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| Title: | Welcome To The Radio Control Conference |
| Notice: | dir's in 11, who's who in 4, sales in 6, auctions 19 |
| Moderator: | VMSSG::FRIEDRICHS |
|
| Created: | Tue Jan 13 1987 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1706 |
| Total number of notes: | 27193 |
103.0. "the art and discipline of instructing" by MAUDIB::CASEYA (THE DESERT RAT RC-AV8R) Thu Oct 15 1987 16:38
> .....I think that instructors and students should
> exchange phone numbers, make appointments to meet, and have goals
> for every session. Anything else is just wasting time; I sit
> around for up to two hours waiting for an instructor; as I said
> before, they do a lot of flying of their own planes, and drinking
> coffee. I don't begrudge them this, but I think that the
> instructor badge (we have badges) implies a certain committment.
* THESE STATEMENTS "COULD NOT POSSIBLY" BE MORE APROPOS! I've never become an
"official" instructor with any club for the same reason I don't belong to bowl-
ing leagues (or the like): I prefer not to have to ration my time. Converse to
yer' comment about waiting 2-hr.'s for an instructor, I've had experiences where
the student had no consideration for the value of MY time and left ME to wait
for them to show up at "their" leisure, if at all. For these reasons, I wait
for a student to seek ME out rather than be on an instructors' roster and have
students "assigned" to me. PLEASE don't misunderstand; I'm definitely NOT trying
to be a prima-donna...honestly, I'm the farthest thing from it! What I'm look-
ing for (and demand) in a student is eagerness to learn and sincere dedication
to the proposition that I will "require" him to work for his goal. I tell a
new student, up-front, that'll I'll give `im ONE screw-up ONLY! The second time
he fails to show up, is unreasonably late or demonstrates in any other fashion
that he's not absolutely committed to a training schedule, I'll drop `im like a
hot-rock! If this sounds a little hard-nosed, I can only say that this approach
worked when used on ME and has been well accepted by my students. I won't waste
my time on a guy who isn't committed enough to dedicate himself to the learning
process and be respectful of my time in the bargain.
> What kind of a program and arrangements do you have with your
> students?
* My training schedule is concentrated, stringent and, frankly, requires hard
work from the student. You see, instructing, at least for me, ain't all that
much fun. I don't even bring my own plane to the field when I'm instructing; I
want to concentrate every moment toward the student's progress. Up-front, I tell
the student to clear his weekends for a minimum of 4-hours instruction every Sa-
turday and Sunday for 6-weeks and expect a minimum of 4-flights daily. We pre-
arrange the times, which can be variable to fit his (or my) schedule, for each
lesson and I require a confirmation the day before. Cut and dried, no surprises.
I should qualify the following by saying that I encourage the student to build a
full-house, 4-channel airplane, taildragger if possible. This saves the begin-
ner a lot of "re-learning" (or un-learning) later on. I "will" take on a 3-
channel bird but much prefer instructing full-house. Plastic ready-to-fly'y
a-la Cox, are Verbotten...out of the question. I can only teach a guy how to
fly, I'm not qualified in "flitting!"
I've preferred buddy-boxes since they became available but am comfortable work-
ing in the time-honored "pass the box" scheme as well, no requisites are placed
in this area. After test-flying the trainer, trimming it to be gentle but safe,
and becoming familiar with any eccentricities, I start giving the student short
"tastes of it, first in straight and level, then in turns, trying to give him
about 5-minutes on the sticks the first flight. This gives me a way to measure
just how much the student knows (or doesn't know) about the principles of flight
and provides me a "yardstick" for how much ground-schooling will be required.
Combined with ground lectures prior to each flight, detailing what we'll be do-
ing and what I'll be looking for, I concentrate as much of the "basics" of
flight into each sortee as the student can absorb without burning out or getting
frustrated. I critique each flight, being careful to compliment the student on
things he did right, and encourage him to "think" complete flights through in
his head, questioning "anything" he doesn't understand. After each session, I
tell him what we'll do next time and send him home to "dry-fly" today's and the
next lessons by turning on the plane and "flying" the lessons in his head.
As quickly as he can handle it, I have the student doing race-track patterns,
first with left turns, then right, challenging him to put the airplane where HE
wants it. When I'm satisfied with his progress, we start figure-8's, again,
with the emphasis on speed, altitude, angle of bank control and "placement."
What you should be reading here is that I'm encouraging the student to "take
command" immediately and never let the airplane "fly him."
Every weekend, especially if he looks like he needs a little ego bolstering,
I'll throw in some simple maneuver as a confidence builder. 1-loop, 1-roll
an Immelman, etc...these are reasonably safe and are "wonderful" for build-
ing the student's sense of accomplishment.
All along, the student has been taxying out for takeoff and back after landings
in addition to taxi-drills of increasing duration as he progressed. One day,
without warning (usually about the 7th-8th session), I'll have the student taxi
out, as usual, then tell him he's about to make his first takeoff. By now he's
done fast-taxi's and knows how to keep it straight on the ground. Before he has
time to get shook, I talk him through the takeoff and tell him to go, standing
by calling controls, if necessary. From this point on, I never take the plane
off again.
Subsequent flights include takeoff and review of "everything" learned to this
point with a new wrinkle: I have the student start shooting landings about 75'
above the runway, coaching him on lining up, throttle/elevator control, etc.
After he's demonstrated consistency with his alignment, imaginary touchdown,
etc, I have him start bringing the approaches a little lower each time, working
to get him used to flying near the ground, break his ground-shyness. These mock
approaches evolve into actual landing approaches, all except the actual touch-
down. Coaching him on altitude/attitude control, angle/rate of descent, throt-
tle/elevator control, I have the student shoot "missed approaches," "overshoots"
(whatever you prefer to call them), powering up and going around when the plane
reaches 6' or so altitude above the runway.
After the sudent has done this satisfactorily for 3-4 flights, he's about as
ready as he'll ever be for a landing. I tell him to takeoff and start shooting
approaches, that when one looks just right to me, I'll reach over and cut his
throttle. From there he is to concentrate on alignment and hold it off `til it
touches. And that's exactly what happens, when an approach looks just right, I
cut the throttle and talk him down...this has worked 9-times out of 10 without
even a go-around. The worst a student of mine has ever done with this is to
scuff the nose or scrape a wingtip. But, you know what, He doesn't care a bit;
he's so thrilled when I point out that he "just soloed," a little scratched
paint, even a broken prop couldn't mar the elation he feels. Depending on the
student's aptitude, this stage is usually reached in an average of 4-6 weeks,
30-50 training flights.
From this point, I again start bringing my plane to the field and "flying with
my student," demonstrating advanced techniques and introducing him to more aero-
batics. I start introducing him to unusual-attitude recovery techniques and try
to teach him all the "what if's" I know. Shortly after this, the fledgling is
completely "out of the nest" and is out on his own, "really' learning to fly.
And, that's how I do it, John, not unlike the methods used on me when I learned
to fly both the full-scale and the model birds. No brag, just fact...I've never
lost a student. The closest I came to this was, believe it or not, my full-
scale instructor who, inconceivably, had just about as close to zero-aptitude as
anyone I've ever seen. He had no paitience to be a beginner so (fortunately for
me) he bailed out on me and went out on his own, only to break LOTS of hardware,
get discouraged and, eventually, quit the hobby. A real testament to getting
good instruction and learning the basics, I'd say...you'd think he'd have known
better, wouldn't you?
> So when can I fly to Phoenix for a lesson or two? John
* Anytime you've got 6-free weekends to commit, amigo. I think I caould guaran-
tee that, unless you have no aptitude at all (which I highly doubt), I could
have you soloed and on yer' own in that time or less. I wish it could be so; I
just really chafe at the bit wishing I could be of some real help to you and the
other noters who are having a rough go of getting "off the ground" in our sport!
Adios my friend, Al
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 103.6 | See June Model Aviation. | RIPPER::CHADD | Go Fast; Turn Left | Sat May 30 1987 20:43 | 7 |
| John Preston in the June Model Aviation gives details of the Australian
Instructors Manual. So far some 20 copies have been sent to the US. Please
send the money in a Aus$ bank draft payable to "RCAS" not US$ cheque.
thanks
John.
|
| 103.1 | YA GOTTA' START WITH THE ABC's... | MAUDIB::CASEYA | THE DESERT RAT RC-AV8R | Thu Oct 15 1987 19:48 | 44 |
| John,
My group, the 1/8 Air Force doesn't have a training program, per
se. Since we're a small group of special interest (scale) en-
thusiasts, everyone has already progressed beyond the basic flight
instruction phase. WE "do," however, offer advanced training for
those who want to develop the skills/attitudes for flying competi-
tively. About 5 of us (including yer's truly) have volunteered
to provide assistance to those who wish to polish their skills to
competition caliber. Same ground rules as I described before apply:
commit to the instruction program or forget it.
The things you describe as having found "a waste of time" are only
useful if they're relevant. Obviously, the instructor hogging the
airplane to show you what it ("he") can do benefits no one except
the instructor. This style of "instruction" displays an ego problem
on the part of the "instructor?" and the guy has no business teaching
if he's no more committed to his student's progress than that.
The "dry-flying" may not be helping due to one or two missing bits
of information regarding the basics of flight. Obviously, mechanically
twiddling the sticks would be of little benefit if the mechanics
of flight aren't fully understood. Correct me if I'm reading you
wrong, but it almost sounds, from yer' many self-effacing comments
on the subject of learning to fly, that yer' trying to learn almost
by "trial-and-error." "Hmmmm, let's see what happens if I do this...
OOOOPS! let's not do `that' anymore!" Action-reaction based learning
just isn't much account when it comes to flying...yer' learning
time will be (is) protracted horribly. You simply must have a firm
foundation around why airplanes behave the way they do so you KNOW
what to expect from control inputs, reducing the learning process
to dynamically practicing and polishing knowledge you ALREADY posess.
I'd sure love the opportunity to tutor you for a spell. We'd start
from square-1 and try to get you to where yer' mechanical skills
match prepossessed understanding of the basics. There's that word
again, "basics"....I just can't stress it strongly enough, everything
stems from the basics. Learn and practice them and the task is
much more easily mastered. Ignore or shortcut them and yer' just
beggin' for grief. Understand, I'm not preaching PHD level aerody-
namics here, just a thorough understanding of, and a solid footing
of, "the basics."
End of sermon. Adios mi amigo, Al
|
| 103.2 | And more about instructors | LEDS::LEWIS | | Mon Oct 26 1987 13:29 | 39 |
|
Thanks for the kind words Charlie. I'd like to add a couple more
comments about R/C instructors. First of all, a good instructor
has to be `with' the plane at all times with beginners. Flying
the plane in your head works well - as the student comes out of
a turn you think about what control movement is needed to straighten
the plane. If you see a miscorrection you are immediately ready
to tell him `left stick' or `right stick' and let him make the
correction. That's the only way he's going to learn, by flying
the plane himself and getting it out of trouble with verbal
coaching from the instructor. Keep him a few mistakes high, so
if he does completely lose it you can grab the stick. I like to
keep my left hand on the transmitter so I never have to lose eye
contact with the plane when reaching for the stick with my right
hand. A buddy box would make it easier, but then the student
doesn't see what you did to correct it. A plane can be saved while
the student's thumb is still on the stick! I find that instructing
requires much more concentration than flying myself. It also
requires a lot of patience, cool-headedness, and good communication
skills. If you find a good instructor, try to stick with him
and get together as often as possible (I know, easier said than
done!). But remember first and foremost that the instructor isn't
getting paid - he's doing it because 1) he enjoys it, 2) he's paying
back for the times he got help, or 3) he's doing it as a favor to you.
Whatever the reason, you should always show appreciation when you
get help from an instructor and also some amount of understanding
when he says "I'd like to do some flying of my own today".
Personally I find great satisfaction from instructing. When asked,
I very seldom turn people down unless there are just too many
students and they wouldn't get a fair shake. And there are fringe
benefits too - now I have a group of friends to fly with. We can
take an occasional afternoon off to fly together, have our own
little fun-flies, or whatever. And my students got together and
gave me an OS 45FSR in appreciation for my help. Needless to say
that was a pleasant surprise! But just the satisfaction is enough
for me.
Bill
|
| 103.3 | characteristics of a good instructor | RIPPER::CHADD | Go Fast; Turn Left | Mon Oct 26 1987 18:54 | 18 |
| A good instructor is a rare breed. They need a lot of patience, understanding,
and the skill to instill confidence and calm into the student.
I once thought I could instruct but gave up instructing new students several
years ago because I do not possess those vital physiological skills. I never
felt confident, and if the instructor is not confident how can the student be
confident.
In Oz we an instructor training program. John Preston wrote on the scheme in
Model Aviation early this year (January I think). It has proven successful and
given us a large pool of competent instructors. The best instructors almost
without exception have not been the best pilots, they have been those people
that inherently instill confidence and calm.
A good instructor will save you time money and a considerable amount of
frustration.
John.
|
| 103.5 | 1-2 stick pros and cons | LEDS::LEWIS | | Wed Jul 19 1989 14:31 | 40 |
|
>>Bill,
>>
>>I watch yer' first go at teaching the two-stick method with keen interest as
>>this is how I instruct...no mixing/coupling crutches and my students have become
>>accomplished pilots with no bad habits to UN-learn. Average time to solo has
>>been ~3-4 air-hours. Sounds like Ajai is a pretty good student and is taking to
>>it like the proverbial duck-to-water.
Al,
I have mixed feelings about it... on one hand the student might be
soloing quicker training just one thumb at a time. On the other hand
the student emerges with more skill. Ajai is definitely a good student
but is struggling a bit with worrying about all 4 channels, i.e.
leaving throttle alone while steering with rudder. But I don't know
how much additional time this will add to his time-to-solo. Probably
not too much - I'd venture a wild guess at 25% longer, and he will
emerge with more skills than any of my other students did, including
2-stick control, and some pattern skills.
A few years ago we had too many students and only one instructor (who
also had his own plane) at lunchtime. So I tried to minimize the
time-to-solo, teaching minimum skills (right stick only) and letting
the student learn left stick more or less on his own. If a student
didn't have coupling on his transmitter we would put rudder/wheel on
the right stick, aileron on the left. This way he could teach the
left hand in flight while having the right hand ready to take over
if needed. I still think this may be the best approach if instructors
are scarce. It does force you to "unlearn" a few things with the right
hand but gets you independent from the instructor sooner.
As with most things there is no clear right and wrong. I'm
convinced that Ajai will benefit from learning two-stick control
off the bat. His long-term learning curve will probably be quite
a bit shorter than it would be under the other approach, and I would
definitely recommend using this method if instructor availability is
good.
Bill
|
| 103.7 | instruction ain't easy either | PNO::CASEYA | THE DESERT RAT (I-RC-AV8) | Tue Jan 02 1990 14:11 | 25 |
| Steve,
Yeah, _that's_ the helluvit! You want to help others and share yer'
experince with them but you feel like a dawg when/if they crash. I've
always took that part of it far too seriously to be a good instructor
and have, therefore, not instructed anymore than absolutely necessary.
Unless someone seeks me out specifically and insists, I normally won't
volunteer to instruct...and, _then_ it's only with specific
stipulations, e.g. I'll do my absolute best but assume no
responsibility for any crashes or damage that may occur; student must
agree to fly regularly (at least weekly) and show up when he's supposed
to (nothing is more irritating than to arrive at the field and have the
student be late or not show at all); if a crash occurs, student will do
his utmost to affect repairs or get a new plane going ASAP so there'll
be as little interruption in training as possible. All this is aimed
at one thing: FLY, FLY, FLY! Repetition is the ONLY way to learn this
game and sporadic instruction sessions seldom produce positive results;
the student forgets/loses everything he learns in the layoffs between
sessions.
|
| | 00 Adios, Al
|_|_| ( >o
| Z__(O_\_ (The Desert Rat)
|
| 103.4 | not as easy as it looks | LEDS::LEWIS | | Wed Jan 03 1990 12:50 | 17 |
|
I'm a little behind on notes, but the discussion on "crashes while
instructing" did me a lot of good. I've shied away from instructing
since Ajai's famous T60 crash, it was a tough one to get over. It
really is a strain to maintain concentration on a plane that you are
not flying, so that you can react fast enough to recover from a mistake.
It's more relaxing when your student has achieved enough skills that
allow you to observe the flight and make little verbal corrections
instead of being on pins and needles with every turn. But you always
have the fear that you will overestimate the student's ability and
not be paying enough attention when something bad happens.
It's never pleasing to hear of a student's crash, but the fact that
it can happen to any instructor, including the Desert Rat and Anker,
makes me feel a little better.
Bill
|