How to handle timid students?

[wrxpilot]

I really enjoy flying around friends and family members, and often offer them a chance to try flying the airplane. I'm not a CFI yet, so usually it's just really basic stuff, like let's turn 90 degrees to the right, or turn left until we're aligned with that mountain, etc.

Most of the time I have to tell them to be more assertive on the controls, but this has little to no effect. Even when I demo a standard rate turn with them following through on the controls, they typically go back to making very timid, 5 degree bank turns. Another thing I've seen is that they will continuously overshoot the target heading, as they are afraid to make an assertive arrest to the bank at the desired heading. It's just surprising, as some of these people are not typically timid (one is a high performance motorcyclist, another a freestyle snowboarder, etc.).

I've tried explaining what's going on aerodynamically, how the airplane can withstand MUCH more force then they are giving it, etc. One guy (my brother) loves flying with me but is afraid the airplane will lose control when he's flying. Even after I show him how if flys fine (probably better!) when I'm not even touching it.

So how do you CFIs deal with that? How do you get a student over being afraid to turn the airplane? More than anything else, I'd like to know how to handle future students like this when I start instructing. Thanks!

 

[Doc Holiday]

One aspect you may be overlooking is who you are flying with. When you become an instructor you will be dealing with people who are eager to get their hands on the controls. The people who want to go for a ride with you might want just that. And as we all know, just doing a turn isn't a big deal. When you have the title 'instructor' they may feel much more comfortable taking the controls.

At any rate, it seems like you have a good attitude about making people feel at ease in an airplane. Just don't push anyone too far too quickly and you will get good results.

 

[PilotLevi]

try turning the yoke for them and have them pull up to maintain altitude. then when they turn the yoke for themself, they think to maintain altitude by pulling then turning...

 

[unreal]

Eh, I'm an instructor, and my dad still isn't too eager to take the controls. He simply tells me that he'd like the airplane to remain in capable hands. Fair enough.

When he has taken the controls in the past, I definitely do see a lot of timid control inputs. I had him taxi the last time we went flying, and he was afraid to really step on the rudders to keep the plane on centerline. What really helped him get over his fear was by him staying with me on the rudders while I talked through the inputs I was making. When I say "talking through," I mean that I'm not only saying the input (i.e. "right rudder"), I'm pointing out why, how, and at what rate I'm making the input. By the end of the taxi, he had enough of an idea how the inputs were supposed to be made that he could maintain centerline reasonably well.

You'll learn more about how to really communicate stuff like that when you do your CFI. Just a small tip though: Do try to avoid using words like "aggressive," or "arrest," or any other term that might make the student think you have to do something drastic to get the airplane to do what you want.

 

[Alamanach]

When you become an instructor you will be dealing with people who are eager to get their hands on the controls...

As voluntary flight students go, I was originally pretty timid. My instructor had another student at the same time who was anything but. For myself, I studied a lot and was eager to learn, but I was so afraid of breaking the airplane that I was slow to apply what I learned. The other guy had little patience for book learning and mostly just wanted to go tear up the skies.

One day all three of us were in a room together and my instructor said to the two of us, with a brilliant mix of frustration and enthusiasm, "If I could just combine your knowledge with your fearlessness, I'd have the perfect student!" That comment made my situation starkly clear, and it turned things around for me right away; my timid control inputs vanished overnight, and my fear of the plane went with it shortly thereafter.

 

[Goose Egg]

I'm not a CFI yet...

Please don't take this the wrong way, because I'm not trying to be offensive. However, you may want to obtain some formal training as a flight instructor before you start trying to help others build flying skill. Worry about your own flying first--get your instrument, commercial, and CFI, and then you'll have plenty of opportunities to pass on your knowledge. By then you'll have a lot better feel for what you are doing in the airplane, and you'll be able to verbalize it a lot better. There are some things that even I, a CFI with nearly 400 hours of dual given, struggle with conveying (particularly instrument stuff, because I'm really not that experienced with it). I can't imagine trying to do what I do with the skills and understanding of flying that I had as a Private ASEL.

I think it's great to take people flying, and I encourage my freshly minted Private Pilot students to exercise their passenger carrying priviledges. I'm just saying to wait on the instruction for now.

It'd even be cool if they wanted to try to fly--just don't say anything, and take over if it gets dangerous. (I actually use this technique as an instructor a lot.)

[End soapbox discussion]

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[Begin instructional commentary]

The trick of being an effective instructor, in my opinion, is giving the student just enough information for them to know what's expected, but not so much that they turn off their brains and start letting you do the thinking for them. I will rarely if ever "talk someone through" something or let them follow me on the controls (although, sometimes I will follow them, especially on the rudder pedals to see what they are doing.) They need to develop their own "feel" and judgement, instead of being forced to rely on mine all the time.

Most of the time I have to tell them to be more assertive on the controls, but this has little to no effect.

Remember, you are dealing with people who have never flown an airplane before, so they may have no frame of reference for what the term "assertive" means (and they certainly aren't going to understand the term "standard rate.") In their mind, they could be being downright aggressive. I remember clearly the first turn that I ever tried to make as a student pilot--I immediately put the airplane into a 60 degree bank, and I remember thinking that I was trying to be pretty careful. Freestyle snowboarding and high performance motorcycling are two disciplines where minute, precise inputs have a large effect on the outcome of the maneuver. They were probably just being "assertive" in their own frames of reference.

The first few lessons are for exploring defining boundries, in my opinion. The students will not be able to make standard rate turns, hold precise headings, and will most likely not be able to hold altitudes. The challenge as an instructor, at this point, will be to let them be that bad. It doesn't mean that you don't have the expectation that they do those things, and certainly you should challenge them to work towards those. But precise flying is a skill that takes some time to develop, and it's not worth getting frustrated over, particularly in the first few lessons.

(my brother) loves flying with me but is afraid the airplane will lose control when he's flying. Even after I show him how if flys fine (probably better!) when I'm not even touching it.

Then just let him enjoy the ride! He probably loves every minute of it except the ones that he's flying. Not everybody wants to fly. A lot of people just like to ride.

Anyway, I hope this has helped.

-Goose

 

[navigator72]

Having flown 100' s of scenic tours, I have given the control to quite a few of my passengers. The key is to keep it simple, don't show them how to make a standard rate turn. Let them turn at any rate they want. Show them what happens when you push the yoke forward, back, left and right and them let them have a ball. I have only had to take the controls back on one passenger (she was 3 years old). Her parents thought is was great that I let her fly the plane. (BIG TIPS).

Let them experience flight as the thrill that it really is. For most non flying passengers, just turning the yoke is an amazing thrill. Unless they are really interested in learning how to fly, keep your knowledge of flying to a minimum. Non pilot passengers just want to come back to earth safely, explaining the 4 forces acting on flight will just take away from the experience.

Goodluck and fly safely.

 

[wrxpilot]

Having flown 100' s of scenic tours, I have given the control to quite a few of my passengers. The key is to keep it simple, don't show them how to make a standard rate turn. Let them turn at any rate they want. Show them what happens when you push the yoke forward, back, left and right and them let them have a ball. I have only had to take the controls back on one passenger (she was 3 years old). Her parents thought is was great that I let her fly the plane. (BIG TIPS).

Let them experience flight as the thrill that it really is. For most non flying passengers, just turning the yoke is an amazing thrill. Unless they are really interested in learning how to fly, keep your knowledge of flying to a minimum. Non pilot passengers just want to come back to earth safely, explaining the 4 forces acting on flight will just take away from the experience.

Goodluck and fly safely.

Those are some good points, thanks!