When David Copperfield made a Learjet disappear from an airport tarmac in the 1980s, his audience was stunned. They had the same expression on their faces that an owner has when he forgets a monthly loan payment and the repo man makes his Learjet disappear.
The fact that magic surprises us shouldn’t surprise us at all. It affects us this way because the magician does the opposite of what the educator does. He uses misdirection to keep us from properly identifying and recognizing the physical sensations that come our way. We call these sensations perceptions. Without them, we’re unlikely to understand what we’re experiencing.
Effective flight instructors help their students recognize and understand what they’re seeing. A fundamental concept of military sniper training is that you become better at seeing what you become better at seeing. Practice looking for out-of-the-ordinary items (think gun barrel in a tree), or inappropriate patterns in the field (think helmet on grass), and you eventually become better at finding these things. Put this principle to use in the cockpit by helping your students better identify what they’re perceiving.
We typically introduce students to flying coordinated by having them look at the ball in the inclinometer. Then we mention that a right- or left-deflected ball is accompanied by a simultaneous right or left weight displacement (respectively) on their rear end. Then we move on, satisfied that we’ve taught our student something useful. In fact, it’s doubtful we’ve taught our students much at all.
The next time you demonstrate flight control coordination, try using the following five perceptual modifiers to help your students perceive properly: isolate, identify, exaggerate, eliminate, and compare. Let’s use these concepts to introduce seat-of-the-pants flying skills.
By isolating sensory stimulation, you allow your students to better recognize it. When demonstrating the postural feeling associated with a slip or skid, place the airplane in a slipping or skidding turn—and keep it there. Point out the relationship between the inclinometer’s deflected ball (a visual perception) and the feeling in the seat of the pants (a tactile perception). Give the student time to recognize and experience these distinct sensations.
Next, help your students identify exactly what it is they’re experiencing. You can’t fly coordinated by the seat of your pants if you don’t recognize that the G-load in your pants has shifted to one side. Be careful how you phrase this, but say something such as, “Do you notice how the load on your rear end has shifted to the right (or left) side of your derrière?” This may require some translation if your student doesn’t speak French.
Sometimes it’s necessary to exaggerate sensory stimulation in order to properly recognize it. For any potential stimulation to be experienced by an individual, it must exceed his or her sensory activation threshold for that stimulus. Some people just can’t feel a slight slip or skid. But they can feel it if you place the airplane in an extreme slip or skid and leave it there. Now, the stimulation is more likely to be perceived.
Here is where you can take your teaching skills to the next level. To better ensure that your students recognize and understand what it is that they’re perceiving, eliminate everything you can that distracts from that process. Once again, we’re doing exactly the opposite of what the magician does. We’re eliminating distractions, not using them.
Have your students temporarily cover their eyes with both hands while you fly, then begin a turn and purposely slip or skid the airplane. By eliminating visual information, you’re shutting down one channel of input and letting the student’s brain use more resources to process the relevant channel.
Finally, you want to explore the full range of available sensory stimulation by helping your students compare newer stimulation (new perceptions) with either its polar opposite or its absence. The postural feelings associated with a right slip (or skid) are made more recognizable when immediately compared to a left slip or skid of the same magnitude (its polar opposite). If you’re practicing slow flight, the distinct feelings of the flight controls in this condition are more recognizable when compared to normal flight (the absence of mushy controls).
All learning begins with perception. By helping your students isolate, identify, exaggerate, eliminate, and compare the individual elements of their experience, you’ll help them learn faster and much more thoroughly.
Related Articles
When David Copperfield made a Learjet disappear from an airport tarmac in the 1980s, his audience was stunned. They had the same expression on their faces that an owner has when he forgets a monthly loan payment and the repo man makes his Learjet disappear.
The fact that magic surprises us shouldn’t surprise us at all. It affects us this way because the magician does the opposite of what the educator does. He uses misdirection to keep us from properly identifying and recognizing the physical sensations that come our way. We call these sensations perceptions. Without them, we’re unlikely to understand what we’re experiencing.
Effective flight instructors help their students recognize and understand what they’re seeing. A fundamental concept of military sniper training is that you become better at seeing what you become better at seeing. Practice looking for out-of-the-ordinary items (think gun barrel in a tree), or inappropriate patterns in the field (think helmet on grass), and you eventually become better at finding these things. Put this principle to use in the cockpit by helping your students better identify what they’re perceiving.
We typically introduce students to flying coordinated by having them look at the ball in the inclinometer. Then we mention that a right- or left-deflected ball is accompanied by a simultaneous right or left weight displacement (respectively) on their rear end. Then we move on, satisfied that we’ve taught our student something useful. In fact, it’s doubtful we’ve taught our students much at all.
The next time you demonstrate flight control coordination, try using the following five perceptual modifiers to help your students perceive properly: isolate, identify, exaggerate, eliminate, and compare. Let’s use these concepts to introduce seat-of-the-pants flying skills.
By isolating sensory stimulation, you allow your students to better recognize it. When demonstrating the postural feeling associated with a slip or skid, place the airplane in a slipping or skidding turn—and keep it there. Point out the relationship between the inclinometer’s deflected ball (a visual perception) and the feeling in the seat of the pants (a tactile perception). Give the student time to recognize and experience these distinct sensations.
Next, help your students identify exactly what it is they’re experiencing. You can’t fly coordinated by the seat of your pants if you don’t recognize that the G-load in your pants has shifted to one side. Be careful how you phrase this, but say something such as, “Do you notice how the load on your rear end has shifted to the right (or left) side of your derrière?” This may require some translation if your student doesn’t speak French.
Sometimes it’s necessary to exaggerate sensory stimulation in order to properly recognize it. For any potential stimulation to be experienced by an individual, it must exceed his or her sensory activation threshold for that stimulus. Some people just can’t feel a slight slip or skid. But they can feel it if you place the airplane in an extreme slip or skid and leave it there. Now, the stimulation is more likely to be perceived.
Here is where you can take your teaching skills to the next level. To better ensure that your students recognize and understand what it is that they’re perceiving, eliminate everything you can that distracts from that process. Once again, we’re doing exactly the opposite of what the magician does. We’re eliminating distractions, not using them.
Have your students temporarily cover their eyes with both hands while you fly, then begin a turn and purposely slip or skid the airplane. By eliminating visual information, you’re shutting down one channel of input and letting the student’s brain use more resources to process the relevant channel.
Finally, you want to explore the full range of available sensory stimulation by helping your students compare newer stimulation (new perceptions) with either its polar opposite or its absence. The postural feelings associated with a right slip (or skid) are made more recognizable when immediately compared to a left slip or skid of the same magnitude (its polar opposite). If you’re practicing slow flight, the distinct feelings of the flight controls in this condition are more recognizable when compared to normal flight (the absence of mushy controls).
All learning begins with perception. By helping your students isolate, identify, exaggerate, eliminate, and compare the individual elements of their experience, you’ll help them learn faster and much more thoroughly.
Related Articles