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Category: CFI Technique

The essential techniques of successful and effective instruction. The first level is protecting every flight and keeping it safe. Add to this the excellence and effectiveness that come with experience.

“The Learning Zone;” No Excuses, No Embarrassment!

A seldom discussed, but critical component of learning any skill is accepting responsibility for your errors. I was very young learning to fly, and this was certainly an important lesson I had to learn (in addition to that rudder/aileron stuff). I distinctly remember my caring, but very honest, CFI commenting – “Now we are getting somewhere” – when I finally confessed, “The problem here is me, but I will get better at this.” Taking responsibility right from the start creates a more productive learning environment; no excuses, just “honest errors.” Every CFI has heard a thousand (damaging) excuses that only delay (or prevent) the process of learning. The learner is both the product and the problem that needs to improve. Errors suck, but we all are going to make plenty of them before we improve (by definition). It is critical to accept this and own your mistakes.

“Things get more refined as you make mistakes… I’ve had a chance to make a lot of mistakes,” Jobs said. “Your aesthetics get better as you make mistakes.” Steve Jobs on value of mistakes.

Jobs viewed mistakes as an opportunity to learn and refine. You miss 100% of the pitches if you do not stand up to the plate and take a swing.

Successful people see mistakes not as failures, but as opportunities. The key is to recognize, define and accept mistakes, turning them into something “really great.”

Every educator with more than a few hours has watched this wrestling match between the learner and their (occasionally sizable) ego. For many flight lessons, there are really three entities even in a two-place aircraft: the learner, the coach, and that persistent obstacle to all learning: the ego. A compassionate CFI can make this much easier, however, by immediately acknowledging this struggle and forgiving the many failures. That is how learning works. We need an honest, emotionally safe environment in which to practice, struggle, discover, and ultimately learn. It all starts with trust.

The desire to be perfect right away is a failure in itself. It’s a toxic expectation! Thought Catalog

To create this productive learning environment, every CFI must initiate an honest discussion about these issues at the very beginning of training. Setting the stage by creating a relationship of trust allows learners to assume personal responsibility. This eliminates the tense and toxic environment of blame and embarrassment; we all suck initially (by definition). The struggle of learning is hard enough without adding emotional baggage that inhibits and prolongs the learning process.

“It is OK to suck at this, everyone does initially! If you already knew what you were doing, there would be no purpose of having an educator here to help.

My job is to facilitate your learning, one step at a time and provide a safe learning environment. There is occasionally struggle here, but there should be no embarrassment. I did exactly the same things you are doing once too;  struggled, stumbled, but ultimately succeeded.

When this process is done, you will be an entirely confident and competent pilot. As an educator, I should ultimately become superfluous, and we should still be good friends, or at least never enemies.”

A trusting “learning zone” environment not only creates more efficient learning but also makes the process fun instead of tense. Add some humor and appropriate praise and your learner’s progress (and motivation) will soar. Fly safely out there (and often!)

SAFE members (and friends) are invited to our Gala Dinner at AirVenture, Thursday, July 27th. Join us on campus at the EAA Partner Resource Center. Enjoy tenderloin medallions or broiled salmon (with a veggie option available). Included in one price is a choice of dessert and two drinks from the bar. Tickets are online now. Barry Knuttila (CEO/CFI/ATP) from King Schools will be speaking on challenges in modern flight training.

“Clueless” is Dangerous; Teach Situational Awareness!

We all start out “clueless” in a new environment. In a social situation, this deficit is commonly described as an inability to “read the room.” We all have different levels of situational awareness (SA) depending on our needs, aptitude, and environment. But unfortunately, in the high-consequence world of aviation “clueless is dangerous” so every pilot needs some level of SA to fly safely.

As pilots and CFIs, our survival skills are tuned up to immediately detect a deficit in SA when flying with other pilots. In accident reports it is alluded to, but seldom specifically mentioned as a causal factor. The reason many pilots are weak in SA though, is they were never taught how to do it well. Some educators claim it is inborn and not teachable but it appears 110 times in the Private ACS (mainly in the Risk Management areas).  I did see one multi-engine pink slip that just said “behind the plane.” Frequently, CFIs are so busy correcting the symptoms of low situational awareness they miss this larger fundamental skill. But unfortunately, a collection of “watch that” and “pay attention” cautions never adds up to this larger “emergent” quality. Good situational awareness is “safety magic” that every pilot needs (and every CFI should teach).

Situational awareness is a higher-level “meta-skill.” It does not reside at the rote level of “checking the carb heat and using the rudder.” Like other “Higher Order Thinking Skills” (HOTS) it is a “metacognitive” skill. This ability is distributed throughout the brain but largely resides in a mental layer above our daily operations. Teaching situational awareness requires a keen perception because it is built at the level of attitude and personality. So here are a few ideas on how to inject this critical magic of situational awareness into your training.

The three levels of situational awareness (SA) can most simply be defined as perception, meaning, and implication. Level one SA is to perceive clearly and process new input consciously. Time pressure and fatigue diminish this ability (as does a CFI constantly babbling). Familiarity with an environment is a blessing and a curse. Initially, we are overwhelmed with a new environment, but familiarity quickly leads to complacency. The challenges lie on both sides of the Yerkes-Dodson graph of human awareness.

It is critical that every CFI understand that a new learner is mentally saturated in this busy, buzzing environment of aviation. In this new world, everything is confusing and nothing makes sense. A savvy CFI must to be very careful to add *meaning* but not add to the confusion. Until proper pilot habits are formed, higher-level awareness is cognitively unavailable for new learners; they are ovewhelmed and operating at a survival level. Your learner is still just trying to keep the aircraft on a 75′ wide taxiway while the (clueless) CFI is discussing advanced aerodynamic concepts🤣.

The real teaching of anything complex should have happened in the preflight instruction and briefing. Once a plane is in motion, only succinct and precise instruction is useful (and this must be “chunked ” into low workload periods). The beginner CFI error is the continuous “CFI babble” taught for the CFI flight test (unlearn this to be effective). New learners need mental space to self-talk and internally code their new experiences into meaningful actions.

During initial training, a good CFI must create a safe learning environment for their learner to experiment and systematically build their awareness. Your student is operating entirely at Level One situational awareness “what is this and what does it do?” (constant confusion) Only as they build comfort and familiarity in this new aviation environment can we progressively build higher-level SA.

Step one is focus and mindful awareness. Then we add meaning. But not until excess mental capability becomes available. In every learning challenge, “too much too soon” just overwhelms and frustrates a learner; impeding education! As soon as “what it is, and what it means” are on board we can move to the higher levels.

Level One: Focus – Everything is Important!

In modern life, we have the blessing of not experiencing continuous threats – unlike human survival throughout evolved time. Historically, “clueless” had Darwinian consequences. But now, many people float through their daily existence at a very low level of awareness. But Code White (fat, dumb, and happy) does not work at all in aviation. We see the result of “clueless” in our frequent accident reports. Aviation is a “high-consequence environment,”  with many active and latent threats; everything is important. It is critical for educators to develop focus in their early learners and create respect for risk management (stuff happens). This is the difference between “Code White” (fat, dumb, and happy) and “Code Yellow” which is alert and focused, devoting full attention to the environment before us.

For every flight control or gauge introduced, an effective educator must make sure to add the true meaning and importance of each item. The information and function of every control and instrument are critical for successful flying; this is serious business. There are very few superfluous items or insignificant gauges; everything is important. This is why flying can be so demanding and occasionally fatiguing, especially during initial training as your student develops their pilot habit patterns. And if it goes wrong here, it will persist forever. Correct initial learning is critical.

Thinking Three Dimensionally

Once your new learner becomes comfortable with the demands of their new aviation environment, actively processing and accurately reacting, it is time to add new levels of SA. The magic and significance of our three-dimensional (3-D) capabilities escape many new learners. The new 3-D world of flying is totally new to terrestrial humans. Understanding the significance of this makes all the difference for weather systems, airspace and traffic avoidance (over/under, AGL/MSL). A new pilot must immediately start building their “mental moving map!”

As a learner normalizes the idea of being safely in the air and their fear diminishes,  CFI has the opportunity to build higher-level situational awareness. Monitoring the radio, either on the ramp or while taxiing a known route, can be an interesting method to develop your learner’s “mental mapping.” When another pilot checks on the radio “7 SW at 3500 ft” have your learner point to where that airplane will appear and also when that plane will be an issue for our operation. This adds meaning to the constant chatter and allows a new pilot to process threats. “7 SW” as we approach the hold short for take-off is not an issue. But what about the pilot who just called base leg? (hold short and “head on a swivel”) Similarly, as we exit west, the pilot reporting north (if they truly are where they say they are) is not an issue. This is a whole new world for a learner. Have you ever noticed many experienced pilots do not actively and accurately process this information? Many pilots never develop accurate situational awareness.

At bigger airports, locating taxiing traffic on the pilot’s “mental map” is also critical to determine active threats. Geo-referenced ForeFlight is an excellent tool to teach this awareness and determine which aircraft may be future issues for our taxi route.

3-D awareness is critical for risk mitigation, and many certificated pilots seem to entirely lack this capability. Just discussing these “latent threats” starts to build positional situational awareness and introduce the timeline of level three SA. When teaching initial radio calls it is essential to include the third dimension (altitude); “Reporting 7 NW at 3500 feet” so your learner understands 3-D and the significance of altitude separation. If traffic is at 2100 feet and we are at 3500, vertical separation is assured and the third dimension becomes real in their mind.

Micro/Macro Scanning: “Multitasking“

A huge problem for early learners in any new environment is fixation. When we do not understand something in our perceptual field, we tend to fixate on it. If something is moving or shiny, we also tend to stare too long. In a novel environment, your learner will tend to spend too long on every task. This over-focus and fixation prevents attention in other critical areas. They need to develop effective multitasking. Fixation creates the classic problem of being “behind the airplane.”

An important way to avoid fixation is by turning down the “pressure for immediate perfection” (often enforced by the CFI). Until a basic skill level is developed, perfection is just out of reach. The initial goal in accomplishing most tasks is “pretty good” and moving on (multitasking). Perfection is always a worthy goal but the enemy of early progress in every field. As ability improves and habits develop, accuracy will progressively increase. Striving for immediate perfection is a common CFI error.

For time allocation in tasks to be mastered, attention on each item must be limited to 2-3 seconds (tick/tock multitasking). As understanding increases, speed increases; in aviation the plane is always in motion. Encourage a hot focus on each detailed requirement – such as setting an altimeter of checking a mag drop (micro) – but then enforce a switch to the larger view (macro) encompassing the “bigger picture.” Effective “multitasking” is really fast “task switching,” and is a learned skill and uniquely timed in every situation.

Have you ever watched an early student (or poorly trained pilot) do a run-up? Their eyes are entirely inside the cockpit for the duration of the operation. This single-task devotion is dangerous on a busy ramp. Effective situational awareness demands macro/micro task switching.  Properly done, each specific sub-task is completed efficiently (micro) then the attention goes wide (outside – macro) to make sure there are no other planes around and we are not moving on the ramp. In a two-person crew, a busy pilot will announce “heads down” so the other pilot is actively focused outside, “covering the gap” in awareness. A safe solo pilot must always be alternating between required details and the bigger picture (micro/macro). Developing effective single-pilot resource management continues to be a challenge for as long as we fly.

Developing the “Mental Clock:” Managing Trends

Once the habit of task switching (the effective division of attention) gets more habitual in your new pilot’s personality, and 3-D awareness becomes meaningful, introduce the third level of situational awareness – the trend/timing dimension. This aptitude will make a much more successful pilot in every aviation operation. As a CFI, have you noticed how many problems pilots encounter result from an inability to properly detect and manage “trends?” A good CFI will build awareness by continuously asking “If this process continues at this rate, where will we be in a specific interval of time?”

Trend awareness becomes especially critical when teaching pattern work. Early learners are frequently off altitude or airspeed as a result of not seeing or projecting trends in energy.  They get very busy fixing the symptoms but never detect or correct the root problem of trends. The central pilot skill is developing a sense of how a power setting or descent rate will impact (literally) our future energy state. Novice CFIs also fail here by continuously correcting symptoms instead of correcting the root cause (SA). Discussing the management of energy trends and timing is a much more powerful way to achieve results and build awareness in your learners.

Consequences and Future States; Contingency Planning

A critical addition to the “mental timeline” that is the final level of situational awareness is our anticipated future state for our flight. Where will we be in the next interval; short-term and long-term? This involves utilizing the continuous FAA 3-P tool of Perceive, Process, and Perform. We are always projecting an expected result with our planning and actions. Many early learners fail here by too dogmatically (and emotionally) attaching themselves to an expected outcome. We absolutely must plan and strategize in aviation. But we must accept, as many military leaders have counseled, “no plan survives the first contact with the enemy.” In aviation, there are many important moving pieces we cannot always control, starting with weather and ATC. We operate in a much larger fluid 3-D chess game. Pilots must learn to be flexible and resilient; things *will* change and alternate planes (as mentioned in the basic CFR 91.103) will *always* be necessary. Expect disappointment and the probability of a “pivot” (has any flight ever gone *exactly* as you planned?) This keeps our piloting job exciting. And a savvy CFI must create enough “creative surprises” to prepare their learner for the world of aviation outside the protected cacoon of dual training.

The last diagnostic tool for developing and analyzing situational awareness is to continuously “share the mental model.” Verbalizing your plans and future desired states allows a CFI to critique the success of their learner’s SA; realistic, flexible, multi-path.  Accurately perceiving, then adding meaning, and then projecting a future state is the heart of situational awareness. We always need more of this to be smooth effective pilots (solo or dual). Fly safely out there (and often)!

In a stalled condition, the nose of every conventional aircraft falls toward mother earth. This is physics and happens every time. And the natural human reaction is to pull back away from the ground making the control situation worse.  Only high-quality flight training, both initial and recurrent, can overcome this deep human reaction of “panic and pull.” Education in the classroom yields understanding, but training on the controls in flight is necessary to build deep, reliable, and correct habits.

A good pilot is a healthy mix of mathematician, scientist and athlete, part mechanic and all curiosity.  They must know everything about their airplane;  control surfaces, power plant, the avionic systems, tire pressure.  Because, while the heart of an airplane is metal, fabric or composite;  the bloodstream fuel and oil, its brain is the person who flies it. Community Aviation

New pilots must be patiently taught the feel of slow flight and the correct reaction to an excessive angle of attack and full stalls. It is necessary to train deeply here and to slowly overcome the initial fear. It takes time and persistence to reach a level of comfort and control in high AOA flight. Our fatal accident statistics still demonstrate that we all need better initial education and more current repetition and review; Loss of Control Inflight (LOC-I) is the #1 pilot killer.

Unfortunately, especially in larger airframes, pilots were taught for years to “power out of the stalls.” Even if initial training was accurate, many years of “negative stall training” overwrites habits. Historically there was very little emphasis on reducing the angle of attack in larger, powerful aircraft. Instead, the emphasis was on preventing altitude loss. The FAA recently added “Expanded Envelope Training“ to the 121 regulations for every airline pilot recurrency. And the new ATP ACS puts a clear emphasis on reducing the angle of attack for stall recovery. But this may be “too little and too late” for many veteran pilots who experienced and reinforced “negative stall training” for so many years.

During my recent recurrent training in Florida, I witnessed a very experienced (though somewhat rusty) pilot attempt to recover an intentional stall with power and no reduction in angle of attack. This was shocking but eye-opening for me. He panicked, fought the controls, and eventually put the large jet simulator into the (virtual) ground. This was identical to the mishandling that resulted in the landmark accident of Colgan 3407. Negative initial stall training is very persistent and hidden away in our deepest habits. One important purpose of recurrent flight training is to discover, correct, and retrain these very deep habits we all depend on as pilots. Accurate habits must be immediately available or our lives are at risk in an upset situation.

Proper stall recovery training requires time and patience. Complete and thorough stall recovery training is seldom included in our current accelerated flight training environment. It is also the professional responsibility of every CFI to not only train correctly but also to create safe and complete pilots beyond the minimum ACS requirements. Many important skills are not required in the ACS test and are consequently not taught. The FAA puts its trust in professional educators here. Eradicating deeply embedded “negative stall training” takes even longer. Panic and pulling, combined with incomplete understanding, are the root problems behind many pilot deaths.  Releasing and unloading in a panic situation is a trained and very unnatural response.

Various versions of the FAA ACS initially allowed stall recovery “at the first indication” of a stall. Consequently, many recent pilots (and even CFIs) have never experienced, or gotten comfortable with, full stalls. These pilots often panic when full stalls are requested for higher-level certificates. Old-school flight training often included ballistic “falling leaf” stall recoveries during flight training, teaching rudder usage and demonstrating control of the nose-low stalled condition. Every pilot can benefit from this “extended training!”

Every pilot (and especially CFIs) should invest the time to take Rich Stowell’s FREE Learn-To-Turn Course. Then put these ideas to use with a good instructor practicing SAFE’s Extended Envelope Training. This builds comfort and correct control during high AOA flight conditions. Until the unload instinct overwrites “panic and pull” you are not a safe pilot. Safety requires expanding your flight envelope and training out of your comfort zone. Build correct and reliable habits; fly safely out there (and often).

See our “social Wall” of Resources HERE

Join SAFE and get great benefits. You get 1/3 off ForeFlight and your membership supports our mission of increasing aviation safety by promoting excellence in education.  Our FREE SAFE Toolkit App puts required pilot endorsements and experience requirements right on your smartphone and facilitates CFI+DPE teamwork. Our CFI insurance was developed by SAFE specifically for CFIs (and is the best value in the business).  10 Tools for New CFIs Here

 

What the FAA Missed In CFI NPRM!

The recently proposed NPRM creating a permanent CFI certificate (renewed by endorsement for recognized activity) misses many great opportunities to inspire and motivate our talented aviation educators (CFIs). With some simple modifications, CFI renewal could again be a powerful tool to recognize and build the professionalism of our aviation educators. This is critical because our CFIs are the “primary influencers” of aviation safety and professionalism. Good, experienced, CFIs are in short supply in our aviation industry.

Unfortunately, the current FAA proposal, as written, is only designed to save the FAA big bucks while continuing the same mind-numbing FIRCs (the flat-rate version of which seems to get worse every year). A FIRC may be a good tool for an inactive CFI to retain privileges, but “just getting by” certainly misses many opportunities to improve and advance our aviation industry. True professional aviation educators strive to continually improve their techniques and knowledge; these are the “Master Instructors!”

Every respected profession has built continuing education programs leading to higher certifications and professional recognition. The FAA unfortunately never developed such a program for CFIs. (Gold Seal is clearly a one-off token). To fill this need, Sandy and JoAnn Hill created the Master Instructor Program over 25 years ago. This program gained immediate and enthusiastic FAA support. The FAA administrator at the time immediately granted credit for CFI renewal to all Master Instructors (until the FAA lawyers quietly removed it). This current NPRM is an opportunity to restore and expand this worthy privilege. See SAFE comments HERE

The rigorous MCFI program requires 500 Continuing Educational Units (CEUs)every 24 calendar months and far exceeds the perfunctory educational value of the standard Flight Instructor Renewal Clinic (FIRC)… It is time the FAA recognized this program and incorporated it into 61.197.

In addition to MCFIs, there are many very qualified senior CFIs who no longer teach primary flight training but focus on advanced or transition training. These professionals should clearly be approved for CFI renewal. If we apply an expanded version of the FAA concepts of “equivalent level of safety” or “accepted means of compliance” (airworthiness) there is a whole category of advanced CFI activities that need to be recognized for renewal. These could be written into the new CFR 61.197 or listed in the existing FAA WINGS program. Our aviation industry desperately needs to motivate and inspire committed professional CFIs to stay in flight training. SAFE has commented to this NPRM that new CFIs who accomplish the full SAFE CFI-PRO™  course or achieve Master Accreditation should be qualified for CFI renewal. This proven program advances new CFIs “from good to great,” and far exceeds the requirements of an FAA FIRC.

Instead of motivating CFIs to stay longer in flight training the FAA NPRM proposes reducing the qualifications necessary for CFIs to train initial instructor ratings. Five test recommendations with an 80% pass rate would qualify a CFI to teach initial CFIs. This is just lowering the bar to compensate for the increasing scarcity of qualified educators. Already 2/3s of “active CFIs” have been taught for less than a year. The FAA is proposing further lowering the educational standards for CFI educators (SAFE does not agree). SAFE advocates for enhancing CFI professionalism by recognizing Master Instructors and building our profession.

If you agree with a more productive version of the new FAA NPRM, please send your comments to the FAA supporting this opportunity before June 22nd. Fly safely out there (and often)!   See you at #OSH23

Join SAFE and get great benefits. You get 1/3 off ForeFlight and your membership supports our mission of increasing aviation safety by promoting excellence in education.  Our FREE SAFE Toolkit App puts required pilot endorsements and experience requirements right on your smartphone and facilitates CFI+DPE teamwork. Our CFI insurance was developed by SAFE specifically for CFIs (and is the best value in the business).  10 Tools for New CFIs Here

 

 

Why Are “Accidents” Termed “Mishaps” in the Military?

Have you ever noticed the military does not use the term “accident” or “accident investigation?” They use the term “mishap.” The reason, I think, is that all these “unintended occurrences” are driven by human actions and not some invisible “hand of god.” The term “accident” seems dismissive like “stuff happens” or the passive voice “it broke.” In this larger viewpoint, there are really no “accidents,” without cause. There is always a chain of events and actions that lead to a “mishap.” Learning requires taking responsibility, and a “mishap investigation” usually gets to the root cause. A lot can be learned from careful analysis and examination. MIshap investigations reveal an active path of flawed decisions and/or activity. There is usually some negligence and lack of vigilance involved too. A “mishap investigation” seeks to really drill down on this series of events and learn/improve from each occurrence.

When loss of life or equipment occurs (or the Space X “rapid unplanned disassembly”RUD) the military investigates each very comprehensively and uncovers the series of steps that led up to the unfortunate end result. The motivation of each investigation is an improvement or more comprehensive knowledge. This is a positive motivation, to seek a better, more efficient and successful, system. Hopefully, this prevents similar unhappy results in the future.

This grammatical distinction may seem trivial to some, but I would argue this inspires a whole different mindset in how we regard these events. The word “accident” is dismissive. “Accident” seems to say, “it happened” by some outside force. The legal definition seems to bear out this perspective:

“Accident” in law : “an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured but for which legal relief may be sought”

Even if an outcome is desirable, every organization and pilot should reflect constantly on their performance. This is the only way to improve. As mentioned in many other blogs, a successful outcome by itself is not always a cause for celebration and reinforcement of those procedures. We must always reflect after every activity asking important questions: “Were proper procedures and skillful execution the reason for success or did we luck out?” Is the final outcome repeatable or desirable following SOPs?” Fly safely out there (and often)!

See our website and “social wall” HERE

Join SAFE and get great benefits. You get 1/3 off ForeFlight and your membership supports our mission of increasing aviation safety by promoting excellence in education.  Our FREE SAFE Toolkit App puts required pilot endorsements and experience requirements right on your smartphone and facilitates CFI+DPE teamwork. Our CFI insurance was developed by SAFE specifically for CFIs (and is the best value in the business).  10 Tools for New CFIs Here

“Negative” Stall Training (Bad Habits!)

In a stalled condition, the nose of every conventional aircraft falls toward mother earth. This is physics and happens every time. And the natural human reaction is to pull back away from the ground making the control situation worse.  Only high-quality flight training, both initial and recurrent, can overcome this deep human reaction of “panic and pull.” Education in the classroom yields understanding, but training on the controls in flight is necessary to build deep, reliable, and correct habits.

A good pilot is a healthy mix of mathematician, scientist and athlete, part mechanic and all curiosity.  They must know everything about their airplane;  control surfaces, power plant, the avionic systems, tire pressure.  Because, while the heart of an airplane is metal, fabric or composite;  the bloodstream fuel and oil, its brain is the person who flies it. Community Aviation

New pilots must be patiently taught the feel of slow flight and the correct reaction to an excessive angle of attack and full stalls. It is necessary to train deeply here and to slowly overcome the initial fear. It takes time and persistence to reach a level of comfort and control in high AOA flight. Our fatal accident statistics still demonstrate that we all need better initial education and more current repetition and review; Loss of Control Inflight (LOC-I) is the #1 pilot killer.

Unfortunately, especially in larger airframes, pilots were taught for years to “power out of the stalls.” Even if initial training was accurate, many years of “negative stall training” overwrites habits. Historically there was very little emphasis on reducing the angle of attack in larger, powerful aircraft. Instead, the emphasis was on preventing altitude loss. The FAA recently added “Expanded Envelope Training“ to the 121 regulations for every airline pilot recurrency. And the new ATP ACS puts a clear emphasis on reducing the angle of attack for stall recovery. But this may be “too little and too late” for many veteran pilots who experienced and reinforced “negative stall training” for so many years.

During my recent recurrent training in Florida, I witnessed a very experienced (though somewhat rusty) pilot attempt to recover an intentional stall with power and no reduction in angle of attack. This was shocking but eye-opening for me. He panicked, fought the controls, and eventually put the large jet simulator into the (virtual) ground. This was identical to the mishandling that resulted in the landmark accident of Colgan 3407. Negative initial stall training is very persistent and hidden away in our deepest habits. One important purpose of recurrent flight training is to discover, correct, and retrain these very deep habits we all depend on as pilots. Accurate habits must be immediately available or our lives are at risk in an upset situation.

Proper stall recovery training requires time and patience. Complete and thorough stall recovery training is seldom included in our current accelerated flight training environment. It is also the professional responsibility of every CFI to not only train correctly but also to create safe and complete pilots beyond the minimum ACS requirements. Many important skills are not required in the ACS test and are consequently not taught. The FAA puts its trust in professional educators here. Eradicating deeply embedded “negative stall training” takes even longer. Panic and pulling, combined with incomplete understanding, are the root problems behind many pilot deaths.  Releasing and unloading in a panic situation is a trained and very unnatural response.

Various versions of the FAA ACS initially allowed stall recovery “at the first indication” of a stall. Consequently, many recent pilots (and even CFIs) have never experienced, or gotten comfortable with, full stalls. These pilots often panic when full stalls are requested for higher-level certificates. Old-school flight training often included ballistic “falling leaf” stall recoveries during flight training, teaching rudder usage and demonstrating control of the nose-low stalled condition. Every pilot can benefit from this “extended training!”

Every pilot (and especially CFIs) should invest the time to take Rich Stowell’s FREE Learn-To-Turn Course. Then put these ideas to use with a good instructor practicing SAFE’s Extended Envelope Training. This builds comfort and correct control during high AOA flight conditions. Until the unload instinct overwrites “panic and pull” you are not a safe pilot. Safety requires expanding your flight envelope and training out of your comfort zone. Build correct and reliable habits; fly safely out there (and often).

See our newly launched SAFE website HERE

Join SAFE and get great benefits. You get 1/3 off ForeFlight and your membership supports our mission of increasing aviation safety by promoting excellence in education.  Our FREE SAFE Toolkit App puts required pilot endorsements and experience requirements right on your smartphone and facilitates CFI+DPE teamwork. Our CFI insurance was developed by SAFE specifically for CFIs (and is the best value in the business).  10 Tools for New CFIs Here

Injecting “Wisdom and Experience:” SAFE CFI-PRO™

In the current aviation training environment, “a new pilot becomes a new CFI in a matter of months. This CFI then immediately teaches the next new pilot, which may result in a spiral of decreasing skill and knowledge.” This distortion and lack of new experience with each exchange resemble the old game of “telephone” with the quality diminishing continuously with each replication; a downward spiral.

Currently, 2/3rds of “active CFIs” have taught for less than a year and often only have 5 hours of real solo time. Consequently, there is no real experience or wisdom to impart to a new learner. Current flight training needs more of this “wisdom and experience” injected to increase the level of flight training safety and efficiency. This is exactly what SAFE CFI-PRO™ provides directly to flight programs. SAFE CFI-PRO™ travels to flight schools on request with a curriculum tailored to motivate and build professionalism in each flight program and in every new CFI.

At accelerated schools, there is no time to master and solidify the aviation skills learned at the private, instrument, and commercial levels. Once the required FAA test minimums are met, these hard-won skills and knowledge rapidly become stale and are often forgotten (never reinforced or improved). Ask an instrument applicant about the significance of E/G airspace and the implication for IFR safety on approach to a non-towered airport; crickets! “That is private-pilot-level knowledge,” and already gone. With accelerated training, each discrete skill set is abandoned as soon as it’s completed and it’s off to the new challenges. As a result, the instructional cadre demonstrates limited skill and real-world experience. Many essential skills are missed because of this repeating “cycle of beginners.” Crosswind landings are just one example of an alarmingly rare, neglected piloting skill. Since they are not required to be demonstrated in any ACS, they are not taught (ot mastered) at any level. A recent blog compared this to the Multi-Crew License Europe tried years ago that was intended to just train co-pilots with a new certification level.

The pedagogical skills of new CFIs are also severely limited to the methods they were taught to pass the FAA CFI practical test. Unfortunately, this test is an artificial construct and not how we actually teach flying. The typical new CFI, monopolizes the radio and micro-manages the flight controls out of fear and an attempt to create precision. SAFE CFI-PRO™ provides the “missing manual” of how real education happens in aviation and accelerates the effectiveness of the new eager CFIs. These tools are eagerly accepted in our classes; “good to great!”

By targeting new CFIs, SAFE CFI-PRO™ raises the level of safety in *ALL* pilots. Every CFI reaches 30-50 pilots a month, so improvement in CFIs leads to an exponential improvement in pilots. There is nothing wrong with building hours, but this must be done in a professional (not selfish) manner. Otherwise, the consequence for *ALL* of aviation is less skillful and safe pilots. And General Aviation flying requires a much broader range of skills, encounters a much more diverse set of challenges, and has a much greater risk profile than the narrowly focused world of more sterile airline operations.

Dream diminished?

Several other blogs in this series have pointed out the essential items usually skipped in the current pilot training environment. If a skill, like a crosswind landing, is not required on any piloting evaluation, it definitely will never be taught in an academy program. The professional educator is responsible to provide this more complete pilot training (mastery beyond the minimums). The CFIs are the primary “influencers” of aviation attitude and safety. New learners are entirely dependent upon the level of excellence of the CFI they get bonded with during flight training. Fly safely out there (and often).

See our newly launched SAFE website HERE

Join SAFE and get great benefits. You get 1/3 off ForeFlight and your membership supports our mission of increasing aviation safety by promoting excellence in education.  Our FREE SAFE Toolkit App puts required pilot endorsements and experience requirements right on your smartphone and facilitates CFI+DPE teamwork. Our CFI insurance was developed by SAFE specifically for CFIs (and is the best value in the business).  10 Tools for New CFIs Here

FAA Wx Cams in the “Lower 48!”

If you have not seen how effective weather cams can be, please log into the interactive FAA map and pull up a few cameras in an area experiencing challenging weather. This technology is a perfect example of “seeing is believing.” These cameras are sighted at airports and METAR locations but also at strategic “weather chokepoints,” like mountain passes. The FAA is busily deploying cameras rapidly in the “Lower 48” after great success in Alaska. Many of these local cameras are supported by EMS operators who benefit greatly from accurate depictions of local conditions at hospital sites. A “lifesaver” in more ways than one.

With a co-located METAR example below, though the airport METAR is accurate, the camera adds context, showing many of the mountain passes in the distance obscured by clouds. In Alaska testing, these cameras resulted in a 69% reduction in weather-related flight interruptions and an 85% reduction in weather-related accidents; an impressive record. These cameras clearly save lives and adoption by the pilot community has been enthusiastic.

In Maine, the FAA is partnering with LifeFlight of Maine, which provides medevac service throughout the state. This 3rd party service has installed 18 cameras that are up and running. This cooperative venture is adding more continuously and hoping for full coverage soon.

The FAA’s Weather Camera Program began in Alaska more than 20 years ago. SAFE member Mike Vivion was a long-time Alaska back-country pilot and an advocate for the expansion of this system. There is an estimated potential for over 330 sites in the “lower 48” that would immediately benefit from weather cams. The FAA has been amazingly creative with locating and powering these facilities. Some are obviously powered by the grid and wired connections at hospitals, but many are in remote locations with solar power and satellite uplink connections.

I flew with a friend in a C-210 up the Alcan to Fairbanks and toured Central Alaska. Transiting to Anchorage through Windy Pass with a stop in Talkeetna really runs you through some challenging weather and terrain; these cameras are a lifesaver.

Obviously, this camera data needs to be added to the synoptic picture and nearest forecast for a complete weather picture, but please add this data to your risk-management decision and share this service with your students! Fly safely out there (and often).

Enjoy the new courses available to members on the new safe website. And please download and use the (free) SAFE Toolkit App. This contains all the references a working CFI needs plus provides continuously new safety content.

SAFE developed an insurance program just for CFIs! When you are an independent CFI, you are a business (and have legal exposure). This program is the most reasonable but also comprehensive insurance plan you can have (and every agent is a pilot!)

 

Fix Your “Pilot Back Pain!”

Yup, most pilots have some distress here…just mention “back pain” with any high-time pilot and you will probably get an earful about fused and removed discs, or stories of continuing misery and medication. “Lots of hours” means lots of sitting – the “new smoking” – and this often results in back pain issues. (Even athletes with regular exercise routines often miss the real source of “pilot back pain.”)

A great article in “Agricultural Aviation” inspired this blog. A focus on fitness, and especially walking and stretching, can often bring relief and avoid the continuous discomfort many pilots accept as an “occupational hazard.” A targeted focus on the true cause will usually be more effective. For newer pilots, please consider your seated posture carefully and exercise to avoid creating what can be a very painful condition:

Keep your buttocks against the back of your seat with a cushion or support that fits the curve of the lumbar spine.

You should be able to easily slide your fingers under the thigh at the front of your seat and a fist between the back of your calf and the front of your seat.

These are great suggestions to *avoid* a bad back, but it doesn’t help a pilot already suffering from serious pain. I personally got into such a bad state with my lower back that I could not sit for more than an hour without excruciating pain shooting down my legs (sciatica symptoms). That certainly ruins your fun and effectiveness as a pilot. I was well into the MRIs and X-rays and well-meaning doctors insisted back surgery was my only viable solution.

I am no doctor, so this is just friendly advice, but for me walking and targeted stretching fixed my problems with a daily commitment. With your doctor’s blessing, you might try some targeted exercises and stretches before resorting to “the knife?”

The piriformis muscle is a very common, and seldom suspected, cause of back pain from sitting. Even if you exercise regularly, most routines do not adequately focus on hip flexibility. “Piriformis syndrome” presents exactly like a herniated or ruptured disc with similar sciatica symptoms. When this muscle spasms, it puts pressure directly on the sciatic nerve that results in tingling, numbness and eventually excruciating pain; “pilot back!”

Massaging your piriformis muscle may help ease your piriformis syndrome symptoms. Regular self-massage and stretches can help loosen the muscle and reduce pressure on your sciatic nerve.

Just search for “piriformis syndrome” and you will find lots of advice on how to better care for this unhappy muscle. Relief from suffering comes pretty quickly, but also requires a commitment to regular exercise and hip stretching. But your whole core musculature will benefit. Fly safely out there (and often)!

Enjoy the new courses available to members on the new safe website. And please download and use the (free) SAFE Toolkit App. This contains all the references a working CFI needs plus provides continuously new safety content.

SAFE developed an insurance program just for CFIs! When you are an independent CFI, you are a business (and have legal exposure). This program is the most reasonable but also comprehensive insurance plan you can have (and every agent is a pilot!)

Learning Requires Continuous Corrections!

All complex successes are built on less-than-optimal early attempts or honest reassessment of a failure or mistake with a commitment to improve. Learning at any level is iterative, continuous, and occasionally emotionally painful. The mantra for all pilots is to honestly “reflect and correct!” Everyone can play the role of “superior critic,” judging from the stands or with 20/20 hindsight. But the credit goes to the one who admits errors and keeps pushing forward continuously:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena [See all]

Productive learning requires a positive attitude toward all these less-than-perfect efforsts or first attempts. Any whole-hearted effort in a positive direction is a “learning opportunity” if it is carefully reviewed and analyzed. But we humans tend to erroneously only celebrate ultimate success and ignore the value of “failures.” Think of how many more setbacks there will be to becoming an “interplanetary species.”

Approaching less-than-optimal first attempts with a positive attitude of improvement is critical to ultimate success and every educator should carefully frame expectations to inspire and motivate their learner. Every brand-new learner is going to be a “stumbling baby” making all kinds of errors; it is the nature of the process. And though it is perfectly human to want to just discard any early efforts and move forward, more rapid success requires continually sorting through the wreckage and improving from every error. We need to meticulously harvest ideas/components/techniques from early attempts; this is data to review and improve future performance. A good CFI needs to guide this process in the learner and make this a lifetime habit. This is called de-brief culture. This is critical to lifetime learning. Every flight, successful or not should be followed by a careful after-action reflection (and improvement).

Learning and change are the continuous processes of every human mind. Our focus can be online trash (social media?) or intentionally directed to more adaptive outcomes; becoming smarter in knowledge and more skillful in action. Intentionality and focus are the first keys to improvement. Aviators must be passionate learners to stay safe. Focused and effective learning requires feedback and error correction. As pilots we need to learn early and often before the big surprise occurs – the accident – “game over no replay!” We live in a “high-consequence” world.

There are four pillars to the total learning process: attention and active engagement (the focus), feedback and error correction, and consolidation. “How We Learn” by Stanislas Dehaene is a great book that describes this process in detail. He explains how AI was developed (in our lifetime) and is powered largely by an amazing tool called “backpropagation” (error correction). Stanislas compares this process to a target shooter calibrating a sighting scope by taking repeated shots and methodically removing errors with small, constant adjustments. This is the primary process that allows convolutional neural networks to learn so rapidly.

Machines have no ego problems that slow down (or prevent) error correction. They don’t make excuses to hide their mistakes. Honestly admitting, “oops, I was wrong,” is the first and most essential step in learning and improvement – recognition and acceptance. Computers don’t worry about their social image and what their friends will think. Instead, computers aggressively recalibrate their learning and have consequently surpassed humans in many areas. Error correction should not be an embarrassment or aberration, it is an expected and valuable part of all growth.

“With a test such as this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship.” SpaceX

We basically all blunder through the world with a set of predictions – intentional actions that are based on our past experiences. We extrapolate collected memory data into future hypotheses of intended results. The degree to which we can accurately recall (memory) and apply previous lessons determines our success which retunes our future understanding of the world. Every action is a challenge requiring (honest) observation, memory retrieval, and recalibration.

The accurate reflection part- after-action reporting – is the critical key to the learning process (backpropagation). We need to be humble and hungry to honestly recalibrate our actions and improve. Attitude and ego are the biggest impediments in our human system. “Garbage in” (online trash) also creates poor results. It is essential to purify your environment and your methodology. Mentors and great instructors are the best accelerators of this process. Fly safely out there (and often).

Enjoy the new courses available to members on the new safe website. And please download and use the (free) SAFE Toolkit App. This contains all the references a working CFI needs plus provides continuously new safety content.

SAFE developed an insurance program just for CFIs! When you are an independent CFI, you are a business (and have legal exposure). This program is the most reasonable but also comprehensive insurance plan you can have (and every agent is a pilot!)

 

Maintaining Our Vital “Safety Margin!”

Every properly prepared pilot can fly safely, even with a minimum level of skill, *IF* they accurately match their skills to the real demands of each mission. (That’s why CFIs can impose “limitations” on solo endorsements). In the vernacular, we are safe if we “don’t write checks we can’t cash.” The central problem, however, is the impossibility of accurately and objectively determining the two sides of this equation (see graphic above). Just about every pilot overrates their own skills and also underappreciates the threats they face. We inadvertently close that safety margin with our flawed analysis of both risks and skills. This is something I call “magical thinking.”

To be safe we must accurately assess our real pilot skills and compare those to an equally accurate analysis of the demands of the flight. If an objective and honest analysis were actually available, maintaining safety becomes a simple physics problem; just maintain a margin of safety. Unfortunately, we are usually only capable of honest assessment during “20/20 hindsight.” (The “error correction” only arrives by virtue of a crash). Most often when we examine accidents in retrospect we end up puzzling “what were they thinking?”

The real culprit of failed safety is our numerous cognitive biases. As a funny example, 93% of American drivers think they are “better than average.” This impossible statistic is humorous in “Lake Wobegone” where “all the children are above average,”  but very dangerous when we assess our personal capabilities in a high-consequence activity like flying. Most pilots rate their abilities much too highly. They look in the mirror and see Chuck Yaeger staring back at them.

Similarly, when we assess the seemingly objective flight risks of weather, terrain, and workload, we exhibit confirmation bias; we “see what we want to see.” Another side of this problem is erroneously assuming the challenges are fixed and linear. But the weather, wind, and workload change continuously and require different levels of skill throughout each flight. Some of the highest workload requirements occur just when fatigue is diminishing our skill and knowledge capabilities; narrowing the safety margin.

To accurately analyze “the safety margin” and maintain a comfortable “gap” of residual capability, every pilot should assume the worst level of weather; the highest challenge. Assuming minimal pilot capability is also wise since self-assessments are usually optimistic. In short, don’t try to be a hero and over-commit to a flight at the limits of your perceived capability; these walls are permeable. Flight planning with past successes (which may be only luck) can put any pilot in an unworkable “coffin corner.”

There are four essential elements to human learning: attention, engagement, error correction, and consolidation. Error correction only comes from an honest reflection of our flight in an accurate “after-action review” (was my success due to skill or just luck?) If we fail to catch our “lucky survival” and squash our errors, the next “wake-up call” might be an accident or incident (too late)!

External forces like time pressure and perhaps “having too much fun” are the most pernicious external pressures that push us all toward failure. Analyzed in the “perfect worldview,” the “flight risk assessment tool” can, unfortunately, be an Ouiji board more than a guarantee unless we are diligently honest; we expect “results” but we get “consequences.” There are really no EZ-PZ flights. Fly safely out there (and often)!

Enjoy the new courses available to members on the new safe website. And please download and use the (free) SAFE Toolkit App. This contains all the references a working CFI needs plus provides continuously new safety content.

SAFE developed an insurance program just for CFIs! When you are an independent CFI, you are a business (and have legal exposure). This program is the most reasonable but also comprehensive insurance plan you can have (and every agent is a pilot!)

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