Australian Flying - July 2018

A

ll pilots make mistakes, and good

pilots learn not only from their

own mistakes, but those of others.

Student pilots, particularly ab-

initio, will inescapably make more

mistakes because they have more

to learn. By understanding these

errors, f lying instructors can

help student pilots avoid making

mistakes, or can prepare them

to cope better when inevitable

mistakes are made.

It’s important to start by

emphasising that f light training is

not particularly dangerous. The

US Aircraft Owners and Pilots

Association put it well: “Pilots

learning to f ly are placed in a

system that provides checks and

balances to ensure that they aren’t

exposed to dangerous situations

before they have been given the

necessary knowledge to cope.”

A Bureau of Air Safety

Investigation (later ASTB) report

in 1996 made the observation

that: “There is an indisputable

link between the quality of the

instruction given to a student

by an instructor and the quality

of the pilot produced at the end

of that instruction. What is not

taught to a student at the ab-initio

stage may subsequently be learnt

merely through trial and error and

bad habits may become ingrained.”

Australian Flying spoke to CFIs

from a number of f light schools

across the country to identify

what instructors found to be the

most common errors. Many of

the problems mentioned were

ones that you’d expect: ignoring

checklists, poor planning, failing

to keep a lookout. But some were

unexpected, such as students

arriving without their “head in the

right space”.

The wrong

head space

Ralph Schwertner from Par Avion

Flight Training at Cambridge in

Tasmania explains that “many

students bring their non-f lying

worries into the plane.” Without

diminishing the seriousness of

post-traumatic stress, Schwertner

says that instructors need to

address some mistakes almost like

treating PTSD. “This is totally

a human factors issue,” he said.

“The mental aspects of f lying–

having your head in the right

space–require mechanisms to

deal with the anxieties.”

Par Avion puts emphasis on

this aspect from early on in the

training experience.

Flight Training TONY SELF

Learning from the mistakes of others is very important

for any pilot, but particularly so for a student.

Tony S elf asked around to compile a list of the biggest

errors students are continuing to make. Read and learn.

58

AUSTRALIAN FLYING July – August 2018

TOP

Student

Mistakes

MAIN: Dipsticks: never

assume someone else

checked the oil.

BELOW: Too many students

make the mistake of keeping

their head in the cockpit

when it should be outside.