A nice light touch with a couple of fingers and the thumb on the stick rather than grasping (and just a single hand), seems to disconnect the concious mind from the task at hand and encourage a more relaxed demeanour.

[rusty sparrow]

Visualising - seeing youself mentally flying the acft smoothly and accurately. Then the body follows and make it happen. It works for me and helped me pass my LST last week.

Just before posting this, I checked for references on the web and found this (http://www.rodmachado.com/Articles/Interview-1.htm) interview with Rod Machado which comments " Third, all students should use visualization techniques to help them review the principles learned on each lesson. It's not at all unusual for good students to spend at least twice as many hours in visualization practice for ever hour in the cockpit."Rusty Sparrow

[Caullystone]

I also have a "vice" grip:ugh:

[Mad Girl]

I also have a "vice" grip:ugh:


I also had/have the same problem - and asked a similar question.....

Hopefully the MODS won't donk me for this...... but about a year ago....someone suggested that I should pretend I was Princess Anne and the control yoke was a tramps d:mad:k - worked a treat initially :eek: and I relaxed the "hold"!!!

Much further down the course now....... and it doesn't work anymore - so appropriate suggestions ;) would be appreciated for me... :ok:

[digital.poet]

Oh, how I love this forum. It is great to hear that my problems are not unique. I am getting better but still holding the yoke too tight. My instructor has commented that my knuckles are not turning white anymore, so I am definately improving. I will make a consious effort to improve this.

Mad Girl:

Well, Pricess Royal Anne is getting on a bit now. Perhaps this technique has stopped working because your subconcious is telling you that she would probably take what she could get. You could try reversing the image, and seeing how that works! :E

Paris Dakar:

Your censored smileys have left me scratching my head a bit. I am not the most experienced of fellows but none of my previous girlfriends, nor my ex-wife had anything that would have resembled a control column. Does your instructor often fly with female students in stick control aircraft? That would make a bit more sense. :E

[Whirlybird]

I'm not sure how well any of these tricks actually work. The thing is, you need to concentrate to learn to fly, and we're all used to tensing up when we concentrate. It's worst of all when students are learning to hover, when "white knuckle syndrome" is well known.

The "trick", if you can do it, is to stop caring about how well you do. But since most pilots are high achievers, and most people are counting the money this is costing them, that's quite hard for many of us.

A few things which help, in no particular order, as it's late and I'm thinking as I write...

Take deep breaths - you'd be amazed how many people actually forget to breathe.
Consciously relax your grip when you remember, and eventually it will become a habit.
Don't beat yourself up about being tense; it makes matters worse.
If your instrucror's sexual innuendo type tricks don't work - they never did for me - tell him/her so, and try a different way.
I chat to students...too much, probably, but it seems to stop them thinking about hovering and then they start to relax.
Hold yoke/stick/cyclic with fingers and thumbs, not whole hand - it makes it much harder to grip.
Then take a few more deep breaths.
And if it still hasn't worked, you're normal, and practice makes perfect, so just carry on and trust that the process of training works. :ok:

[Slopey]

I had the same white knuckle issues in a C150 originally - I think I was paranoid the plane would flip over or veer off, so I was continually over controlling and gripping as if my life depended on it.

My instructor at the time took me up on a fairly bouncy day and just let it fly itself - largest turbulent upset was around 20 degrees roll, with just a small correction needed.

He then flew a virtually perfect circuit and right down to the flare "hands-off" - very impressive, and an excellent lesson in trim and rudder control.

The more you grip, the bouncier it gets - so if you're in anyway nervous about chop you should just relax and try and let go (which is exactly the opposite of what your brain thinks you should do).

Just another one of those things you need to learn by practice/experience.

[BigAl's]

That's it exactly (IMHO) TRIM! My first two lessons, I had two whie nuckle hands on the yolk, after that my instructor got me down to one hand. Latterly the best bit of advice I can conjour up is to TRIM the a/c, let go the stick and see what happens. If you've got it right, it should pretty much fly level. Then a nice light grip will be plently! Works for me! :ok:

[wsmempson]

These days, I find that if I think of myself as Mervyn King with my hand on the tiller of the economy, my grip loosens up no end.....

Seriously, though, some years back when I was struggling to keep the aircraft straight and level during a very bumpy lesson (and of course, although I didn't know it at the time, overcontrolling the aircraft wickedly) the intructor suddenly demanded that I let go of the controls. I did this expecting to see him take control, only to be very surprised to find that the aircraft flew rather better without my interference than with it. A light touch is generally the right touch.:hmm:

[sunday driver]

Caullystone
Well, fingertip touch worked for me also.
Another thought, though
My IMC instructor was the wonderful Barry Dyke at Thruxton. I cannot recall EVER doing anything wrong with Barry. The most positive and motivating instructor you could ever wish for.
BUT
I recently had an interesting experience while being instructed on a very different aircraft at a different airfield by a very experienced instructor.
He kept telling me to correct every time I did something wrong. I very quickly became an over-reacting, jerky, incompetent tw@. I lost all confidence and it took me 2 weeks to achieve something that should have taken 2 days.
OK so what's my point? Not every instructor is a good match for every student. It may not be you.
Oh, yes, and be patient. It takes a while for the technique to get absorbed into the 'old brain'.
SD

[Kaptain Kremen]

glue drawing pins to the yoke / stick. You can only hold it gently then.
(it's just a bit painful during the flare and stalls)

[rmac]

AKA - "The Vulcan Death Grip"