Learning Efficiency

[country kid]

hey all:

 

was pondering the other day, flying lessons are divided into hour blocks (pay by the hour).... how to you learn the most in this hour? obviously the FI designates what you will focus on and learn but how can you as a student absorb all the information thrown at you in this hour? as a student are there any hints or tips? take notes, ect? its different for every one but what works for you?

 

 

[pudestcon]

hey all:was pondering the other day, flying lessons are divided into hour blocks (pay by the hour).... how to you learn the most in this hour? obviously the FI designates what you will focus on and learn but how can you as a student absorb all the information thrown at you in this hour? as a student are there any hints or tips? take notes, ect? its different for every one but what works for you?

As an old codger I find it difficult to retain stuff - unlike someone (I assume) like you CK who spends most of the year learning and studying stuff in a structured way, so you are already tuned into learning. So I find turning up to a lesson ready to learn is a good start - you know, well rested and clear headed so you can concentrate for the full hour. In addition I write stuff down if needed although most of that stuff you already have in text books. One of the best strategies for me was to relive the lesson in my mind - over and over again. I got to the stage where I could do an hours flight all in my head in 'real' time. You have to visualise every little detail like the thermal sensations you had during the flight and the correct sequence for leveling out after a climb. Try visualising the G force on your body as you recover from a stall, and the correct 'balance' of the aircraft in a medium turn. Anyway, you get my drift.

Cheers,

 

Pud

 

 

[Neil_S]

Hi CK,

 

I agree with Pud - the best way to approach the lesson is to turn up in the best condition possible - having checked the IMSAFE list.

 

If you have not come across this it is :-

 

I - Illness -> do not attempt to fly if you have even a minor illness, a fuzzy head or aching stomach will not allow proper concentration

 

M - Medication -> some of these will affect your judgement, coordination, memory etc

 

S - Stress -> difficulties at work/home can distract you. Sometimes hard to leave them on the ground

 

A - Alcohol -> fairly obvious one. Hungover is not good

 

F- Fatigue -> make sure you have had a good night's sleep

 

E - Eating -> don't skip breakfast. You need the energy and low blood sugar is not good.

 

I would also check with the instructor what you will be doing at the next lesson, so you can prepare by reading up the theory beforehand. I always found this useful as trying to absorb an hour's worth of new stuff is difficult. If you have read up on it beforehand you are familiar with at least some of it.

 

You also mention taking notes - another good idea. You inevitably forget some things, so writing them down and going over it afterwards also helps cement it in the brain, as well as giving you material to revise before any subsequent test. I still go over my notes from time to time when I have a brain freeze and can't remember, for example, exactly what Adiabatic Lapse Rate was .....

 

Anyway, hope this helps....good luck with your training, and keep posting here on your progress

 

Cheers

 

Neil

 

 

[Bandit12]

Most schools will follow a set program for training, so it doesn't hurt to read up on the upcoming lesson. For example, your first (after a TIF) should be Effects of Controls, and that is a great time to just cover the basics of what the controls are, what the primary and secondary effects are etc. After your lesson, go and practise. Close your eyes and visualise yourself doing what you did in the aircraft. Some may disagree, but I found that using a flight simulator was very helpful. After every lesson, I would go and do exactly the same on the simulator (FS95 from memory). While maybe not completely realistic, it can make a big difference, and certainly did for me. And these days, if you get FSX and one of the Australian scenery add on programs, you might even be able to fly a similar aircraft from your home airport.

 

Like everything though, the more preparation you do, the better it will work.

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Hi CK..

 

There's lots of things you can learn without paying for engine time .... and the more you do, the more productive will be your dual flying.

 

• You can sit in the cockpit and just plain get familiar with everthing.
   
   
  
• You could learn the checklists and mnemonics (it that how its spelt?) like BUMPFISH, CPAT, PAPT & APPT. (ask at the flying school what they use and learn theirs).
   
   
  
• Learn the radio calls .... again your flying school will have a list of them, and if not, just pm me and I'll see what I have ....
   
   
  
• You can sit at home with your eyes closed and visualise your last flight
   
   
  
• You could imagine yourself flying a circuit and making the radio calls ... best to do this by speaking them out loud, even if reading them off a list ....
   
   
  
• you could read/revise your BAK text book .....
   
   
  

 

 

The idea is this. The Human brain has a limited learning capacity and copes with this by progressively "automating" tasks that are familiar and often repeated. These tasks are then relegated to the back of the mind leaving the concious mind some space to learn new things. So the more of the unfamiliar things you can learn out of the cockpit, the more value you will get learning that which can only be learnt with the engine running .....

 

Hope this helps ....

 

Cheers

 

RD

 

 

[Bandit12]

I still drive/ride around and find myself practising radio calls....10 years on!

 

 

[Guernsey]

I still drive/ride around and find myself practising radio calls....10 years on!

Yes so do I......Traffic hillcrest roundabout, Mitsubishi 7584 entering mid roundabout for a right hand circuit number two to the Holden Commodore for a full stop landing on roadway A22, hillcrest. .

 

he's at it again.

 

 

[Neil_S]

I still drive/ride around and find myself practising radio calls....10 years on!

Me too, when alone in the car (don't want people thinking I'm a complete nutter....more than they already do)

 

Cheers

 

Neil

 

 

[country kid]

cheers all, that a huge help... hmmm flight sim ay, that sounds like a pretty good idea :D

 

 

[Tomo]

Enthusiasm goes a long way too!

 

 

[Guest cficare]

if u haven't gone solo...i reckon that if u are doing an 'hour' each lesson...

 

...your being ripped off.

 

students dont need that amount of confusion.................

 

 

[country kid]

if u haven't gone solo...i reckon that if u are doing an 'hour' each lesson......your being ripped off.

 

students dont need that amount of confusion.................

.... elaborate please mate? are you saying an hour is to much or not enough time?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

30-45 minutes should be plenty

 

 

[country kid]

my TFI/ first lesson was one hour, seemed pretty ok, not to much info in one hit, but i can see how it might be an issue

 

 

[Tomo]

Going back in my log, seems most of my first few lessons were about 0.8 long. Then it varied from that to about 1.2... depending on the day I suppose.

 

I really enjoyed my lessons, sometimes I wish I didn't know anything and could go back and try them again!

 

 

[Litespeed]

I will jump in and say from a teachers point of view-

 

We all have a limited ability to concentrate for long periods of time. For a learner pilot the best lesson length is approx 40 mins, any longer and we start to miss details and the nuisances been imparted by the teacher/instructor.

 

If you have a 1 hour lesson and ten minutes is preparation, 40 mins in the air and then 10 mins to evaluate your lesson and review what you have done with the instructor. This sort of break up tends to work well but longer lessons will reduce the improvement per hour you make.

 

Others may see this differently.

 

Phil

 

 

[country kid]

makes sense.... good aspect litespeed... i guess it worked out that way for my first lesson, with that said the instructor had a unique way of testing aptitude.... like giving my a BAK exam to see "where im at" having passed it off text book knowledge i really got thrown in :D but it makes sense a breif and de-breif makes sense.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Dude... hope I don't end up in an old folks home with you guys, the constant muttering of radio calls would be too much.

 

 

[Litespeed]

Dude... hope I don't end up in an old folks home with you guys, the constant muttering of radio calls would be too much.

Yep, in my job we would call for a psych consultation.

 

Bit of a worry with pilots having voices in their head.

 

 

[country kid]

would be a pretty cool place to be, could have wheel chairs with wings and an airstrip painted on the flooor :D

 

 

[Guernsey]

Forty minute lessons are about right providing you can have them fairly frequently. In my case it would sometimes be anything from one week to three weeks between lessons due to weather or availability of aircraft etc and it sometimes took more than half the next lesson to get back to where you were the previous lesson. This was particularly noticeable when doing circuits. I was young at the time and could easily cope with an hour minimum. Sometimes I was able to do two forty minute lessons with a gap of 2-3 hours in between and this made a huge difference.

 

Just my two bobs worth.

 

Alan.

 

 

[country kid]

yer i think thats a valid point, its fine having 40min lessons but if there every 2 weeks you need 20 mins to re-cap what you did last time, how often should you be having lessons? evey weekend? iv being told more than one lesson a day is to much, but one before lunch, break do some book work and one after lunch or something like that?

 

 

[facthunter]

My two bob's worth.

 

An intensive flying session, ( excluding any ferry) 45 minutes. Most times the performance will drop off so why keep going?

 

Pre-flight. Can depend on the amount of pupil's own preparation. but 20 minutes of tuition and explanation and some assessment.( to ensure that understanding of critical areas is achieved). You don't want the pupil to be confused when flying, and there is limited scope to further explain in the air

 

Post flight debrief. Could be quite short normally and could be left to the student to initiate some review areas . How do YOU think you went?. Is there anything you are not sure of? etc

 

It would be logical at this point, to outline what is going to follow on in the next session and what preparation should be done for it. The proper use of a standard reference would facilitate this preparation..

 

In all this it has to be borne in mind the enormous variation from pupil to pupil, so I don't like to see hard and fast rules being laid down. One size ( or style) doesn't fit all. Nev

 

 

[country kid]

makes sense mate, after all i guess if the student has studied there is no need to give a full lesson on what you are about to do. yer, id never considered that the flying aspect of the "lesson" is relly just putting the theory into practice so there should be any explaining up there..