Efficient Flight Training

[Colonel]

Most flight training is very inefficient and ends up taking a lot longer
and costing much, much more than it should.

Prospective students wonder what they can do about this. It's very
simple.

First, don't try to teach yourself before you show up. There is no point
in you memorizing FAA AC 43-13B to preflight an aircraft. Please don't
spend hours with flight simulator, teaching yourself the wrong things
which must be un-learned.

Just show up. On time. Maybe even a bit early. Be sober and motivated.
Pay attention. Do what you're told.

I can only hope and pray that your flight instructor is even moderately
competent, but ... before you go flying, he should tell you

WHAT you are going to do, and
HOW to do it

If those two things aren't crystal clear before you step in the airplane,
you know your instructor is weak or inexperienced or incompetent.

Try to look outside when you fly an airplane. He will try to make you
spend too much time with your head down reading a book, but that's
suicidal. You don't fly an airplane, ride a motorcycle or drive a car in
traffic with your head down, reading a "how-to" book. I understand I
am in a tiny minority of pilots that doesn't want to die in a mid-air
collisions.

Remember, it's not a steering wheel. Use the rudders like this:

1) below approach speed, use your feet for primary directional control, and
2) above approach speed, step on the ball (unless you want to sideslip)

No one will tell you that, because they are incompetent and can't fly very well themselves.

And for god's sake, let go of the control column at altitude when it all
goes to hell. At this point of your flight training, the aircraft flies better
without your inputs than with it. No one will mention that. Ever.

See Beggs-Mueller.

Now for the efficient flight training part. Your de-brief will likely be
sadly short. But, this is how you get better. Google closed loop control
via open loop. You WANT to go closed loop, ok?

You need to know what you did wrong, and how to correct it. Your instructor
should pick your major error, describe it in detail, and tell you precisely how
to do better next time, but he probably won't - he's late for his next lesson.

When you get home, write (or type) down, what you did today. How you were
supposed to do it. What you actually did. What your errors were, and how you
are going to fix them.

NOW go back and read the Flight Training Manual for the exercise you did today.

People tell you to read it ahead of time, and I learned over the decades that is a
complete waste of your time. Read it AFTER the flight, and it will make lots of
sense, and help you understand WHAT you just did, and HOW you are supposed
to do it.

If your instructor isn't an @sshole, email him your notes of today's flight and ask
him to review them. If he isn't an @sshole, he should reply with corrections which
you should review.

Note that if you following my receipe, you will "re-live" your flight FOUR times:

Once immediately after the flight (instructor debrief)
Twice when you write down what you did
Three times when you read the FTM
Four times when you get your instructor email feedback

This "re-living" of the flight will reinforce your learning immensely. It really
increases the efficiency of your flight training, which is why nobody does it.

Doesn't cost a fucking dime, and it prevents you from practicing your mistakes,
over and over again, which pretty well describes most flight training these days.

[Colonel]

Remember, it's not a steering wheel. Use the rudders like this:

1) below approach speed, use your feet for primary directional control, and
2) above approach speed, step on the ball (unless you want to sideslip)

In a twin, you have the advantage of thrust on the wings, with lots of yaw moment arm.

That means that in a twin, you can control yaw with differential thrust. Shit, you
do that when you're taxiing, and it's an essential tool of taking off a multi-engine
taildragger.

You can also use differential thrust after you deeply stall a twin, to walk it down
without spinning, even if the rudder is ineffective. I'll bet no instructor ever taught
you that, but gosh, it can come in handy.

[Colonel]

My fetish with repeatedly re-living and reviewing material is not shared
with anyone, but this is interesting reading:



The above is literally a fucking page right out of the TC Flight Instructor Guide,
which as far as I can tell, is a great place to hide this important information,
because no one has ever read it.

[Four Bars]

My fetish with repeatedly re-living and reviewing material is not shared
with anyone, but this is interesting reading:



The above is literally a fucking page right out of the TC Flight Instructor Guide,
which as far as I can tell, is a great place to hide this important information,
because no one has ever read it.

How dare you refer to a CANADIAN document...

[Scudrunner]

567999A3-3227-4ECD-B9A9-68B72E7647FA.jpeg

[Colonel]

How dare you refer to a CANADIAN document

Ha. This is going to sound weird, but there is actually some pretty
good advice hidden in there amongst all the weird new-age stuff.

It was written by a bunch of guys that are all dead now, but I think
one or two of them knew their stuff, and maybe got a word in edgewise.

Teach your students to have mastery over the aircraft; to fly with verve and spirit to the limit of the aircraft's flight envelope; to know what they can and cannot do

It's important to remember that the fundamentals - of people and
airplanes - don't change much. People and newtonian physics are
pretty much the same in 2021 as 1792.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ca ... g_machines

Cousin George, 220 years ago :^)

[John Swallow]

"Most flight training is very inefficient and ends up taking a lot longer and costing much, much more than it should."

Andrew: an area flight school of which I'm aware is not letting students perform 'touch and go' landings; every one is a "stop and taxi back"; the runway is 3500 feet and paved.

Any thoughts, considering that this would have a direct impact on the number of landings possible in the average training slot?

[Colonel]

It's hard to comment intelligently without all the facts, but ...

I was CFI at different FTU's at airports with 4000 foot paved runways at more or less sea level.

I never restricted students from doing touch and goes. In fact, my philosophy is that if it doesn't
feel perfect, throttle forward and go around, and get a better approach, flare and landing next time.

The more challenging an aircraft is, the more this is true (eg cranky taildragger). Never force a bad
approach into a bad flare. Never force a bad flare into a bad touchdown. Never force a bad touchdown
to a bad rollout. You're not going to finish on the runway, with that kind of decision making. You're
going to end up off the sides or end. We see that in the news, every day, over and over again.

I don't want a pilot to EVER think that he is committed to a full stop landing, unless he's on fire or
the prop has stopped because the tanks are empty. Safety is in the air, away from the ground.
The ground is cold, and hard, and hurts when you hit it.

If a student can't do a touch and go, he needs more training. IMHO.

Pro Tip: eyes outside the aircraft when it is moving.
Flaps and carb heat by feel. No touch & goes with retractable gear, due to the risk of the gear handle
being touched when the aircraft is in motion on the ground.

The problem is that there are no visible costs to the school, to restricting primary students to no
touch and goes, or max 5 knots crosswinds. They merely produce an inferior product, which doesn't
hurt the school's bottom line.