Flight Training - May 2015 - 57

INSTRUCTOR REPORT

Yoke hogs

Letting a student land an airplane
» By Rod Machado

OVER THE YEARS I've adopted
more than a few high-time presolo
students who were unable to land
an airplane. Sure, some could be
categorized as slow learners. Most,
however, were never allowed to
land as the sole manipulator of the
flight controls, because the flight
instructor made all the landings.
How is it possible for students to
learn to land if they aren't allowed
to land on their own?
Teaching someone to land an
airplane requires that the instructor let them land an airplane. Don't
get me wrong: If a student has
little or no flight experience, then
the instructor should keep his or
her hands on or near the yoke as
appropriate when landing. That's
just common sense (and survival).
Ideally, the instructor should
progressively surrender control
responsibility as the student gains
skill at the roundout and flare. Some
instructors are reluctant to transfer
this responsibility. They're yoke
hogs, and we need to understand
what motivates this behavior.
Predictability. The lack of it is a
big reason some instructors can't
keep their pinkies off the controls
during landing. If instructors can't
anticipate how their students will
respond as they approach the
runway, they have no choice but
to ride the controls all the way to
touchdown. However, after the first
three or four landing sorties, most
students find their landing groove
and no longer threaten to leave a big
groove in the runway's surface.
Student behavior now becomes
progressively more predictable,
and the instructor should transfer
more control responsibility to the
student. Eventually, the instructor's
hands no longer make contact with

the flight controls. That said, these
same hands remain nearby in the
quick-draw position.
If we don't let our students
assume increasing responsibility
for the landing, then we deprive
them of the feedback necessary
to develop their chops at landing.
It's a Catch-22. The more they
practice landing as you manipulate
the controls, the less progress they
make-and the more likely you are
to keep your hands on the controls.
Perhaps the biggest misconception instructors have about initial
landing practice is that their hands

controls during student landings.
This is why instructors who train
instructor applicants should show
them how to anticipate and recover
from errant student actions during
landing. If you weren't fortunate
enough to receive this training, you
need to get it.
Begin by finding the most experienced flight instructor on the
field. Unfortunately, using a conch
shell or special bird calls to attract
these individuals doesn't work very
often (and when it does, it's hard to
explain). So a little gumshoe work
is necessary to find an instructor

THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ALLOWING STUDENTS TO
MAKE BENIGN, NON-LETHAL MISTAKES. IT'S CALLED FEEDBACK.
should remain on the yoke if there's
any chance the student might overor underflare the airplane. There's
nothing wrong with allowing
students to make benign, non-lethal
mistakes. That's called feedback.
What you want to prevent are lethal
mistakes. That's called proper
supervision.
This is why you keep your hands
in the quick-draw position during
landing practice. You don't keep
them in your pockets. Neither do
you let your hands hover inches
above the controls, as if they're hot
gold bars waiting to be grabbed the
moment they cool.
Allowing the student to overflare, underflare, and/or drift a
little is essential to learning. Just
don't let that student hurt anyone
or anything. We can't possibly
teach students to land properly if
they aren't allowed to see the outcome of their control inputs.
Confidence.The lack of it is
another reason instructors often are
unwilling to take their hands off the

of this caliber. You want someone
experienced who's seen many of
the strange things students do.
Once found, arrange a flight on
which this instructor simulates the
typical errant landing behaviors
students are known to make: overflare, underflare, failure to apply
crosswind correction, and so on.
One hour of practice with an experienced instructor is usually all it
takes to make you more confident
when teaching landings.
Teaching landings properly
means letting a student land an
airplane. For you, that might mean
learning to let go of the flight
controls when it's appropriate to
do so. The ultimately payoff
is gold-medal confidence for
your students-no third-place
bronze medal for anyone that
you train.
Rod Machado is a flight instructor,
author, educator, and speaker.
Check out his CFI affiliate program
(www.rodmachado.com).

MAY 2015 FLIGHT TRAINING

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http://www.rodmachado.com
Flight Training - May 2015

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