Flight Training - August 2019 - 52

ADVANCED PILOT INSTRUCTOR REPORT

But the magic of flight has been
worked out of the modern flight training
syllabus. We wonder why so many primary
students don't finish their training. I
believe it is because flight instruction is too
focused on objective measurements and
government-guided performance milestones. Students who accept this kind of
training may prepare for an easy transition
to the airlines, but they miss so much that
general aviation can give them.
My own flight training was focused
on the standards for the checkride. Hours
of bouncing around the pattern at my
home field didn't prepare me for the
type of flying I really wanted. But after a

TIP: "I tend to cover instruTAKE YOUR
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ments-a lot, even for landings.
Helps to build confidence. I do
spot-landing 'contests' later in
training."
-Ian J. Twombly, AOPA senior content
producer

summer of rubbing shoulders in a Cessna
152, I still remembered why I learned
to fly. I would read articles and watch
YouTube videos about flying adventures
and imagine my own flights that would
make Ernest Gann (author of my favorite
aviation book, Fate is the Hunter) proud.
So, after I shook the examiner's hand, I
picked out a grass airstrip an hour away
from my home field, booked the airplane,
and packed too much camping gear. With
a long cross-country and my first actual
grass landing (see "Sod Season," p. 34), I
was nervous. But that flight was revolutionary for me. It was the perfect use
of an airplane. It was exactly the kind of
flight I had dreamed about for years. And
it is exactly the kind of flight that must be
included in training.

TIP: "Visit every airport in your

area during training. Use short
fields for short-field practice, soft
fields for soft-field practice. Visit
airports with special features-for
example, high terrain that creates
shifting winds or turbulence, or
coastal airports where weather
changes quickly, or the really
busy tower airport they hope to
fly to someday-for real-world
experience."
-Dan Namowitz
52  FLIGHT TRAINING AUGUST 2019

TIP: "Toilet paper slicing: Drop

it from an airplane, let it unfurl,
encourage your student to slice it
with the wing, and watch all his or
her timidity disappear."
-Dave Hirschman, AOPA editor at large

We need a revolution in flight training: a change to focus on the reasons that
prompted us to call the flight school.
Instructors, I challenge you to find ways to
make a student's private pilot flight training
interesting and exciting. Practice touch
and goes at a different airport every time. It
will not only break the routine but prepare
students for flying into unfamiliar airports.
Change up your student's cross-country
plan and have her divert to a grass strip. It
will give her experience in changing plans
and soft-field operations. Introducing fun
scenarios into training will fill students

TIP: "I've also had students sit in

more advanced aircraft. It's a great
tool to show them where they can
go with their training-and a great
learning tool for them to identify
instrumentation and equipment
they already know. It can be a
wonderful way for them to realize
how much they already know when
they start to identify and understand things in larger aircraft
instead of feeling stuck in trainers
all the time."
-Sarah Staudt

with excitement, remind them why they
started flying, and enhance learning.
For students, you should always
remind yourself of the fun. It's easy to get
lost in the training regime and blindly follow your instructor's lead. You are the one
paying the money: Demand your instructor
pass on as much information to you as possible through exciting training flights. Pick
somewhere cool for your cross-country.
The minimum of 150 nautical miles doesn't
mean you're limited to that distance. There
are countless opportunities for adventure
within a 250-mile radius from every airport-why not start exploring them now?
Begin to unlock the excitement of flight for
yourself from the first lesson.
Training this way benefits both the
instructor and the student. By training in
different environments and having a wide
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Flight Training - August 2019

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