Instructor taking control

[DanWEC]

I've always been of the mind that control should only be taken if absolutely necessary.
What's necessary? Safety of flight is obvious and judging that just comes from experience.

The other time is if you can the the student isn't getting the exercise right well after the demo. Sometimes you can talk about it, let them try again, and again, but sometimes something just sticks in the wrong way and you simply have to do another demo instead of pointlessly repeating it ad nasuem, and unintentially building those bad habits by repetition.

Also, sometimes, demonstrating how proficiency and experience results in good control, can give them a tangible standard to aspire to. If a student as all over the place on gusty x-winds. They'll get better with practice, But once in a while, maybe show that it's possible to really nail it. (Hopefully!! Lol)

Now here's one right out of the FIG, which I often found other guys didn't care about- Do you take control while briefing or debriefing an exercise?

[JasonE]

Fairly early in my training my instructor took control during a landing, which ended up with both of us pulling back on the yoke and just about dragging the tiedown on the runway. He was expecting an earlier flare I guess, and I didn't expect him to grab the controls. I'm sure it was a learning experience for both of us. I put into the power, went around and demonstrated a good touch down. I wasn't going to end the lesson on that note!

[flyboy14914]

In response to the original question about taking control any time a student makes a mistake... the Flight Instructor Guide recommends taking control when a student makes a MAJOR error. This rationale is consistent with the principle of PRIMACY, so as to avoid the student developing negative/incorrect muscle memory.

In the specific example of a student getting the recovery sequence for the spiral dive mixed up, that does constitute a major error, and the instructor should take control.

So that's exactly the other side of the argument that I mentioned in my original post. I have heard that argument before, but the problem is that students do make a lot of major errors and taking control flies in the face of Effect and neither teaches the student how to critique their own performance nor how to recover from their own mistakes.

I understand your view on this, and yes, the "EFFECT" is reduced when a student has control taken away from them. But EFFECT means satisfaction in doing something correctly or doing it well - and flying a manoeuvre with major errors is not something we should want them to feel positive about. Again, if you correct the major error the first time it occurs and then let the student continue to practice, they WILL fix the error and then they WILL get a sense of accomplishment for doing the manoeuvre correctly.

As for a student being able to critique their own performance, they only learn to critique their own performance when they have a good sense of how it should be flown. Ability to self-assess only comes with experience as they progress through their training. You will have plenty of opportunity for the student to self critique, and a good instructor will insist on their students self-assessing their own performance as their experience and skill develops