Get your hand off the throttle!!

[Hacker15e]

CFIs need to use "truth in advertising" when they teach things like this to students.

Student pilots MUST know the difference between technique and procedure. Because students are too new and not as familiar with all of the finer points of the CFR, then it is the RESPONSIBLITY of the CFI to tell them what is technique and what is procedure.

The responses seen in this thread alone should be enough evidence to show that people are taught/teaching technique and the students aren't aware of the difference.

If a CFI has a hard-on about making PPL students keep their hand on the throttle the whole flight, that's fine...so long as they tell their student that it is their TECHNIQUE and that's how they expect the student to fly if they are going to continue training with that CFI.

 

[v1valarob]

Help me understand why it matters, in your opinion, in a single engine airplane where directional control presents no issue whatsoever if your engine fails.



In the beginning, sure but as students fly they'll ultimately develop their own technique.

Again, help me understand why after rotation if one's hand was removed from the throttle why it could present an issue. After rotation, if an engine should fail, keeping your hand on the throttle does little other than keep it in close proximity to the mixture (if any mixture anomaly cause a power loss) and/or ensure the throttle's position.

Educate me, my friend.

A perfect example is how the friction locks on all of our 70s C172s where pretty crap. We rotated one time and about 500' AGL I noticed the power was reducing, I look down and the throttle had slowly started to come out. If the students hand had been on the throttle, this wouldn't have happened.

 

[kellwolf]

Again, help me understand why after rotation if one's hand was removed from the throttle why it could present an issue. After rotation, if an engine should fail, keeping your hand on the throttle does little other than keep it in close proximity to the mixture (if any mixture anomaly cause a power loss) and/or ensure the throttle's position.

Educate me, my friend.

I guess I just got in the habit b/c a couple of the 172s I flew in Orlando had crappy throttle frictions. You'll keep your hand on the throttle on the climb out once that thing rattles back to near idle a couple of times in the climb.....

 

[Roger, Roger]

Here's my take on it:
-On t/o, in climb, maneuvering, and approach, hand on throttle unless you're trimming or something. Even in a single, there are reasons you might want to be ready to reject a takeoff.

-In cruise, I don't care what the student does about it. Well, as long as they're not continuously tweaking the throttle. Set it, lock it (our locks happen to work well), lean it, leave it alone.

But I don't really harp on this because it seems that it's what people end up doing after a few dozen hours anyway.

 

[meritflyer]

I guess I just got in the habit b/c a couple of the 172s I flew in Orlando had crappy throttle frictions. You'll keep your hand on the throttle on the climb out once that thing rattles back to near idle a couple of times in the climb.....

I've flown probably over 100 GA aircraft and have made it part of my flow to check the friction lock prior to take off.

Personally, I've never encountered the throttle moving aft in flight.

Beyond the mentioned possible reason(s), I see no advantage to keeping one's hand on the throttle in a SE plane.

 

[taseal]

It's easier to have them keep it on all the time in the beginning, then to try and explain the times it's needed and not needed. My biggest pet peeve was when students would rotate and take their hand off of the throttle.

its also easier just not to teach them. look at that!

 

[JoelT]

I haven't instructed in ten years but, here was my take... I taught all of my primary students to keep their hand on the throttle for the whole flight. Not because of it vibrating out or anything. It was because I wanted the student to learn how to fly the airplane with ONE hand in all phases of flight. I also noticed that power changes we made more smoothly if his/her hand was always on the throttle. I always told them why I was insisting on the technique.

If we were on a x-country, they could do what ever they wanted. Post-private students could also do what ever they wanted.

FYI, I can't believe I remember this stuff.

 

[Hacker15e]

A perfect example is how the friction locks on all of our 70s C172s where pretty crap. We rotated one time and about 500' AGL I noticed the power was reducing, I look down and the throttle had slowly started to come out. If the students hand had been on the throttle, this wouldn't have happened.

Sounds like a really serious problem, there.

 

[CoffeeIcePapers]

Not because of it vibrating out or anything. It was because I wanted the student to learn how to fly the airplane with ONE hand in all phases of flight.

In case they get an emergency amputation in flight, right?

 

[subpilot]

A perfect example is how the friction locks on all of our 70s C172s where pretty crap. We rotated one time and about 500' AGL I noticed the power was reducing, I look down and the throttle had slowly started to come out. If the students hand had been on the throttle, this wouldn't have happened.

Good thing nobody is recommending taking there hands off the throttle during takeoff and initial climb.

The correct answers have been stated in this thread and either you agree or disagree. I must ask though, for all those who insist that the hand be on the throttle the whole flight: Do you have your students making constant small adjustments for speed or altitude corrections or are they just using the throttle as a place holder?

If they are making small corrections, they are wrong. You set power and leave it alone. Correct altitude deviations with pitch.
If they are using it as a place holder, I challenge them to keep there hands on the throttle and be capable of keeping the RPM constant. I guarantee that RPM fluctuations are happening which in turn is affecting your trim.

 

[Goonie]

Good thing nobody is recommending taking there hands off the throttle during takeoff and initial climb.

The correct answers have been stated in this thread and either you agree or disagree. I must ask though, for all those who insist that the hand be on the throttle the whole flight: Do you have your students making constant small adjustments for speed or altitude corrections or are they just using the throttle as a place holder?

If they are making small corrections, they are wrong. You set power and leave it alone. Correct altitude deviations with pitch.
If they are using it as a place holder, I challenge them to keep there hands on the throttle and be capable of keeping the RPM constant. I guarantee that RPM fluctuations are happening which in turn is affecting your trim.

:yeahthat:

But its only while they are student pilots, then we'll teach them to take their hand off the throttle.

 

[kellwolf]

Jesus. It's technique. Which means you can or cannot. It's a personal choice. No one is "right" and no one is "wrong." It's how someone flies the airplane. It's like saying buttoning your shirt up instead of down is wrong.

 

[KLB]

Whats the worst that can happen in cruise in a single engine aircraft if the throttle does back out? It really isn't a big deal anyway. You just push it back in.

You have worst things to deal with if your student doesn't recognize in a reasonable amount of time that airspeed is deteriorating and altitude is being lost because the throttle has back out.:buck:

Maybe they should guard the mixture instead. I may sweat a bit if that one backs out!

 

[Goonie]

Jesus. It's technique. Which means you can or cannot. It's a personal choice. No one is "right" and no one is "wrong." It's how someone flies the airplane. It's like saying buttoning your shirt up instead of down is wrong.

Who buttons up?!

 

[kellwolf]

Who buttons up?!

How I survived 3 months of you AND John at the same time, I'll never know. It's a wonder one of the three of us isn't dead.



With that.....BREAK YO SELF!

 

[phoenix 23684]

My two cents:

Low: Hand on the throttle, no exceptions.

High: Whatever they like. Let's be real what do you expect the airplane will do in a stall, steep turn, unusual attitude? The reaction time from seeing to doing is practically the same with a hand on the throttle or not.

I did a fair amount of aerobatic flying on various aircrafts and not even in a Pitts S2B things happened in an instant, and for those who know, this airplane can move quicker than the typical trainer.
Now here's where this paranoia comes about. Ignorance, most CFIs have experienced one flight of spins, while getting certificated, that's all, I think is terrible. I knew this one guy that was getting his initial with me and was terrified of going up and spinning a C-172, and was pale when he got down. How nervous do you think this guy probably is when a primary stalls an airplane?
I remember when I was learning one of my instructors would quickly grab the controls during a stall at the slight drop of a wing. Made me nervous and very focused during stalls. Now I'll take anyone flying non-pilot included and when we are high I'll let them stall the crap out of the airplane, coordinated or not, of course utility category and within CGs, and make them see that it is not to be treated as this foreign dangerous the wings fall off event, rather than another phase of flight. Of course all things are addressed, but in the end you don't have paranoid people afraid of a bump.
My career CFI was happy as hell when he took me up to do my spins, I went after that guy, because we put the C-172 in a fully developed spin of 4 revolutions, and took pictures the whole way down and I was able to pass along some of the tricks that I picked up along the way. Now I finally confirmed the tale that if you accidentally spin a Cessna and don't know what to do, let go. It works. In the PITTS it takes 90-180 degrees of rotation and opposite rudder to break a spin. In the C-172 as soon as I stopped the cross control inputs the thing stopped, i.e. let go of the controls. if I can find the video I'll post.

I now fly a Saab 340B and have captains that want hands on the controls in the terminal area(7,000 ft and 30 miles), cause they still think a 29,000 lbs aircraft will snap roll is flown through some wake. Our book only calls for hands on the controls below 1500 feet. I remember once we hit the wake of a 737 and maybe rolled 45 degrees and that's pushing it, I calmly enjoyed the ride while fixing it, he told people on the ground we were def past 90 degrees of roll, but amazingly enough bank angle never came up on EGWEPS.
My point is for those CFIs that are paranoid and constantly yell hand on the throttle, go do upset training, get comfortable and don't place undue stress on such things. Is it a good measure for a primary, yes, necessary no.

 

[mtsu_av8er]

The only time a student should be allowed to remove his/her hands from the throttle, is to use the hand mic.

 

[ComplexHiAv8r]

How I survived 3 months of you AND John at the same time, I'll never know.

Liquor before beer or beer before liquor??

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

To students,

If your instructor tells you to leave your hand on the throttle the whole flight find a new instructor. :banghead:

To Instructors,

Remember the law of primacy.

tanks

:yeahthat:

A perfect example is how the friction locks on all of our 70s C172s where pretty crap. We rotated one time and about 500' AGL I noticed the power was reducing, I look down and the throttle had slowly started to come out. If the students hand had been on the throttle, this wouldn't have happened.

I guess I just got in the habit b/c a couple of the 172s I flew in Orlando had crappy throttle frictions. You'll keep your hand on the throttle on the climb out once that thing rattles back to near idle a couple of times in the climb.....

Sounds like you guys were flying around with inop equipment on those airplanes. I assume you wrote them up, right?

 

[fly6785]

It doesn't really matter what you tell a student or an F/O or a Captain... EVERYONE WILL ALWAYS DO IT DIFFERENT. This thread totally proves my point... You always have people out there who think they can do something better than the next guy... This thread is pointless... anic:
:yup: