Chapter 9: Techniques of Flight Instruction

Chapter 9 opens with the flight instructor's core job: giving the learner the tools to fly safely, both during training and after leaving the relatively protected training environment. Because even strict compliance with regulations may not guarantee safety, the handbook favors a system approach that builds aeronautical decision-making, risk management, situational awareness, and single-pilot resource management into modern training. Learners learn by watching, so the instructor models safe, professional behavior before, during, and after every flight. The Airman Certification Standards are described as a testing tool, not a teaching tool, and lesson completion standards should gradually reach or exceed them before final checkride preparation.

Instruction is integrated across the ground, flight simulation training devices, and the aircraft. Ground objectives should relate to flight objectives, and the instructor points out the link between theory on the ground and practice in the air. A balanced mix of e-learning, classroom, and one-on-one instruction works better than heavy reliance on electronic media. The FAA recognizes Full Flight Simulators, Flight Training Devices, and Aviation Training Devices, each with its own approval process and logging rules. The FAA recommends continuing simulator training until tasks are accomplished successfully before trying them in the aircraft, and an instructor should review ground-taught tasks with the learner before each flight.

The demonstration-performance method has four phases: explanation, demonstration, learner performance with instructor supervision, and evaluation. (Chapter 5 lists learner performance and instructor supervision as separate phases that happen at the same time, which is why it counts five.) The telling-and-doing technique adapts it to flight instruction in three steps: instructor tells, instructor does; learner tells, instructor does; and learner tells, learner does. The middle step lets the learner organize the procedure mentally and lets the instructor check understanding before the learner takes the controls. During practice, the instructor judges how much control to use, stays ready to take over during hazardous maneuvers, and avoids unnecessary interruptions when the learner is progressing normally.

Several practices protect safety directly. A positive three-step exchange of flight controls, briefed before flight, ensures there is never any doubt about who is flying. The sterile flight deck concept, which grew out of airline accidents, applies to all pilots and should be taught and modeled. Because most stall and spin accidents followed diverted attention, instructors deliberately introduce distractions so learners learn to divide attention while keeping control. Integrated flight instruction uses both outside and instrument references from the first time each maneuver is introduced, while making clear it does not prepare the learner for marginal weather or IMC. Learners must also build the habit of see and avoid.

Assessment of piloting ability is based on established standards adjusted to the learner's stage of training and considers mastery of each element, not only overall performance. Collaborative assessment pairs learner self-assessment with the instructor's detailed assessment after scenario-based training. The chapter covers first solo planning, prompt post-solo debriefing, letting learners work part of the way into a mistake when safety permits, and the instructor's responsibility for solo supervision. Signing a practical test recommendation is a serious responsibility, and endorsing a learner who is not proficient is a serious deficiency and a breach of faith with the learner.