Good God , can't wait to become an instructor
Don't know how you guys do it but I better figure out soon
Have you ever feared a student would kill you?
- Thread starter A150K
- Start date
Good God , can't wait to become an instructor
Don't know how you guys do it but I better figure out soon
Douglas
Old School KSUX
True. :bandit:
Don't worry about the guy or think of it as "violence". He wanted to pull out of the dive just as much as me, but in his panic/fear state he thought forward pressure was going to help. He felt that me getting us out of the dive was more of a positive to him than the negative of my hitting him, hurting ego/feelings.
It didn't affect our relationship and took we many flights after that before he found out that it just wasn't for him.
nocturnalaviator
AI Jedi
On the topic of going ballistic to regain control... are there any rules to gender? If so, I have a few women from the past that I would love to have as students. payback, with an excuse LMAO. Joking of course!!
True , I was bound to jump to the wrong conclusion not knowing all of the facts or the context of the situation. There's always a unique dynamic with any two people in an airplane. I really have to resist the temptation to comment on things when I have .01% of the story --sry about the assumption
esa17
Well-Known Member
I had a student from the UK once who claimed to have 8000 hours, was a CFI, and the English version of a DPE.
When flying our Seneca I closed one of the fuel selectors while doing some basic maneuvers, nothing crazy, and this dude froze. Had it been a real engine failure and I not been there he would have rolled over and died. It took quite a bit of "convincing" on my part to get him to relinquish the controls.
The rest of our CFI's flew with him and our consensus was this guy had no more than 300 hours. The worst part was when we looked further into his background it appeared to check.
When flying our Seneca I closed one of the fuel selectors while doing some basic maneuvers, nothing crazy, and this dude froze. Had it been a real engine failure and I not been there he would have rolled over and died. It took quite a bit of "convincing" on my part to get him to relinquish the controls.
The rest of our CFI's flew with him and our consensus was this guy had no more than 300 hours. The worst part was when we looked further into his background it appeared to check.
Inverted25
Well-Known Member
I used to do this when I was learning to fly taildraggers. My instructor was cool as ice. If I scared him he never let it show. One time right after touchdown with a little bit of crosswind the plane started to swerve and I lost complete control. I swear we touched the white lines on both edges of the runway. He acted like nothing happened after he recoverd. I'm not sure I could have remained as calm as him in that situation.
Douglas
Old School KSUX
rjmore
Gastrointestinally Challenged
It can happen in a hurry. I had to hit a student once as well. Everything looked good until I told him to go around as he had just chopped the power and raised the nose at 150 feet. I said "I have control" and he didn't get off the controls. Said it again louder as I pushed the throttle in with his hand still on it. He fought it and tried to pull it back to idle again. All the tricks I could think of didn't work and he was still frozen on the controls. Finally had to deck him square in the jaw. His head bounced off the window and he let go. We went around and then I landed the aircraft.
This particular guy was training with a friend who was in the back at the time. The guy in the back was scared but came back to finish his training. The guy I had to hit never flew again, at least as far as I know. He thanked me and even sent me a gift for smacking him. He didn't quit flying because I had to hit him, he quit because he scared himself and was grateful he didn't kill us all. Had he been alone and that happened, it would have all been over.
This particular guy was training with a friend who was in the back at the time. The guy in the back was scared but came back to finish his training. The guy I had to hit never flew again, at least as far as I know. He thanked me and even sent me a gift for smacking him. He didn't quit flying because I had to hit him, he quit because he scared himself and was grateful he didn't kill us all. Had he been alone and that happened, it would have all been over.
msmspilot
Well-Known Member
Wow. I never actually had to hit a student. The one I had freeze let go after I said "LET GO." Closest I ever got to yelling at a student.
I've had a number of people freeze when doing departure stalls and a wing drops on them. Since we're at a safe altitude, I just sit with my feet on the floor, arms crossed on my chest, and talk them through it. So far, that's all I've had to do.
Yeah that seems like an unbelievably tough situation in a particulary hazardous place if you had not done that it would probably be another report on the NTSB website. I just hope I have students that listen to me when I say "my controls" one of the first things that my instructor and I had established (as I'm sure most of you guys do as well) was that when he says "my controls" I let go of everything immediately (after quick but proper control exchange procedure). The only time I put him in real danger was when I porpoised down the runways and froze not knowing what to do but he took controls and went around , atleast I was coordinated and near centerline. But plenty of hard landings , wrong go around procedure (dumping all of the flaps out at once on a seminole which was ridiculously stupid , fortunately we were high enough for it to be of no real consequence).
One thing that is troublesome (as I hope to be a CFI in a month or two) is that it seems like there is an overall tendency of students to freeze on the controls at the exact moments when they have to let go. I don't think its derailing to ask this but do you guys see this happen often?? Where a student locks on the controls in a state of panic or are these the exceptions rather than the rule ? If so what can be done to prevent this or deal with the situation when it happens
Thank You ! It really is a privilege to gat a chance to become a part of this community and gain from the experience of the pilots who share on this forum. Eventually I hope I'll be able to do the same for other inexperienced pilots.
On the flip side of this topic (even though its not nearly as dramatic as some other experiences posted here) I had an instructor put us into known freezing conditions . After about three minutes the airspeed indicator started dropping quickly until we dropped under stall speed in IMC.
He then got on me to increase power and even though this did not feel right considering the indications of other instruments (the static port did not freeze over) I did so and finally turned the pitot heat on . When the airspeed indicator started indicating correctly we were above never exceed speed in "rough" (not turbulent or even choppy but not smooth) air. It was very scary aand I was very angry at the time but getting through it was a great learning experience , I am in Florida so we tend to assume that freezing conditions will not exist at low altitudes. Also as I was the pilot it really was my fault I should have turned the pitot heat on as soon as we entered IMC, which is something that I always do now (not sure if I should always do that or only in situations where it is possible for icing to occur but I can't think of a reason to not use pitot heat, better safe than sorry I assume.
In any case this was one of the best lesson I have had , it led me to multiple conclusions most inportantly that I am a crew member and always equally resposible for safety of fkight regardless of the rank or experience level of the other person. In certain situations having less experience seems to make people more safety concious and less complacent.
Douglas
Old School KSUX
jrh
Well-Known Member
I don't know how me or my teaching style is different, but I've literally *never* had a person lock up on the controls. At least not to the level of locking up for more than a second or so firmly that I couldn't easily overpower them.
I'm very careful about always staying calm, never raising my voice, not overloading the trainee with too many tasks early on in training, etc. Basically I try to make the atmosphere in the cockpit as relaxing and comfortable as possible. Maybe that has something to do with it. I don't know.
