1. For over thirty years now I have made thousands of landings with hundreds of students. I have made a practice of asking this one question. "Why do you and every other of my students go through this beginning phase of always landing on the left side of the runway." I have yet to find the answer. Do you know?
In the year 2000 I had a student in a Skipper teach me the cause. When raising the nose students fail to apply enough right rudder so the aircraft drifts to the left.
2. One of my favorite students was able to remain airborne for only 20 minutes or so for the first six lessons or so. She never gave up and later used her license to fly across the country. Remember a basic education premise is, "Students don't fail; teachers do".
3. Concept: The more time spent doing something the better it will be done. Fact: An efficient, organized, and checklist mandated preflight is the best accident preventative. The pilot who wanders back and forth about the airplane, in and out of the cockpit, without a checklist will sooner or later abbreviate and give an inadequate preflight. Conclusion: Use a checklist.
4. Concept: If the plane goes fast on takeoff it will give a smoother takeoff. Fact: A takeoff at greater than minimum safe operating speed is wasteful of runway and altitude that may make an emergency landing possible. Making 10" tires rotate at high speeds are conducive to blowouts and loss of control on the ground. The shock of ground contact at higher speeds is more damaging to the airplane. Conclusion: Get off the ground at the correct speed which is called minimum controllable or Vso.
5. Concept: If I can see over the nose of the plane I am safer. Fact: Any climb at faster than best rate increases the distance from the airport without acquiring the altitude needed for a safe return. Conclusion: The initial climb speed should be at best rate. This may be mandated by local ordinance for noise abatement. This gets the plane to the most altitude in the least time and provides an emergency margin not otherwise possible.
6. Concept: When I make maneuvers at high speed more skill is required. Fact: Maneuvers at higher speeds may demonstrate skill. The highest degree of flying skill is best demonstrated at slow speeds. Conclusion: It is more important to acquire skill in slow speed flight. Slow speed flight skill is required for takeoff, landings and emergencies. Most accidents seem to occur where slow speed flying skills are at a premium.
7. Concept: A landing made from a flat approach, without flaps, 80 knots at ground contact, and a smooth landing is considered a good landing. That's the way I did it as a child with toy planes. Fact: The most accurate landing can be made from a steep approach. The primary purpose of flaps is to make a steep approach possible. Any ground contact with an airplane should be done at as slow a speed as possible. Low speed ground contact greatly lessens the severity of shock to the aircraft frame and landing gear. Less shock, less potential damage. The slower the ground contact speed the less likely loss of control on the ground. Slow speed reduces the probability of "wheelbarrowing", ballooning, porpoising, or ground looping. Any landing made without the yoke full back and up increases the probability of being able to see the runway and reduces the probability of a minimum speed landing. Conclusion: The best landing is normally accomplished with maximum allowable flaps, placarded or manual airspeed, partial power until ground contact at minimum controllable speed is made.
8. Concept: Since the C-150 can be flown without the trim, why bother. Also, the direction to move the trim can be confusing. Fact: The student should not be just learning to fly the C-150. The instructor should not teach as though flying the C-150 is the ultimate end. The instructor and pilot should take the long view and teach skills and procedures that will carry realistically over into complex aircraft. Failure to teach correct and efficient use of the trim is an affront to safety. The engineering design and logical relationship between trim movement and flap settings is essential knowledge. This relationship in conjunction with selected power settings makes for easier more controlled flying. Conclusion: Failure of the instructor to teach trim movement from the very first flight is a disservice.
9. Two of the most capable student pilots I have ever encountered were having difficulty only because their previous instructors had not detected their lack of visual orientation. The lost or disoriented student often has unrecognized stress that affects all aspects of flight instructions. I have found that disorientation during training is one of the greatest inhibitors of effective learning. Every flight must include periodic visual orientations covering all major visual reference points in all directions. Knowing where you are is a superb security blanket. Call it situational awareness.
10. A few years ago I had a young lady ready to solo except for one difficulty. Just before touchdown the nose would start to wave to each side of the center line. The wings would rock and the rudder would kick for reasons that had nothing to do with the landing or touchdown. At the end of one flight I suggested that we have coffee. Over coffee, we discussed the problem as I saw it. She provided the solution, A flying friend had told her that the only good landing put the nosewheel on the center line. Her swerves in the flare were efforts to find the center line. On discovery, a brief conversation and three landings to solo. A preoccupation with landing at the end of the runway can make the student unaware of airspeed changes. Only the airplane knows exactly when and where it will land in a given situation. The manipulator of the controls can only establish desirable conditions. More succinctly, landing is like making love.
11. The Jeppesen Flight Training Syllabus does not even mention trim. I have attended numerous pilot seminars where trim as a flight skill is never mentioned. I once flew with a 31 hour student who did not know what the trim wheel was.
12. The planes that I fly in are usually fueled immediately on landing. After the third supervised preflight I expect the student to have completed the preflight on my arrival. Imagine my shock on having the student tell me as we started off that the previous flight had used over two hours of fuel. NOW, I always confirm the fuel and oil status before entering the plane.
13. My first instructional emergency occurred just as we turned on our downwind departure. A very loud banging and knocking was being applied to the student's side of the aircraft. I was unable to see the problem from my side. I declared an emergency and was cleared to land. The noise ceased as soon as we slowed down. On landing I discerned that the THIN student had closed the door so that about eight inches of his seat belt hung outside into the slipstream. With my waist, such an event was an impossible prior experience.
14. I had arranged to meet a private pilot at the flight service station prior to a cross country. He failed to show and I proceeded to discuss the weather of the flight with the briefer. Another briefer overheard us and remarked that he had just done the same briefing over the phone with a pilot who was waiting for an instructor at the line service pit. Moral: One man's flight service station may be a gas pump. Instructor's moral: After 10 minutes wait, go home.
15. Flying on cross-country flight with experienced pilot who is weak in certain flying skills. Pilot has made no effort to fly routes to develop skills beyond use of Loran and GPS. Plan and fly airport vicinity routes. Fly right side of freeways and valleys. Fly at odd altitudes when within 3000 feet of the ground. In the pattern this pilot turned his head and leaned forward while making pattern turns. He held this vertigo producing attitude throughout the turn and never realized that his airspeed would vary a full ten knots to either side of the proper speed. Such bad and dangerous habits are going to cause an accident. Clear before the turn. The airspeed will not remain constant unless the nose is stable. Watch the nose during turns. The airport is a non-moving constant. It will be there when you complete the turn. Pilot has made no effort to learn visual reporting and reference points around airport. knows only most commonly used (high volume traffic) references.
16. The student and instructor made a half-hour pre solo flight consisting of a least one go-a-round and three consecutive satisfactory landings. The student was signed off for solo and told to proceed solo making two touch-and-go's followed by a full stop. The instructor disembarked and went to the tower. The preliminaries proceeded as planned with a beautiful approach only to be terminated, unexpectedly, with a go-a-round. The second approach also produced a go-a-round to be followed by a most satisfactory full stop landing. The bewildered instructor proceeded to the ramp in time to see the student get out of the plane. A war dance ensued. The gist of which seemed to indicate that the student had mixed up go-arounds with touch-and go's. An immediate corrective flight produced excellent results.
17. The cross-country from the valley to the foothills. The altitude selected by the student was fine for the valley but too low to easily locate the airport in the hills. The fact that the instructor makes a practice of never looking directly at the destination didn't help any. Moral: The visual reference of your passenger can be deceptive especially if an instructor.
18. The cross country student had persisted in his request for an accompanied flight to Lake Tahoe, CA. The student planned flight would be (small) ifr (I follow roads) once into the Sierras. The student selected altitude made the wooded roads easily visible. A moment of instructor induced inattention caused a fork in the road to be followed to the right instead to the left. It is not impossible to fly right by Lake Tahoe without seeing it.
19. Student came to plane admitting that he had failed to do the recommended reading and review of previous tape recorded lesson. Instructor extended discussion time to compensate for lack of preparation. Flight to neighboring field for landings and back did not go well. Student remarked, "That was not a very good lesson. Was it?" IT WAS A VERY GOOD LESSON.
20. The review lesson of the four basics, slow flights, and stalls by the pre-solo student had been a disaster. The pre-flight discussion had gone reasonably well but the actual performance had regressed to the unsatisfactory level. As we taxied in I inquired as to his previous night's activities. He replied, "Oh, a couple of old high school buddies dropped by and we hoisted a few. IT WAS A VERY GOOD LESSON.
21. Freezing weather in California caused radio failure. Reception possible for 10 second intervals by using radio master on/off switch. Copied ATIS. Transmitted in blind of positions and intentions. Entered on 45, downwind, base and final. Received "GREEN" on downwind. Radio 'thawed' out at 200' when we heard tower advise other traffic of our position. 500 hour IFR student found lesson much more helpful than just talking about it. Moisture froze in transmitter relay.
22. Prior to arrival I radioed my friends in tower and request approval for making a NORDO airport arrival with a student while I maintain a listening watch. Since I teach with headsets, intercom and tape recorders, this is easy to do by simply removing the student's headset. I have the student overfly the airport at twice pattern altitude and determine the runway. We descend and enter on 45 turn downwind, base and final while watching for the green light. It should be a part of every instructors post-solo training program. It relieves a source of anxiety for the student and adds variety.
23. Have student take off with full flaps. Then initiate recovery to normal flight configuration. Requires considerable skill to do smoothly. In 172 at altitude and gross. Have student attempt go around and climb with full flaps. 145 and 150 H.P. C-172 have little reserve power for this maneuver. Make no flap landings a normal part of pre-solo practice.
24. Actual: Seat slid back during takeoff acceleration. Took throttle back with me. Simulation: I have no quarrel with aborted takeoff simulations that preclude such severe applications of brakes which would cause skidding or extreme depression of nose gear struts. Save this for the real thing.
25. Actual: Due to low fuel we landed at home field rather late at night. We were going to take owner's second plane that had fuel. He pre-flighted with a flashlight while I tied down. Taxied out and did runup with no problem. On departure, as we passed through 500' we had total electrical failure. I told pilot to put his flashlight on the panel. "The batteries died as I finished the preflight", he said. I took over and proceeded to fly and land by sound and feel. As we taxied in we passed in front of a large twin. I have often wondered what might have been said in that cockpit. Simulation: Turn off master switch and see how long it takes student to find problem. Go through options.
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