Ground-shy student

[JediNein]

Howdy!
I watched a puzzler this past weekend. A commercial pilot trainee asked me for assistance with conquering his fear of the ground. He gets uncomfortable about 1500' AGL and any more than 30 degrees of bank when flying. Yet, he just spent 30+ hours on a C.A.P. search mission this past weekend as an observer without any problems. C.A.P. typically flies around 100' AGL with the occasional trip down to 500' AGL in all sorts of turning maneuvers, including steep turns. He was riding with some of the best and most experienced mission pilots in the Wing.

His question and mine: Why would he be bothered as pilot flying but not as an observer?

Fly SAFE!
Bridgette

 

[bigD]

He's not confident in his own capabilities as a pilot?

 

[Pilotadjuster]

Ground-shy

Maybe as PIC he is pretty wrapped up in airspeed vs stall speed and angle of bank. We harp so much on not making high-banked turns at low airspeed and low altitude that maybe that is what is getting him.

Seems a little experienced for the drill, but maybe some MCA practice (at altitude of course), then Gref maneuvers, using the same speeds he used at altitude?

 

[bobbysamd]

Ground shy

Unusual for a Commercial student to have such fears. As suggested above, maybe he has lost confidence in his abilities. Confidence is everything in this business. You'd think he have conquered these fears long before he visited his Private examiner.

Work him through gradually on steep turns. Let him work up to 55° turns, just telling him gently that he can see the airplane isn't falling out of the sky. Point out the increased load factor; maybe the higher G forces are making him feel uneasy.

I agree with letting him try ground reference maneuvers. Maybe he was taught them at too high an altitude. I learned and taught them at 700' AGL. After he seems reasonably confident try covering the instruments and tell him to maintain altitude and airspeed by outside references only. Try that awhile and uncover the instruments. Your student (and you) will be pleasantly surprised at how well he maintained his parameters. Maybe he's fixated on the instruments or something. As he gains confidence have him try 8s on.

Hope these ideas help.