Situational Awareness
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It comes with experience. As they gain hours and begin to feel more comfortable, they can devote more and more time to thinking ahead and gradually being more and more aware of whats going on around them. Crawl, walk, run.
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
Total time. And flying faster airplanes. That's the key to SA.
R
Roger, Roger
Guest
Make sure their stick and rudder is so rock solid they can fly the plane by feel, sound, and outside references in their sleep. That frees up a lot of brain cells for thinking.
There is no magic solution to having SA. For one, some people have the potential to gain it, others simply don't. For the ones that have the potential, they're the ones that can take advantage of the above info.
Crockrocket94
Well-Known Member
Keep making them find landmarks so they know where they are. STart big, lakes, mountains, cities, fields, and work from there.
bLizZuE
Calling for engine starts en français
Tell them about your SA.
The example I use is how I think about the traffic pattern. I listen to ATC guide the other aircraft in and out of the pattern, so I can visualize how they will interact with myself. Most students are barely able to hear their own callsign, yet I listen to ATC as an ongoing conversation.
Tell them how far ahead you are thinking. I believe that experience adds better anticipation and error correction. That is the core of a lot of issues students face, and often the only difference between them and I. Give examples of what you're thinking about in different phases of flight, or how your plan is working.
I ask "What are the two most important things to always be thinking about?"
The next two things. I don't remember where I heard that from, but I like it.
Always, always, always. Have the airplane in trim. That alone creates SA.
The example I use is how I think about the traffic pattern. I listen to ATC guide the other aircraft in and out of the pattern, so I can visualize how they will interact with myself. Most students are barely able to hear their own callsign, yet I listen to ATC as an ongoing conversation.
Tell them how far ahead you are thinking. I believe that experience adds better anticipation and error correction. That is the core of a lot of issues students face, and often the only difference between them and I. Give examples of what you're thinking about in different phases of flight, or how your plan is working.
I ask "What are the two most important things to always be thinking about?"
The next two things. I don't remember where I heard that from, but I like it.
Always, always, always. Have the airplane in trim. That alone creates SA.
jhugz
Well-Known Member
The Gardener
Terrafirma Phobic
x2.
Turbine
Well-Known Member
Using a desktop sim at home can greatly help SA, as they can improve their overall flying, and develop a feel for the order of things.
I also recommend to have the CH Yoke, this can help with trimming and the overall experience of the sim.
Use actual checklists for the desktop sim, and have the checklist more or less memorized so your expecting the next item.
I also recommend to have the CH Yoke, this can help with trimming and the overall experience of the sim.
Use actual checklists for the desktop sim, and have the checklist more or less memorized so your expecting the next item.
It varies drastically with scenarios. I will skim a few of them in an attempt to give some ideas.
General SA:
Stick & Rudder: As previously mentioned, these are a must. This includes proper use of visual cues, stick pressures, kinesthetics, sound, and even smell.
Practiced/Developed Procedures: This is an at home exercise as well as in the aircraft. Pick a task, develop a procedure, and then try the procedure. During the debrief, discuss the procedure and make any changes. Now take that procedure home and chair fly it. Do this with every procedure so the student can do them with as little brain power as possible.
Radios: Listen online at home to improve this skill. Tell the student to act as if they are one of the tail numbers and watch TV. Each time their tail number is called they should recognize it, even while watching TV. The TV acts as their distraction. Do this with an approach and tower frequency to learn the various phrases used. Reading the AIM can also assist with this.
Trim: See previous posts, always maintain trim. However, ensure they don't become trim flyers!
Emergency: Where would you land? Absolutely 100 percent, IMO, the most important piece of SA is knowing an off field landing site during any phase of flight. You should ask this randomly each and every flight. It takes 30 seconds when the student is doing it right and will likely save their life in an emergency.
Landing Environment
Configuration: What is our configuration? The response should be with an RPM, mixture, and flap setting at minimum. Asking this question a couple times throughout the approach, pattern, landing, and takeoff can help them to think about it on their own.
Micro Meteorology: I devote a lesson to this where we discuss basic of thermals, disturbed air over objects, wake/heli turbulence, and how it drifts with the air mass. Applying such knowledge, especially to the final approach, can really improve SA and keep the pilot thinking ahead. How many times do you see a student say, "OMG" when hitting lift or sink you already knew was coming? This shouldn't happen.
Cross Country
Points: This information was taken from the european training for XC navigation. Most instructors, myself included, teach students to pick a single point or maybe two as checkpoints on the XC. Here is another option and it provides impeccable SA if performed properly.
Large Point: Pick at least 2, preferably 3. Points should be large cities, bodies of water, or other general terrain features that can be observed easily from about 10-20 NM away. Use these points to get a general idea of your location on the sectional.
Small Points: Pick more than 2. These can be anything you fly over or near, usually within a couple miles of your route of flight. They include the typical points we teach students about as well as: power lines, roads, terrain features (hills/ridges/etc), water towers, airports, etc.
Handrails One of my students actually taught me this, an outdoor expedition leader. When you track to a point in the distance, you do so by selecting 2-3 points off your nose to make a line. Once you visualize that line look for points on either side of it to make a line on either side that runs parallel to your centerline. You are essentially building a roadway in the sky to follow, keep their head outside and off the DG. If you fly that road you will never go off course and can even see if your wind drift is working properly or not.
At Home: Tell the student to take 10-15 minutes with their sectional and follow the line with their finger. Look at all of the tiny details that they will fly over and attempt to visualize what it might look like when they are flying. A good 15 minutes of this can do wonders for their SA when they do the XC.
One final thought, during any approach to pattern, maneuvering for a field, setting up for ground reference, etc. Have the student pick a ground track they wish to fly to do it. Imagining how that ground track relates to the airport and will bring them back to set up for the 45 entry might save you that, "hey where did the airport go" question we almost always encounter with our students. Assessing how they move over the ground can also help them assess the winds a loft.
So you see, SA isn't so much a simple do this and it works. It is a complex network of various little tasks that add up to a detailed image. Hope this helps and good luck!
I also do this. This is one of the most common problems I notice with students, they competely forget about the radios. It is great practice to have them put on liveatc.net and assign them a call sign, have them be able to recognize where other traffic should be at any given time as well as where they should be, all while muti-tasking.
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
Go back to your FOI book and review the concept of "working memory". It was an eyeopener for me. I found explaining this to students dramaticly reduced their fustration level.
Basicly your brain is like a computer with 100 Tb or ROM, but only 30 K of RAM. It can store tons of data, but can only do a few tasks at once.
If a task is brand new (controlling an airplane) it uses up all of your working memory, and your mind forces out all other secondary tasks (listening, looking, and planning). The reason you feel like your student isn't listening to you is because he literally can't hear you. His brain has turned off hearing so it could deal with problem #1, flying. Millitary pilots refer to it as having a "helmet fire".
As we do a task more often, we develop "muscle memory" which is a shortcut program that runs in the background and uses little of our finite working memory. This is why you and I can debate philosophy while we fly, scan for traffic, and listen to the radio.
In short, it simply takes time.
Basicly your brain is like a computer with 100 Tb or ROM, but only 30 K of RAM. It can store tons of data, but can only do a few tasks at once.
If a task is brand new (controlling an airplane) it uses up all of your working memory, and your mind forces out all other secondary tasks (listening, looking, and planning). The reason you feel like your student isn't listening to you is because he literally can't hear you. His brain has turned off hearing so it could deal with problem #1, flying. Millitary pilots refer to it as having a "helmet fire".
As we do a task more often, we develop "muscle memory" which is a shortcut program that runs in the background and uses little of our finite working memory. This is why you and I can debate philosophy while we fly, scan for traffic, and listen to the radio.
In short, it simply takes time.
I am going to be a nit picking nerd, but remove ROM from this sentence. Instead, a 100 TB hard drive. ROM is typically your BIOS and holds very little memory, a few MB. It is read only memory that cannot be accessed to write to and contains your boot up information.
Anyways, aside from the computer lesson, great advice.
Orange Anchor
New Member
If you google "situational awareness" you are going to be overwhelmed with myriad definitions. Different groups and different researchers have defined it differently.
The Navy says SA refers to the degree of accuracy with which one's perception of current situations reflects reality. Another is 'what you need to know to not be surprised.' Or 'knowing what's going to so you know what's next.' Endsley says understanding, comprehension and projection.
So, some questions can be asked. What's going on? What happens next? What are you planning? Getting the student to not only think about the moment but be prepared for a number of possibilities is not easy and with just trying to keep the blue side up, it is easy to be overwhelmed. This is seen when the student just tries to talk on the radio... combining multiple tasks in real time.
SA is not just relevant to flying. It is applicable to everything we do including short range planning to long range.
What's happening now?
What happens next?
What are your plans to deal with the possiblities?
The Navy says SA refers to the degree of accuracy with which one's perception of current situations reflects reality. Another is 'what you need to know to not be surprised.' Or 'knowing what's going to so you know what's next.' Endsley says understanding, comprehension and projection.
So, some questions can be asked. What's going on? What happens next? What are you planning? Getting the student to not only think about the moment but be prepared for a number of possibilities is not easy and with just trying to keep the blue side up, it is easy to be overwhelmed. This is seen when the student just tries to talk on the radio... combining multiple tasks in real time.
SA is not just relevant to flying. It is applicable to everything we do including short range planning to long range.
What's happening now?
What happens next?
What are your plans to deal with the possiblities?
jhugz
Well-Known Member
I like it.
Orange Anchor
New Member
Sort of like there are fighters and targets?
But I tend to disagree. A great tool for SA is a good checklist and knowing what to do when. Understanding workload and the changing requirements during a flight promotes SA. Moving tasks (briefings, nav components, etc) out of the descent when possible and into the cruise phase lowers arrival workload. So.. SA has a lot to do with understanding workload and planning. That can be learned and should be something that can be taught.
Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
It's in the same category as judgment -- that can't be taught, either.
Both SA and judgment require experience, which neophyte pilots don't have and can't obtain in any way except through time in the saddle.
We artificially endow students with the ability to get that experience by having them fly with an instructor -- students largely just mimic the behavior of their instructors/mentors (who are the ones who do have SA and judgment). As their experience increases, so does their SA and ability to make decisions.
We also create rules and procedures that reduce the demand for students to have wide SA or actually make complicated decisions. Most people can learn and memorize procedures (like checklists, for example) without any practical experience.
Some of what shdw is getting at is what we call "part-task training" -- allowing students to practice certain tasks outside the cockpit to help build their proficiency in simple tasks. That allows them to get beyond the task saturation many students face with those basic tasks and expand their bubble of awareness once they are inside the cockpit. It doesn't actually increase SA in and of itself, but it is certainly an enabler that assists students in building their own SA.