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Teaching Tip
Visual Aid for Teaching VOR
Navigation
By Jean Runner, MCFI
What learning style do your students
have? If yours are like mine, some are visual, some are aural, and some
possess a combination of both. When it comes to learning VOR navigation,
you probably wish they possessed an uncanny sense of insight from the
start. I find teaching the ins and outs of VOR navigation challenging.
Over the years I have developed several approaches to this task, and I
find the following to be a great visual aid.
Sit down with a foam cereal dish—the
ones with little “ripples” around the top rim and are about five
inches across—and a magic marker. Note that the dish has 36 separate
indentations around the edge. You can use this dish right side up or
upside down. I like to use the upside-down method
Use each indentation for 10 degrees
around the compass, and draw a line from the outside edge of the rim to
the inside center. Mark the cardinal headings—“N,” “E,”
“S,” and “W.” Add a string around the edge about every 30
degrees. Stretch the strings out around the dish and you have a perfect
visual of a VOR and its radials.
The visualizing of invisible lines seems
to be very difficult for some, and this dish and string can really bring
things into focus. With the addition of a small model airplane and your
imagination, you have a complete set of tools to teach “inbound and
outbound” navigation and interception of a radial.
Share
your favorite tip for teaching flight with other NAFI members by sending
it to NAFI@eaa.org.
PIREP
Making Memories and Changing History
By Rob Mixon
The movie The
Astronaut Farmer is a movie about a farmer who designs, builds, and
finally launches his own spacecraft, to the obvious dismay of the
Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration,
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Billie Bob Thornton plays the
leading character Charlie Farmer; he off-handedly reminds me of Charlie
Burr who was also a farmer and my first uncertified flight instructor.
And that made
me realize that there’s a bigger lesson that many viewers missed in
that movie.
Burr was the
one who introduced me to flight in a J-3 Cub. As we flew over green farm
fields, he let me fly. When I asked what I should do, he responded
simply, "Just give it what it needs." He was a strawberry
farmer who explained the foundations of instruction in one simple
sentence. Out of that simple statement was born a flight instructor and
airline transport pilot with 20,000 hours of flight time. Charlie Burr
made a memory—and changed history—with that one simple statement.
That’s what teachers do.
We’ve all
had teachers who touched our lives in a positive way and who created in
us positive memories that have become part of our personal history.
William
Kershner's book was the bible for flight instructors when I started
instructing some 40 years ago. I never met, or even saw him, but his
explanations of how an airplane works have been passed along to many
students over the years. Kershner's books and experience in aviation
left a memory of how flying works.
Curtis
Pitts was a modest man. He was a crop-duster, and he took a
correspondence course in engineering that ended in the building of a
little project called a Pitts Special. The little biplane went on to win
world champion aerobatic contests. For many pilots, this one included,
the fast climb, breathtaking roll, and agile performance of the Pitts is
etched in their memory.
Bob Hoover
gave me goose bumps when I first saw him slow roll his Aero Commander
into the "dead" critical engine. As a multiengine flight
instructor, I taught pilots to never, ever turn—much less roll—into
the dead engine. In fact, I was taught to hold up the wing with the
critical "dead" engine above level flight to better maintain
aircraft control. Hoover etched in my memory the lesson that you can fly
your airplane in any situation, and fly it safely, with proper planning
and control. That lesson has also served me in other parts of my life.
The part that
many viewers likely missed in The Astronaut Farmer is that Burr,
Pitts, Hoover, and countless others don't actually realize they’re
making memories and shaping personal histories for others. They are just
trying to be the best they can be and enjoy what they do. This is, in
itself, the formula for success.
When you fly
with your students day after day, or teach in a classroom, you may
seldom, if ever, think about what history or memories are made. You may
not have taught someone to read, or to add, but you have done something
just as awesome. You have been able to build confidence and self worth
in another human being. Through that action, you made a statement, that
the journey that is important not just the destination.
You may not
think that way about your daily routine, but, then, neither did Burr,
Pitts, Hoover, Kershner, and many others who were just doing what they
loved to do and sharing their passion. In their humble roles, they
worked into the lives of others. They made a memory. They changed
history. They were teachers.
Just like you.
Rob
Mixon may be reached on his aviation website, www.betterpilot.com
Share
your thoughts and comments about the flight instruction profession with
other NAFI members by sending it to NAFI@eaa.org.
Flight Review
Instructing Without a Medical
By Cleon Biter, MCFI
In October 2004, I renewed my FAA
second-class medical. My flying activities at the time consisted of
personal flying in my Super Cub, flight instructing in a variety of
aircraft at a nearby flight school, and flying a Learjet that was
instrumented to obtain meteorological measurements inside clouds. Six
days after passing my medical, I had a heart attack, and my whole life
turned upside down.
The heart attack symptoms were so mild
that I paid little attention. Fortunately, my wife insisted that I go to
the hospital, where I was able to get immediate treatment thereby
preventing any heart damage. Following a heart attack, the FAA requires
that a six-month recovery period elapse before consideration can be
given for any medical certification. After the six-month period, certain
tests and evaluations must be performed and submitted to the FAA. The
required tests depend upon the class of medical desired.
With my recently issued flight medical
now invalid, the question was what to do about flying for at least the
next six months? Without a valid medical I could no longer fly my own
airplane or act as a required crewmember on the Learjet. However, I
could still act as a flight instructor under certain conditions.
FAR Part 61.23 (b) discusses operations
not requiring a medical certificate, and states in part that a person is
not required to hold a valid medical certificate when exercising the
privileges of a flight instructor certificate with a sport pilot rating
in a glider or balloon or a glider category rating, or when exercising
the privileges of a flight instructor if the person is not acting as
pilot in command or serving as a required pilot flight crewmember.
In
my case, only the last part was applicable. At the time of my heart
attack, I had only instrument and multiengine students. I could not
continue with the multiengine students because they could not act as PIC
in the aircraft. I could not continue with my instrument students, since
I would become a required crewmember as soon as the student put on a
view-limiting device. Bottom line, I was very limited in what
instruction I could do.
Thus my flight instruction during this
period was restricted to commercial students that already had an
instrument rating, mountain flying checkouts, and rental aircraft
checkouts for pilots already rated in the aircraft. This is a limited
and select group of flight students.
I did some ground school training for
mountain flying and aviation weather knowledge and interpretation, but I
did not find the ground instruction fulfilling unless it was followed by
the appropriate flight instruction. I attempted to stay “current”
during my time without a medical, flying monthly with another instructor
in one of the flight school’s C310s where I would fly “under the
hood” for a few hours.
The lessons I learned from this
experience is that flight instructing without a medical requires
patience and a flight training niche that will draw in appropriate
students. If I had to instruct again without a medical, I would
specialize in mountain flying checkouts and flights into various weather
situations that could be flown safely using aircraft in which the client
was qualified to act as PIC.
Thanks to my capable cardiologist and my
helpful AME, I was able to obtain a special issuance medical certificate
within seven months of my heart attack. I’ve since been able to
instruct a number of interesting and diverse flight students and can
again fly my own plane. And without a doubt, I’m happy my world is
back right side up.
Share
your lessons learned from a particular instructional flight with other
NAFI members by sending it to NAFI@eaa.org.
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