Handling your students' frustrations
My student has been working faithfully on his private for about 90 hours and is nearing his checkride. The problem is that he--his mind--locks up on the procedure and/or the timing of short- and soft-field procedures. Part of the problem is that he realizes that these maneuvers will be required at the start of the checkride within practical test standards. We have worked on these extensively lately and when we have done several, he seems to get it. Next time out, though, the first attempt ends in failure because he forgets a vital step or messes up the timing.
He is frustrated at having paid so much more than he thought would be required and spent more time than others he sees quickly achieving private pilot certificates. He blames himself for the impasse and questions whether it is worth continuing.
I understand his frustrations, coupled with the sense of not knowing how much more time and money it will take to complete the task. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
F.B.
Greetings F.B.:
Some folks suffer from "lockjaw," and your student suffers from "lock brain." Unfortunately, students sometimes spook themselves when feeling excessive pressure to perform a particular maneuver. Since the student can apparently perform all the other maneuvers required for the checkride (my assumption based on what you wrote), it appears that the short- and soft-field procedures are not beyond his actual ability, but are beyond his ability to prevent being stressed over. Of course, you can keep practicing and practicing, and eventually he's likely to get it (I suspect). But what happens if he delays his checkride because of being spooked by these procedures? This may hurt him in the long run because a delay could result in a degradation of his general flying skills, possibly preventing him from ever taking his checkride. If I may assume that you've done everything possible to help this fellow and nothing seems to work, then I'd offer this radical suggestion.
If you think he's safe--and only if you think he's safe--then suggest he take the checkride and accept the outcome gracefully. If he passes, then the universe is once again in harmony. If he fails the first part of the ride dealing with short- and soft-field procedures, he should ask the examiner if he can continue the ride in an attempt to complete the other required tasks. In this way he has accomplished several useful things despite the failure.
First, he's completed part of the checkride and may only need to be retested in those areas where he failed. He's now closer to passing on the next ride. Since anxiety is keeping him from executing these procedures properly, there's a good chance that he'll be more relaxed on the second ride, thus allowing him to perform better.
In some instances, and for some folks, the only way to get over checkride anxiety is to give up the idea of passing the ride on the first try. Once someone is detached from that idea, he or she may relax, perhaps doing well enough to pass the ride on the first take.
Just to be clear, however, you shouldn't recommend him if you don't think he will ultimately be a safe pilot. Yes, this is a radical solution but it's a reasonable one in your situation.
Weaning students off the moving map
Dear Rod:
I'm working with quite a few primary students in a flight school airplane with a moving-map display. The problem I'm having with most of these students is that they won't stop looking at the moving map. While I believe it's important that all students know how to use their GPS and all its features (map included), I feel that they're just using it as a crutch in the beginning of their flight training. How should I handle this problem?
Tom
Greetings Tom:
This is not an uncommon problem at all. In fact, your problem represents the reason that some clever person once called GPS-dependent pilots "children of the magenta line." I'm speaking of the GPS's active waypoint line that pilots stare at and faithfully follow, sometimes completely oblivious to where that line is taking them (such as to the wrong waypoint or through special use airspace).
Here are the priorities you should consider in terms of providing navigation training to students: Before any student learns basic VOR navigation, he should be capable of navigating solely by use of the compass, paper chart, and landmarks (that's pilotage and dead-reckoning navigation). Before a student learns to use GPS navigation, he should be capable of navigating solely by raw data from a VOR display (Right-Left needle, To-From indication). Then, and only then, should a student be taught to use a GPS and its moving map display for navigation.
It's vital for flight instructors to introduce these forms of navigation in the order listed above. Most likely this means that all the presolo, dual training to and from the practice area is done solely by pilotage (charts, compass, and landmarks). You, the instructor, navigate to and from the practice area using only landmarks while introducing and training your student in the techniques you're using. If you want to look at the GPS map because it provides traffic information, then partially cover the GPS so the student can't see the map but can see the radio frequencies (if they're part of the GPS display, such as with a Garmin 530).
To become safe in the use of GPS for navigation, your student must become capable of not using the GPS! Why? There are many reasons, but one of them involves learning how to apply a wind correction angle on raw VOR data. And if the GPS info isn't available, he's only as good a navigator as his more basic skills allow.
Can an instructor log student landings?
Dear Rod:
There have been some recent questions among the other instructors I work with regarding whether an instructor can log the landings made by his students. An extensive search of the federal aviation regulations has turned up no definite answers. I am a fairly new instructor and have only logged a few landings in the past 100 hours. As I see it, I'm not landing the airplane so I shouldn't be logging that time. The regulations say nothing about a flight instructor being able to log or not log landings. I am worried about keeping my night currency, as most of my night instruction is done with students who can already fly.
Seth
Greetings Seth:
Yes, you can log them, just as you can log the number of times you hiccupped in flight or the number of times your students scared you (but only if you're good with large numbers, of course). The only takeoffs and landings that a flight instructor must record, however, are those that he or she uses to meet the recency-of-experience requirement for carrying passengers. Those takeoffs and landings must be as the sole manipulator of the flight controls. Student landings in your logbook do not count toward currency requirements, which means they don't count as other than nice-to-know things.
Rod Machado is a flight instructor, author, educator, and speaker. A pilot since 1970 and a CFI since 1973, he has flown more than 8,000 hours and is part owner of a Cessna P210. Visit his Web site.
