Article written for UltraFlight magazine as a  NAPPF Training article 
March 2004 by Frederick Scheffel

Relating the “Learning to fly” experience to the real world… WITHOUT the Fundamentals of Instruction jargon and technical terminology.  What is the flight training/learning process all about…

 Well, let’s see if we can break this ‘learning’ thing down a little…taking my views and advice as a Teacher-to-Student (and with a few comments as a Teacher-to-Teachers).

Learning involves:

·        Attitude

·        Plateaus

·        Modifications to current habits & routines

·        Background – your related history

·        Your view of the process & materials

·        Feedback

·        Review

 

ATTITUDE

You need to be where you want to be when it comes to learning new skills.  If someone is requesting or forcing you to learn materials that you could care-less about, then you are wasting your time.  You cannot be forced to learn – no matter how great your teacher!  [Note: This rarely ever happens when it comes to flight training.  I mean, let’s face it, most people really want to learn to fly.  However, there are those who will think they are ‘above’ the ground schooling – and they do not want to be bothered with reading & homework - they just want to know how to be the PIC and fly the aircraft.]

 

You need to be healthy and you need to have the aspiration to learn.  And when it comes to piloting, you need to have the desire to want more than just to learn how to fly – you have to crave every bit of information that concerns the subject: preflight checks, weather, communications, protocols, emergency procedures (“what-if” scenarios), equipment, engines and safety routines.  As long as “Murphy” lives, you will someday fly in conditions that far exceed those relatively windless, safe days of your first solo flights.  You need to crave information that will prepare you for the vast majority of ‘worst-case’ scenarios.  The best way I have found to approach a new subject is to learn enough about it that after digesting the materials, and combined with additional research outside of class – I should be able to teach the new subject at hand.  When I approach new class materials, I take the attitude that I will be teaching the same class in the near future – that way I try to anticipate the questions my imaginary students may ask, and then educate myself for the possible answers.  And when I actually do teach a flight training class – I advise my students that tomorrow one of them will be selected to re-teach a small portion of the same subject matter to the class as a review.  You may be surprised how much better they pay attention after that comment.

 

PLATEAUS

Expect plateaus of learning – we all go through them.  Don’t over ‘push’ yourself.

Keep your study time per day to a maximum of 6 hours – ‘cause when you are tired, you just don’t feel like learn’in it!  When you’re tired and the ‘drive’ is gone – your effort counts for only a very little towards the learning process.

 

And there will be times when, even though you are well rested, it just seems like you can’t make it to the next skill level.  Now these times are when determination and persistent are the characteristics that will take you to the next beyond.  Now is the time to be patience & relax.  Your determination, your desires will move you forward when your mind and body have decided that the digestion of your current knowledge and skills are complete.

 

Relative to powered parachutes – I would surely advice that you let go of the technical.  The PPC is not an aircraft that flies well by instruments.  Relax.  Feel the machine…be the machine…(”nana-nana-nana” - Chevy Chase in Caddyshack – remember?).  No really, you need to fly a PPC by the “seat-of-your-pants”.  When you get to the point of really feeling the PPC – you WILL GO to the next skill level.  You won’t need to look at your altimeter to know you are climbing, you will feel your butt push just that little bit harder against the bottom of the seat.  And with just a little foot pressure on your steering bars, you will feel the crosswind push against the wing and be able to anticipate the coming swing, and adjust the drag of the wing’s tail to minimize the motion.

 

MODIFICATIONS TO CURRENT HABITS & ROUTINES

It is easier to teach totally new routines, then to change existing, similar routines.  For instances, if you are already a General Aviation pilot – please let me remind you that the powered parachute is a very unique aircraft.  You will be flying a pendulum. Skills that are not common manuevers in a GA aircraft will soon be routine in a PPC.  Feelings in flight (hanging in a pendulum) that are initially uncomfortable when related to a fixed-wing aircraft will become un-noticed and again routine in a PPC.  The pendulum scenario of the PPC makes it not just safer, but in some ways, quite different than the flight characteristics of a fixed wing aircraft.  In a powered parachute, the more in-tuned you are with the ‘seat-of-your-pants’ feelings, the better pilot you will become.

 

Then, after you are taught the new flying procedures, you need to make these new routines HABITS!  So fly often, and cement the new PPC techniques.

 

BACKGROUND – your related experience/history

If you have previously studied weather; if you already have an education in aerodynamics – obviously, you will be more comfortable with your ground schooling.  And certainly if you are a Painter by trade – you will more easily take to the controls of a PPC.  WHAT?  What does painting have to do with PPC piloting?  Well, let’s throw this question to the audience – ANYONE?  Any thoughts?

 

Well, I have found that a painter (or anyone that works often with their wrist and hand pressures) has a smoother, more even hand motion on the throttle – and it is throttle finesse that makes a superb PPC pilot.  A smooth, slow throttle motion on a PPC equals to a graceful, flowing powered parachute.

 

YOUR VIEW OF THE PROCESS & MATERIALS

First, I must mention that your initial opinion of your instructor and his/her abilities is crucial.  If you do not trust your instructor, or you feel that their qualifications are minimal at best – your learning experience is going to be greatly hampered.  You have to trust & respect your flight instructor.

This same judging process will apply to the aircraft to be used, the condition of the training field and the training materials presented. The human (personality) chemistry between an instructor and a student will not always be there – but professionalism should always be present!  Bottomline, if you are not comfortable with your instructor, if may well be worth your time to local another.  Get references, ask about the training materials used, contact alumni of the instructor, and even ask other PPC professionals about your selected instructor.

 

And remember, learning any skill can become overwhelming depending on how it is presented or how hard you believe the process will be, even the fun and common skill of flying a kite!  [Just visualize for a moment – how an engineer or attorney might explain to a space alien ‘how to fly a kite’!  See.  Any process can be presented to appear complicated, and on the other side of the coin, any learning process can be made to be easily digestible.]

 

So as an Instructor – please take every process and break it down into simple, easy to comprehend steps. 

And as a Student – do not overwhelm yourself by thinking beyond the current lesson plan.  Concentrate on just the current lesson being taught; concentrate on the skill at hand.  Do not try and guess the next step or fear tomorrow’s lesson.  Stay with the here and now.

 

Additional note to Instructors…your job is not to impress your students with your flying skills.  Your job is to take every procedure, break it into its basic simple components, convey their meanings, and then perhaps just as importantly – insert a sense of humor.  Your student gains nothing by being impressed with your overwhelming skills & knowledge.  This only tends to intimidate – and intimidation does not encourage a learning atmosphere.  Instill into the new student the methods of how to keep this sport safe (and make it safer) but also make the experience of learning to fly a PPC FUN.  A little humor goes a long way in relaxing your student, and helping them reduce their fears and thus enhance their learning potential.

 

Additional note to the Student…more than the words of a manual or the information sheets you receive, or the comments of your instructor, EXPERIENCE is going to be the optimal learning tool.  Indeed, you will use your knowledge and the wisdom of your instructions as the bases of your PPC understanding and safety practices, but those things will only be the foundation upon which you will develop your lasting flying skills – skills that will grow only through your own safety routines and repeated experiences.

 

FEEDBACK

Immediate feedback to the student may be the most powerful learning tool; feedback after every written exam; feedback after every flying task.  Feedback allows the student the opportunity to effectively evaluate and correct their learning progress!   Feedback will also evoked conversation and allow other facets of the material to come to light.  And the more angles a subject is approached from, the stronger the ability of the humans of this planet to remember.

 

REVIEW

Once your flight training class is completed, your learning process should not end.  There is one more procedure the student needs to take…REVIEW.

 

Read, and re-read the manual (or information sheets).  Like every other human, you will probably have missed something on the first read of the information.  So give yourself the full opportunity to digest all of the contents.  With the addition of your recent class training – your review of the training materials will have a higher level of comprehension.  Give yourself this valuable learning reinforcement.  Re-read and continue your research; build upon your experiences; learn from the experiences of others; and make safe flight your highest priority!

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