11% OF A LECTURE is all that first year college students typically capture in their notes, according to research.1
Hmmm, it that us the case for college students, what must it be like for the 50 year old aviation student taking a private pilot ground school. Part of the issue stems from the ability to organiza [...]

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admin on March 18th, 2006

Education psychology is in a continual state of flux, and unfortunately, much of it remains in the ivory tower only to be shared amongst a tiny few in the educational community. These leaves the lone CFI to rely on his own personal experinece, and the availability of preplanned curricula. Unfortunately, we often times get left [...]

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admin on March 15th, 2006

Virtually every place I have worked for over the years has engaged in team instruction. It could be a formal phase check with a different instructor. If could be a way of keeping the student on track when their primary CFI was out sick, on a charter, or otherwise unavailable. In other cases, it can [...]

Continue reading about Team Instruction Part 1 (going with the flow)

admin on March 14th, 2006

If I compare aircraft utilization today, to the early 80’s, it is sad, really sad. I think too many flight schools have their rates cranked way up. They are failing to reach a decent level of aircraft utilization, and in order to remain viable, are passing the fixed costs on to their students with high [...]

Continue reading about Aircraft Utilization – running a flight school

admin on March 13th, 2006

The TSA’s Recurrent Security Awareness Training Exemption full text is available at http://www.tsa.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/Exemption_FSSA_re-current.pdf

Everyone mentions the 18 month term, instead of the 12 month rule, but its always good to get an official notice. Of course, this still leaves the actual training up in the air.

TSA guidance outlines a four-part program of recurrent training, which must [...]

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admin on March 13th, 2006

Recurrecny training is difficult for most pilots once they have earned their certificate. This is especially true for the ground school subjects, as for all too many people, they appear boring, and for some pilots lack relevance.

One of the things I’ve done in the past is provided short seminars at nights, or for the truely [...]

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admin on February 9th, 2006

Blair WI airport 5E6 is where I experienced my first flight in a small plane at age 14. Little did I know that years later I would earn my flight instructors certificate.

Its an interesting field, years back, night operations were done via lining up with vehicle security lights, followed by the placement of spherical road [...]

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admin on January 3rd, 2006

I got some cockpit time a couple days ago though. It was truely amazing, but with one caveat. Their is a real tendency to keep ones head in the cockpit instead of looking outside. A second issue is its an easy airplane to get behind in. When we were leaving I made the remark that [...]

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admin on January 1st, 2006

Lets take a look at the laws of learning. While this was written for flight instructors, beginning students may find it of interest as well. If both the instructor, and student are on the same page, greater communication can occur, and the instructor can tailor a lessen more appropriately. For example, if the instructor knows [...]

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admin on December 29th, 2005

I’ve always wondered about such programs. The latest one I heard of was Sport Pilot in a week.

This is encouraging in one way, in that it fosters interest and excitement in aviation. In addition, the short time and the financial commitment doesn’t allow the student to loose interest, or get sidetracked by other external [...]

Continue reading about Accelerated Programs