AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2014 - 22

LICENSE TO LEARN

Cargo cult thinking

BY ROD MACHADO

Master the fundamentals first
EARLY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, pilots visited
remote islands by air, dropping off goods for natives. On
subsequent visits, these pilots noticed that the natives
had built flimsy stick-and-twig replicas of their airplanes. Anthropologists named this phenomenon "cargo
cult behavior" because the intent was to obtain more of
the cargo (goodies) provided by the visiting advanced
culture. The islanders assumed that by re-creating the
symbol (the airplane), the desired goods would magically reappear. Fortunately, we no longer rely on cargo
cult thinking to fulfill our needs, right? Maybe not.
If you look at how our industry began training pilots
in the 1990s, you'll see that we may indeed be engaged
in cargo cult thinking. During the past two decades, the
FAA and some industry educators assumed it was possi-

We can't teach someone to behave like a
professional pilot until they first learn to fly
like a private pilot.

ROD MACHADO

is a CFII with
more than 9,500
flight hours,
teaching since
1973. His seventh
flight training book
was just released.

ble to re-create an event (i.e., produce private pilots with
airline-type safety skills) by re-creating the symbol (i.e.,
using airline-type training strategies and philosophy).
During the past decade several GA flight schools
have adopted a version of the LOFT (line oriented flight
training) philosophy used by many airlines. Instead of
taking a first-time student to the practice area on his or
her first lesson and teaching the basics of flight (climbs,
turns, descents, et cetera), many instructors combine
basic flight lessons with cross-country trips. Here's
your map, that's called a yoke, look for landmarks, add
some rudder. Really? There was a time when combining
drastically different blocks of learning was considered
a distraction to the educational process. Now it's considered cutting-edge flight training. To date, I have yet
to hear a logical defense of how this pedagogical fusion
helps student pilots learn more effectively. Go figure.
Scenario-based training-as it's used in GA today-
and risk-management skills are two symbols (among
others) with an airline pedigree. Both were considered
likely to promote a downward trend in GA's accident
rate. So how has that worked for us? While no one
would deny that there's a place for aspects of these strategies in primary flight training, they haven't had any
discernible effect on the accident rate.
What has changed is that Part 61 private pilot

22 | AOPA PILOT February 2014

certification now takes an average of 105.1 hours. Nearly
50 percent of today's aviation accidents result from a
lack of basic stick-and-rudder skills. Color me a skeptic,
but it sure looks like our desire to re-create the symbol
of airline safety makes it harder for people to become
pilots, much less control their airplanes when they do.
On the other hand, we have reputable accelerated
flight schools offering ab initio private pilot airplane certification in 21 days, at an average 42 hours of flight time,
for a fair price-and with a 98-percent completion rate.
How do they do it? It's called maneuvers-based training.
The primary focus is on the novel concept of teaching
students how to fly. Their students simultaneously learn
how to avoid hazards and make wise decisions.
We're finally learning we can't teach someone to
behave like a professional pilot until they first learn
to fly like a private pilot. That means emphasizing
maneuvers-based training in the private pilot curriculum. For those who've just fallen off their futon at
the mere mention of this term, I submit the following
for your consideration-the FAA's recently released
Advisory Circular 120-109 on stall-recovery training is
a stunning declaration on the lack of stick-and-rudder
skills in many of today's pilots, especially professional
pilots. Consider this phrase: "[The] core principles of
this AC include: Reduction of AOA [angle of attack] is
the most important response when confronted with a
stall event...[and] development of basic recovery handling skills through maneuvers-based training should
precede their application in scenario-based training."
You don't need a degree in hermeneutics to
understand the FAA's point here. First, some pilots (professional pilots, too) either forgot or never learned about
the basic concept of angle of attack, and how to move
the elevator when the airplane stalls. Second, the FAA
now suggests that the best way to teach these skills is
via maneuvers-based training first, followed by higherorder training later. The FAA-recommended teaching
strategy in this AC now comports with both traditional
educational philosophy and common sense.
The moral here is that cargo cult thinking is wishful thinking. You can't teach higher-order skills without
first mastering the fundamentals on which they're
based. If we build twig airplanes, we shouldn't expect
any goodies.
AOPA
WEB

www.rodmachado.com
http://www.rodmachado.com
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2014

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