Instructor Tips

Not better, not worse - just different

It is a fact that our ability to learn peaks early in life. Anyone who has children knows they have an incredible ability to absorb and retain new facts and experiences as they learn the fundamental language and social skills they need to interact with their parents, siblings, and neighbors. Social scientists may argue about when this ability begins to fall off, but none will deny that it does decrease.

When discussing human behavior we must speak in general terms. We must also understand that generalities don't apply to everyone. You'll always find individuals who don't conform to broad conclusions. When a flight instructor meets a new student, it helps if he (or she) has some understanding about the broad strengths and weaknesses that person is likely to possess - and understands that everyone is different.

According to my logbooks I have given more than 3,000 hours of flight instruction to students of all ages. Many of them have been older students, and they present their own teaching challenges. First and foremost, an instructor must realize that an older student has no more difficulty understanding concepts than a younger student. In fact, he may grasp concepts more easily because of his extensive life experience, especially if his work background is of a technical nature. An older student's challenges lean more toward his reflexes and retaining what he's learned.

Students in their teens and twenties generally pick up physical skills easily. Their ability to master the control inputs that make the aircraft perform as desired and their ability to react to rapidly changing sensory inputs, such as those a pilot experiences during landing, are strong. A student who's 40 or older is a bit slower. To an instructor this may mean that, compared to the younger student, the older student may take longer to learn how to land.

The building-block teaching approach is the key to meeting any student's needs, and it's especially important with older students. An instructor might be able to talk a 22-year-old student through a landing in a gentle crosswind on the fifth lesson. A 50-year-old student might need to master the landing flare in calm conditions before he's ready to meet the crosswind challenge.

In a similar vein, older students sometimes have difficulty tracking multiple tasks simultaneously. A 28-year-old student might be able to follow the instructor's constant dialog as he talks him through his first S-turn across a road - "...start easing off the bank ? watch your altitude ? notice the ball to the outside ? you're using the rudder to skid around the turn ? I want to see you watching for traffic..." A 60-year-old student might not be able to keep up because he's still analyzing the first instruction while the instructor has moved on to the next.

This can also be a matter of personality, but the solution remains the same. Demonstrate the maneuver, then give your student time to adjust to one thing at a time. For example, work on altitude control and when the student consistently maintains altitude, move on to wind correction. An instructor can best help the student improve by discussing corrections after the student has completed a maneuver - not while he's flying it. This allows him to concentrate on what he is doing - not on what an instructor is saying.

An instructor needs to reinforce learning for all students, and older students are no different. In a sense, learning involves "burning in" the necessary memory path. Older students may grasp a concept more rapidly than younger students, but they might have diminished ability to recall what they learned a week or a month ago. I'm living proof of this. Several years ago, at age 40, I wanted to learn French. Enrolling in a junior college course, I learned the basic grammar, memorized the vocabulary lists, and earned an A from the teacher. One month after the course ended, I couldn't remember how to put together the simplest sentence. Without constant reinforcement - practice - over time, it simply didn't stick. Repetition is important for any student, but it's even more so for the older student.

The only solution is to encourage your students to fly as often as possible. If circumstances won't allow frequent flying, explain that it will take longer to achieve their goal. The instructor's purpose is not to berate or chastise his student, but rather to alleviate future frustration if the student doesn't progress as quickly as he expects.

An older student who's been a pilot for some time and wants to earn an instrument rating often needs some special consideration. First, an instructor must respect a student's experience. These student-instructor relationships are more "professional to professional" than "professional to student" as it would be with a primary student. The student already knows how to fly; the instructor is merely adding to the student's aeronautical knowledge and skill.

At the same time, the instructor must make sure the instrument student understands - and has - the judgment to always respect - the fact that proficiency and practice are key to flying safely in the clouds. Just because he's been flying for years doesn't mean he can remain instrument current and proficient without working toward these goals.

It may sound like I think older people have difficulty flying, but that's not the case at all. Older people make great pilots and excellent students. For the most part, an instructor will find that older students are comfortable with themselves, and their lives lack the urgency one senses among the young. They are generally aware of the challenges age imposes on all of us and are less worried about getting a certificate or rating before some self-imposed deadline. A 19-year-old student may say he wants to be safe, and he doesn't want to solo before he's ready. The instructor knows, however, that the student's self-image requires him to solo in the minimum possible time, especially if he has a friend who's also learning to fly. Older students are far less likely to think of themselves as invincible and are more apt to agree with the instructor when he tells them they need a little more time and practice.

When you take on an older student (or any student, for that matter), explain to him he should not expect to earn his certificate or rating in a specific amount of time. Rare is the student who completes training in the minimum FAA-required time. Telling a student that fact can be hard for some instructors to do. We tend to shy away from discussing the cost or challenges involved in learning to fly because we're afraid this will dampen a student's enthusiasm and drive him away.

It is, however, only fair for a student to know the score because it may alleviate future disillusionment. Emphasize the rewards of learning to fly. Tell him there's no way you can predict exactly how many hours it will take any student to earn his wings, but if he dedicates himself to his education, he'll achieve the goal. You may be surprised that the dedication is already there in force.

For many older students, learning to fly is a dream that began before you were born - and the two of you are going to have a great time making the dream a reality.