INSTRUCTOR REPORT A good instructor is always learning INSTRUCTOR REPORT offers insights for students and tips for CFIs. READY OR NOT? How to know when your student is ready for the checkride » By Natalie Bingham Hoover FIELD GUIDES FOR FLIGHT TRAINING AOPA is previewing three innovative and exciting books about learning to fly. They are packaged as field guides on flight training. One book is for the student, the second for flight instructors, and the third for flight training organizations. To preview or order, visit the website (www.aopa.org/ ftinitiative). WATCHING YOUR STUDENT go on a checkride is usually more stressful than actually going on one yourself. Most CFIs would prefer to do anything else rather than idly stand by waiting on a student and examiner to return, imagining with each passing minute all of the things that could possibly go wrong. Will he remember the carb heat on landing? I hope she held her altitude during steep turns… Is it possible to reduce that s feeling of worry that accompanies a student’s practical test to something more manageable? With a little more understanding of the practical test standards, it may be possible to look forward to checkride day—or at least not dread it. The FAA’s purpose in developing the PTS is to make sure that we are training safe and technically proficient pilots. However, many of us expect perfection from our students. Instead of using the PTS to set realistic expectations, we sometimes expect the 35-hour student pilot to complete both sets of steep turns while losing no more than 10 feet of altitude without wavering from maneuvering speed. Well, this is one case in which the FAA is actually more reasonable than the average CFI. The PTS for private pilots require only that the applicant maintain plus or minus 100 feet with a similar, rather lenient margin of 10 knots of airspeed. JUNE 2013 FLIGHT TRAINING / 49http://www.aopa.org/ftinitative http://www.aopa.org/ftinitative