Class I Instructors rating

[CE-750Driver]

Hey All

Have my Class II, figured I should start working on the Class I......

I am writing up my syllabus for what I would teach a Class IV. Anyone do their Class I ride lately and offer any hints?

Thanks

Gord

[Hedley]

The Biggie:

Learn how to help someone create a (generic) lesson plan for PGI (of anything).

Start with Attitudes and Movements. Range and Endurance is another honey.

It's all about organizing your knowledge, and presenting it in easy-to-digest chunks.


Next up, questioning. Helping a class 4 transition from a droning, output-only device (remember Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Anyone?) to an interactive teacher is really important, even though there is considerable tolerance for Ben Stein on the flight test for a class 4.

What are questions used for? What are good questions and bad questions? How do you handle bad answers?

Learn the difference between PGI and pre-flight briefing. Too many people blur the two. Pre-flight briefing should be 2 min.

Most people find in-flight instruction easier than the ground stuff. Show the student a maneuver - hopefully a good demo - and have the student repeat what you did. Critique only one or two major errors in the air. And for god's sake, break down complex tasks - such as forced approach - into pieces that the student can handle, then put them together.

Learn how to do good post-flight brief. This is often glossed over.

By the time you and the instructor work through all the PGI's and flight lessons you should have covered all this stuff.

Next thing to cover is that a flight lesson isn't just the single exercise. You should do a little review of last lesson, then teach the main exercise, then maybe intro the next exercise if it fits. Be efficient with the student's time - eg flying to and from the practice area - but don't overload them and burn them out, either.

Over time you will learn to be much more efficient with the student's time, and to adapt your teaching techniques to what works for each student. A problem with a class 4 is that they will teach the same lesson to everybody, which is sub-optimal. You teach a lesson differently to a graduate engineer vs a truck driver vs a flower store clerk.

Some of the other class 1's here will add more stuff, I am sure

[Bede]

Here's what I do in the ground part:
1 Intro to Flight Instruction
2 Canadian Aviation Regulations
3 Flight Test Guides
4 Aerodynamics and Performance
5 Human Factors
6 Learning 1
7 Learning 2
8 Learning 3
9 Ground Instruction
10 Flight Instruction
11 Teaching ex 5-9
12 Teaching ex 5-9
13 Teaching Range and Endurance
14 Teaching Slow Flight
15 Teaching Stalls
16 Teaching Spins
17 Teaching Take offs and Landings
18 Teaching Precautionary Approaches
19 Teaching Forced Approaches
20 Teaching Diversions
21 Teaching Navigation
22 Teaching Instrument (Full Panel)
23 Teaching Instrument (Limited Panel)
24 Teaching Instrument (Navaids)
25 Review

Learning is the beginning of the FIG. I have the instructor candidate prep a lesson plan and teach a PGI for, lets say ex 5. Then I debrief them and they use what I've given them to do 6, then we move on to other stuff. Most of the ground stuff is them teaching me and I correcting and playing difficult student.

The hardest thing with teaching instructors is the role playing. Always be clear who you are playing. I always say, "I am now the student", "I am now your instructor".

[patter]

Go talk to an inspector in your region.
Go talk to a Class 1 who respects you and who will offer you guidance.
Asking for help on here is useless. The above syllabus is missing items.
These days, I pick who I choose to mentor. Not everyone is going to get help with an upgrade. The individual has to be an asset to the industry.

[Hedley]

The above syllabus is missing items

Yeah, there's the "secret handshake" that only class 1 instructors know. But you can't expect us to talk about it in public, can you?

Not everyone is going to get help with an upgrade

Of course. What's the point of having a secret society if everyone can join?

[Shiny Side Up]

Only two things that were missed by the above that I can think of off hand. First is the pre-flight briefing, not to be confused with the prep ground briefing that every new class 4 will be expected to know.

Second thing is make sure that during your presentations as the class 1 that you don't fall into the trap of "teach this like I teach this". It can sometimes be very tempting to do when a class 4 is having trouble figuring something out.

[patter]

There's lots missing out of the above proposals.
If you want the 1 go find a Class 1, a successful one. And talk to the inspector.

[Hedley]

Are you saying that you can't get a class 1 instructor rating online here at Avcanada / Flight Training?

All this time, wasted ...

[patter]

Go talk to Hedley! He wants to help you! He knows all of it!

[Hedley]

Finally, "patter" starts to make sense

[Big Pistons Forever]

More "useless help"

1) I think teaching the aerodynamics aspects of the early PPL PGI's exercises, is the hardest thing to teach to new instructors. As an instructor IMO you have to have a comprehensive knowledge of aerodynamics which is guaranteed to be absent in your new CPL. So first the student has to understand all the aerodynamic forces and then he/she has to take relatively complex concepts and turn them into understandable and digestable bites for ab intio students, building on the concepts as you progress. I use H C "skip" Smith's book "The illustrated guide to aerodynamics" for my FI instructing. I also front end load the aerodynamic theory. It is a great way to see whether the flight instructor candidate is serious and has the smarts and the curiosity to be a good instructor.

2) I am a big believer in starting all of the PGI's with a PDM discussion relavent to the exercise. This is pretty basic for the early lessons ( ie why we look before turning), but gets more sophisticated for the later exercises. For example the first half of my ex 22 PGI is on using PDM concepts to avoid having the engine fail in the first place and then if you are stupid enough to let it fail (like 80 % of all engine failures), how to get going again. Another example is the first Instrument lesson. Instead of immediately talking about what instrument to look at I start with scenarios which can lead into inadvertant IMC. Again for the PPL it is better to avoid having a situation where you have to use your instruments, than being really good at flying instruments.

3) GPS is how people navigate in the real world. It is not IMO acceptable to be an intructor and not have a PGI and practical inflight lesson plan for using the GPS.

This advice should examined with the same sceptical eye as you should use with everything else on Avcanada, but IMO so far the only posts that have no value on this thread are the ones written by Patter....

[just curious]

Next up, questioning. Helping a class 4 transition from a droning, output-only device (remember Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Anyone?) to an interactive teacher is really important, even though there is considerable tolerance for Ben Stein on the flight test for a class 4.

Central to developing a low-time commercial pilot into an effective instructor is helping them develop their repetoire of tricks and techniques in presenting exercises on the ground. Tricks with Powerpoint, YouTube, Models, fridge magnets, crash photos, a blackboard/whiteboard... there is no one media that is going to reach all students, nor is any technology foolproof.

Can the kid read stuff without the Ben Stein voice? Can they read? Do they have a sense of organization? If they don't have the technical savvy to design and produce their own podcasts (I don't) can they work a blackboard and a piece of chalk?

I like a candidate who can identify with a teacher of anything they might have had, and figure out what to glean from them.

If they are putting their notes to paper, I would hope they are, are they update-able? I like PDF files lately, but Word is editable almost everywhere, assuming they don't have Adobe Pro.

Are there local accidents that they can draw from in the PDM side of things?

On the "you" side of things, can you video and critique sessions? are you as up to speed on technology as your candidates?

Can you draw on instructional technique experts locally outside the box, like the AirForce, Community College, Toastmasters? Can you offer the candidate your 'best' PGI, and get them to critique and improve on a taped version of it?

Do you have access to 704/705 materials in CRM to link to the PDM stuff?

While there may be Class I instructors near you, learning can occur anywhere. Even if you generate a list of your least favorite instructors in anything, try and quantify their failures in a summary fashion, so that you can codify the things the new instructor can avoid.

You're at the stage where new learning should be fun.Enjoy it!!
JC

[Bede]

Patter,

Please let me know what I'm missing, I'm always looking for better ways to do things. The list is just the titles from daily lessons, not everything I cover. I do cover the preflight briefing, but I'm not going to spend a whole lesson on it, hence why it's not in the list. I believe I discuss it during the Ground instruction portion of my syllabus (and yes I now it's not the same as a PGI).

[Hedley]

Regardless of what some unhelpful and non-contributing dissenters might opine, there is a tremendous amount of instructing experience in this Forum. Quite possibly more than any other single place in Canada.

Used with a large grain of salt as a supplement to "fill in the gaps" and to top up your knowledge - or at least get you asking the right questions - it is probably well worth what you pay for it

[padre12]

Yes... there are a lot of us experienced Class 1's who "lurk" on here. I remember one Class IV candidate I had a couple of years ago, who I flew with only two or three times, and he was floored by how much he learned about instructing and how important the responsibility of a flight instructor really is in just two or three flights.

As one wise and learned Class I told me right before my own Class IV test (almost 15 years ago): "..just remember who is the PIC...."

cheers,
Padre12

[Av_Av]

Remember when you're training someone to teach, that teaching is a rather complicated skill set and should be broken down into bits much like any other complicated exercise. In the end, you might want your candidates to develop their own lesson plans and use them to teach a full, properly structured, and accurate lesson. But in the beginning, you might want to settle for providing sample notes for them to work from, and to start with just the introduction to a lesson, and then just the summary/conclusion, and then just the main body. Once your student is reasonably proficient in the pieces of a lesson, you can start tying them together.

Another piece of advice is to start your candidates off teaching non-aviation topics. The main reason for this is that it allows you to focus your feedback/critique on teaching methods without worrying too much about content. Once they start teaching the air exercises, your critiques will inevitably have to include content/accuracy points as well. The building block approach (i.e. - the law of relationship) dictates that we break this down as much as practical. If your candidates start with aviation topics right off and you focus only on teaching methods (ignoring content), they will be left with the impression that the content was ok, even if it wasn't (this is anti-primacy!).

I think teaching the aerodynamics aspects of the early PPL PGI's exercises, is the hardest thing to teach to new instructors. As an instructor IMO you have to have a comprehensive knowledge of aerodynamics which is guaranteed to be absent in your new CPL.

+1. The theory knowledge required of an instructor is significant. The vast majority of recent CPL graduates won't have anywhere near the knowledge they need.

<Shameless Self Promotion>PM me and I'll send you a copy of the theory textbook I wrote: Applied Aerodynamics for Private and Commercial Pilots. I think you'll find it useful. All of the feedback I've received on it has been positive.</Shameless Self Promotion>

Central to developing a low-time commercial pilot into an effective instructor is helping them develop their repetoire of tricks and techniques in presenting exercises on the ground. Tricks with Powerpoint, YouTube, Models, fridge magnets, crash photos, a blackboard/whiteboard... there is no one media that is going to reach all students, nor is any technology foolproof.

This is all true, but don't let training aids get in the way of proper instructional techniques. Make sure your students are planning the lesson first, and then selecting or developing training aids to support the lesson. The trap here is that it's easy to choose a cool training aid and then build a lesson around it -- focusing on the training aid rather than the learning objectives. Personally, I don't allow my Class IV candidates to use PowerPoint. Not because it's no good, it can be an excellent training aid. But it tends to be over-used, used with too much text (it's a visual aid!), and used when not appropriate just because people assume high-tech is best. There's also the issue of the time required to develop proper PPT presentation. A good rule of thumb would be 2-3 hours of PPT development time for each hour of instruction -- for a first draft, above and beyond the initial lesson planning. By the time you throw in the inevitable edits that an instructor candidate will need to make, this time requirement makes PPT an impractical option for student instructors (but should definitely be pursued by practicing or upgrading instructors).

Can the kid read stuff without the Ben Stein voice? Can they read?

I have to disagree on this one. Yes, we have to avoid the Ben Stein voice when speaking (i.e. - vary the rate, pitch, and volume), but I can't think of any situation where an instructor would be justified in reading passages to students. Frankly, I find it insulting when some jack@$$ (NOTE: not assuming or implying that "just curious" is a jack@$$) assumes that I'm illiterate and starts reading to me from a book or from an overhead/PPT slide that's blocked with text. This is an excellent way to pi$$ off students and encourage them to tune out. If reading passages are applicable to the lesson (they very well may be!), make them into a handout (or textbook page reference, as applicable), give students time to read in class, and then build a discussion around the passage. Or better yet, provide the passage as advance reading (i.e. - homework) and then build a discussion around it in class.

With regard to reading the lesson plan, that's also a no-go. The lesson plan should be developed exclusively in brief point-form -- it's a checklist, not a textbook. The font used should be HUGE. The plan should be readable without difficulty from at least 2 arms lengths, if not more. This way, the plan can be set on a lectern or table, and there's no requirement to physically return to it for reference. A glance from 4 or 5 feet away is all you should need to remain on topic and avoid missing critical points.

As far as the Class I ride is concerned, I think the most common lesson to teach is lesson planning. I had to teach it for my initial and one of my renewals. On my other renewal-by-flight-test I had to teach a lesson that I refer to in my syllabus as "Flight Training Segments", which is basically Groundschool v. PGI v. Pre/Post-Flight Briefing v. In-Flight Instruction. Most other Class I's I've spoken to have had to teach lesson planning at some point. So, it's not a sure thing, but I believe it is a high-probability lesson.

As for air exercises, I probably don't have to tell you that anything goes. IIRC, my initial was done by forced approach, my first renewal-by-flight-test was by precautionary, and my most recent renewal was by spiral dive. I've been told by the folks at TC that they take a look at your flight test record, and if they see a weak trend, they'll make that the tested air exercise. If they don't see a weak trend, they'll pick something at random. So you may want to have a look at your recent flight test results, that may give you a bit of a heads up.

Keep in mind that whatever air exercise you get, you're not just teaching it, but you're teaching a flight instructor candidate how to teach it. This means that your ground (PGI) presentation has to be good enough to set an example for a Class IV candidate, and you air instruction will include role-playing a student and providing feedback on lesson structure and teaching methods as opposed to just critiquing flying methods.

The hardest thing with teaching instructors is the role playing. Always be clear who you are playing. I always say, "I am now the student", "I am now your instructor".

This is true. The role play causes lots of difficulties. One trick I've had some success with is to wear a baseball cap. Put it on backwards when you are playing the student, and put it on forward when you are in instructor mode. This doesn't work so well in the airplane thanks to headsets, but it's golden on the ground. I did have one employer who got mad because "baseball caps are not professional". He couldn't seem to understand that it was a legitimate training aid...

I could go on, but perhaps I've taken up enough of your time reading this . Now it's someone else's turn.

My $0.05 (used to be $0.02, but, you know, inflation ...)

[just curious]

Frankly, I find it insulting when some jack@$$ (NOTE: not assuming or implying that "just curious" is a jack@$$) assumes that I'm illiterate and starts reading to me from a book or from an overhead/PPT slide that's blocked with text.

Well, actually, I am. But what I meant to suggest in my "Can they read?" portion of my soliloquy was- are they literate enough to comprehend the materials you are going to suggest to them, and do they have the mental tools to transform it into their own material?

Which is probably what I should have written.

JC

[Canuck1988]

Hate to rise this thread from the dead, but anyone have any tips from any class1 rides lately?

[FlightSolutions]

Hate to rise this thread from the dead, but anyone have any tips from any class1 rides lately?

Did it 7 years ago or so. It was easier than the Class II ride in which I was put through the ringer (2 hour presentation and 2.5 in the air). I had to teach Exercise 1 - 16 and demonstrate almost every other exercise. Could have been because it was a monitor ride. One of the hardest rides.

Class I consisted mostly of pointers for being a Class I by the inspector. (10 min presentation and 0.9 in the air). From what I remember I had to teach her how to instruct a stall in flight and a forced approach. It was the easiest ride I have ever done. Just have your lesson plans completed.

1 Intro to Flight Instruction
2 Canadian Aviation Regulations
3 Flight Test Guides
4 Aerodynamics and Performance
5 Human Factors
6 Learning 1
7 Learning 2
8 Learning 3
9 Ground Instruction
10 Flight Instruction
11 Teaching ex 5-9
12 Teaching ex 5-9
13 Teaching Range and Endurance
14 Teaching Slow Flight
15 Teaching Stalls
16 Teaching Spins
17 Teaching Take offs and Landings
18 Teaching Precautionary Approaches
19 Teaching Forced Approaches
20 Teaching Diversions
21 Teaching Navigation
22 Teaching Instrument (Full Panel)
23 Teaching Instrument (Limited Panel)
24 Teaching Instrument (Navaids)
25 Review

You really only need lesson plans up to #10 on this list. The rest of the instructor groundschool, if done right is taught by the candidate themselves. I used to have the student do their first lesson plan on a non-aviation topic of their choice. A hobby, or something they were an expert on. I got to learn a lot of cool stuff this way, and gave the candidate a more realistic instructing environment rather than having me role play as a student. The looks we got from all the noise in the hangar when someone taught me how to DJ was awesome!