First Dual given Today

[Alchemy]

Logged my first dual given today....3 siblings in a C172 (14 yo girl, 17 yo girl, and 18 yo guy). I let the 18 yo. fly the first leg, taught him how to taxi and let him do most of the takeoff, climbout, and cruise to a nearby uncontrolled field. I did all the radio work except for one call and took the controls at 1500 AGL to fly the traffic pattern. The 17 yo Girl did the Takeoff and cruise back home, and she landed the plane with only a moderate control input from me. The 14 yo wasn't feeling to well, so she was content just being a pax.

My questions:

How do you get the students to hold their altitude and heading consistently. Does this just come with time or is there something I should be saying. Repeatedly telling them to descend to 2500, descend to 2500, descend to 2500, fly 350, fly 350, fly 350 doesn't seem to work too well.

These two were keeping the altitude within 200 feet by the end of the lesson, and heading within 30 degrees. Is this about right for the first flight or should I demand tighter tolerances?

I can't remember how I did this 4 years ago when I was a student.....seems like it just came naturally but I can't recall how well I held altitude and headings on my first flight.

The downside is they didn't seem to interested in buying any books or study materials that they'll need to obtain their license....wouldn't even buy a logbook. I guess they just went up for fun, but how pushy should I be to sell the books on an intro flight?

 

[bluelake]

[ QUOTE ]
Repeatedly telling them to descend to 2500, descend to 2500, descend to 2500, fly 350, fly 350, fly 350 doesn't seem to work too well.

[/ QUOTE ]

these requests mean NOTHING on a first lesson. You are asking things in an unknown language. Even when I do a first lesson with someone who is supposedly aviation-aware, through MSFS or some other way, usually on the first flight its more like "lets try to fly with the nose level on the horizon" and "lets point toward that mountain". That way they learn IMMEDIATELY that I am extrmely interested in them flying by looking out the window.

 

[Grabo172]

That's a good point above... You can't expect someone on their first lesson to hold an altitude or heading with reguards to the instruments...

Got to the practice area and have them head toward a land reference and put the nose on the horizon. Help them set the trim (cruise climb speeed is a good speed to trim to), and have them add full power to climb (at the trimmed speed) and pull the throttle out to descend (at the trimmed speed). YOU watch the altitude and have them adjust power back to cruise power when necessary.

Have them turn to ground references the will get them in the pattern and on final, and you land.

As for the selling... if they just wanted some fun for a day and aren't plannig on comming back, then that's all you can do, but hopefully the ride has sparked an interest and they will come back, then you can sell them a log book and some study guides...

Hope ths helps a bit

 

[E_Dawg]

I actually give them a logbook (our school has them for $1.25), inside I paper-clip my card and a polaroid of them by the plane. Wait nevermind I've never done an intro flight