Recently, I sent a couple of my students to their first solos. When they landed, one of the first things they mentioned was “it was so quiet” or “i miss your talking”. Another time when my student, S, came back from a solo flight practicing precautionary landings and forced approaches, he said “I can concentrate better without your talking”. To some of my students, apparently, I talk too much. They sound polite when saying it, but I can read between the lines.
Yeah…We Talked A Little Much At Times
I agree with my students that sometimes we talk too much, especially in the circuit. To the point when I have to raise my hand for them to stop and to listen to the radio. I proceed to remind them that listening to the radio is more important than whatever they had for breakfast or how bad their previous landing was. (If their landing was bad, I am supposed to be the one talking and explaining, not them sulking).
Just before my students go on their first solo, there comes a point when they are competent enough to do all the pre-landing checks before we are halfway down the downwind leg. Considering we have a runway of more than 11,000 feet, that is a long downwind. We could talk about so many things with the remaining time on the downwind. These students are aware that they have to look out for traffic, fly the airplane and listen to the radio. Therefore, when they hear something on the radio, they would stop talking and listen. I like it when it happens because they learnt and understood the importance of listening to the radio.
To Talk, Or Not To Talk, That’s The Question
Regarding student S whom I mentioned above, I am faced with a dilemma. The procedure for precautionary landing and forced approach is pretty long. The question now is: should I mention things that he missed there and then? Or wait till the end of the maneuver before commenting? On the one hand, when I remind him of the step(s) he missed right away, he can “fill in the gap” immediately. On the other hand, if I point out what he missed at the end of the maneuver, there will be no opportunities to correct it unless he does the whole exercise again, which is time consuming. I hope he doesn’t miss out on anything when I am not there!
What’s My Style?
Thinking back to all my flight lessons, I don’t control the airplane much even when my students are early in their flight training. The only way I can get them to do what is essential, after the initial demonstration, is to talk them through in detail. Most of the time I will repeat only once. If the student still doesn’t get it, I will take over the controls to show them again. That is to prevent any loss of time in the air. I see no point in repeating multiple times as students get frustrated and impatient. I will demonstrate one more time, then we more on.
Should I Change My Style?
It depends on the student. Some students actually like me to remind them of all the steps as they are doing it especially when they are new to the maneuver. They will eventually want me to shut up. If that’s the case, I will happily keep my mouth closed.
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