Flight Training - March 2013 - 49

students keep their hands on their
knees during taxi practice helps.
Flight simulators have the
potential for both positive and
negative transfer of learning. The
airlines have long used full-motion
simulators paired with carefully
structured course syllabi. These
machines are such faithful reproductions of real-world flying that
positive transfer is virtually (pun
intended) guaranteed. Today’s
powerful computers now enable
enthusiasts to run high-quality
simulators at home, and with a
little more investment they can add
realistic flight controls and avionics
suites. But despite these advances,

there are two ways that home flight
simulators can cause negative transfer for flight students.
First, until these systems utilize
full-motion and realistic force-feedback in the controls, they will be
unable to replicate the sensations
of flying actual aircraft. Second,
home simulator buffs are not likely
to be guided by qualified instructors. That’s fine if users intend to
stay in their living rooms, but if they
hope to fly real aircraft one day,
they could be giving themselves bad
habits. The most common problem
is that simulators encourage pilots
to look at the instruments, while in
VFR flying we want to spend much

more time looking at the horizon
and scanning for traffic. Instructors
should ask students if they practice
on home simulators and offer guidance on how to use them properly.
All learning involves some type
of transfer. Students often possess
experience relevant to new learning, but it is up to instructors to help
make the connections. Find out if
your students ride motorcycles (or
unicycles!), knit, play an instrument, or climb mountains—and give
them an edge on their new playing
field up in the sky.
Jason Catanzariti is a 2,400-hour flight
instructor who enjoys astronomy.

YOU’RE NOT DONE YET

Why pilots need to keep learning landings
» By David Jack Kenny

MOST STUDENTS FIND learning to land
the hardest part of presolo training, and
their struggles don’t always end after
the checkride. Landings are the Achilles
heel of nonprofessional pilots. Private,
sport, and recreational pilots collectively
account for about 30 percent of all fixedwing accidents—but more than half of all
crash landings.
So as your former students get ready
to fly off into the great, wide world, what
should you warn them to watch out for?
Let’s start with overconfidence.
New pilots are pretty good at respecting
their limitations. If you compare the number of certificates issued to the number of
accidents involving pilots with 100 hours
or less at the time, it appears that these
new pilots have fewer accidents per year
than similar numbers of private, sport,
and rec pilots who’ve logged more than
100 hours. Of course, the more experienced pilots may actually be doing more
flying, but we don’t know that.
The same thing holds for landing. The
number of landing accidents per pilot per
year is about 25 percent higher among
private, sport, and rec pilots with more

than 100 hours. This suggests
that as they gain confidence,
they might become a little less
cautious about how and when
they choose to expand their
envelopes.
There is one aspect of
landing that does give newer
pilots particular trouble,
and surprisingly enough, it’s
not crosswinds: those are a
persistent problem. The share
of landing accidents involving
losses of directional control
is about 45 percent in both
groups. But deficiencies in
airspeed control—leading to
hard landings, bounces, stalls,
or touching down short of the
threshold—cause 30 percent of landing
accidents in the 100-and-under set compared to just 20 percent of those among
private, sport, and rec pilots who’ve
crossed the 100-hour threshold.
Why? New and unfamiliar airports,
with the attendant distractions and lack
of familiar landmarks, may well come into
play. But it’s another reason your soon-

to-be former students shouldn’t lose your
phone number after they’ve earned their
wings. Whether they’re prone to landing
long, short, hard, or sideways, you can
help them improve.
David Jack Kenny is the Air Safety Institute’s
manager of aviation safety analysis. He spent a lot
of time working on crosswind landings.

MARCH 2013 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - March 2013

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