1. Fundamentals of Instruction
Flight Instructor Ground School
Aaron Harrington – CFI/CFI-I Airplane
Fundamentals of Instruction

2. I try to think up examples which help me to remember the concepts
Required Materials
Open mind
This material can get boring; however, even I did not realize how relevant it was until I started teaching.
FAA Publication: “Flight Instructor’s Handbook”
Can be downloaded for free off of FAA.gov website
Encourage everyone to buy a physical copy
Highlighter or Tabs to mark your book!
I try to think up examples which help me to remember the concepts

3. Course Outline Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Human Behavior
The Learning Process
Effective Communication
The Teaching Process
Assessment of Student Performance
Planning Instructional Activities
Instructor’s Responsibilities and Professionalism
Techniques of Flight Instruction
Advisory Circulars
Class 1
Class 2
Class 3

4. Course Outline Human Behavior <- Task B in PTS
The Learning Proccess <- Task A in PTS
Effective Communication <- Part of any Task in PTS
The Teaching Process <- Task C in PTS
Assessment of Student Performance <- Task E in PTS
Planning Instructional Activities <- Task D and G in PTS
Instructor’s Responsibilities and Professionalism <- Task F in PTS
Techniques of Flight Instruction <- Task D in PTS
Advisory Circulars

5. Some Things to Think About…
As an instructor:
You are responsible for your student’s safety, training, learning, etc.
You become your student’s: instructor, friend, psychologist, role model
You need to be able to separate business from friendship
Don’t let your friendship get in the way of pointing out areas where your student needs improvement.
Don’t skimp on the ground training because you’re afraid to charge the student for it
This is probably the hardest thing to do as a flight instructor

6. What is Learning? Definition – Learning
A change in behavior as a result of experience
Think Pavlov’s Dog
Ivan Pavlov noticed that every time he fed his dog, it would salivate. So he then did an experiment where he would ring a bell every time he fed his dog. He then found that every time he rang a bell, even without food being presented, the dog would still salivate
The dog changed its behavior as a result of its experience hearing the bell and being fed!
This is one of the most asked questions on the flight instructor checkride

8. The Basic Principles of Learning
Students can not learn unless their needs are being met
These needs have been identified in order of their importance
Often termed “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”
Need to know Maslow for exam!

9. Chapter 1: Aviation Instructor’s Handbook
Human Behavior

10. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological Needs: Air, food, water, maintenance of human body
Safety and Security: Feel free of any danger or removal of fear
Love and Belonging: Feeling at ease, sense of belonging and not alienation
Self-Esteem: People need to feel good about themselves as well as feeling of being respected
Self Actualization: Having purpose to ones life. Concern over one’s personal growth

11. Physiological Needs
How often have you been in a learning environment and you’re
Tired and sleeping which leads to difficulty staying focused and awake?
Hungry and your hunger-pangs and belly grumbling distracts you from paying attention?
Have to use the restroom in a situation where you are unable to escape your current task or situation?
These are all things that prevent us from paying full attention and being ready and able to learn

12. Safety and Security
Piloting an aircraft is something foreign and completely out of most people’s normal experiences
Flying can be both exciting and exhilarating and at the same time scary
An instructor who does not explain every single thing they are doing makes it difficult for the student to feel safe
EXAMPLE- Instructor does not explain that pulling the release results in a loud “bang”, the glider slows down, and you suddenly roll into a right bank. This can cause anxiety and fear in the student

13. Love and Belonging
Student want to feel like they belong in their training environment
Students who feel like they are being looked down upon, or being pressured, or feel like an ‘outsider’ when in a group are less motivated to learn
Instructors should make every effort to make the student feel at ease and reinforce the student’s desires to pursue aviation as a hobby or career

14. Self-Esteem Students want to feel good about themselves
Most students seek external esteem through social approval of those around them
Students should be praised and appreciated upon achieving training goals and achievements
(First unassisted landing, first unassisted tow, first solo, upon receiving or shooting for ABC Badges)

15. Self Actualization The feeling like “This is what I was born to do!”
This is something that only once all other needs are met, the student can achieve

16. Human Factors that Inhibit Learning
Defense Mechanisms - People have often heard the term “fight-or-flight” When anxiety occurs people either try to solve the problem, or escape the situation If the problem cannot be solved or the person cannot escape the situation, they often employ ‘defense mechanism’

17. Defense Mechanisms
Repression: People place uncomfortable thoughts into inaccessible areas of their unconscious mind (force themselves to forget)
Denial: A refusal to accept external reality because it is too threatening
Compensation: Psychologically counterbalancing a weakness by emphasizing strength in other areas
Projection: An individual places unacceptable impulses onto someone else
Rationalization: A subconscious technique for justifying one’s actions. Individuals can convince themselves this is the truth!
Reaction Forming: A person fakes a belief contrary to the truth
Fantasy: Daydreaming about something other than reality
Displacement: Avoiding unpleasant emotions by focusing on something more pleasing

18. Repression
A person places uncomfortable thoughts into inaccessible areas of the unconscious mind
A student pilot may have a repressed fear of flying that inhibits their ability to learn to fly
They could by ‘wanting’ to learn to fly in an attempt to overcome this fear

19. Denial Refusal to accept reality
Example: A student does something wrong and when questioned, denies ever being taught how to do it.
Denial and Minimization are related and as a defense mechanism, considered the same thing
Example: A student crosses active runway as another aircraft takes off or lands and says “I never created a hazard, I was off by the time he/she got to where I crossed”

20. Compensation
Counterbalancing or emphasizing a strength in another area in place of their perceived weakness
Example: Student’s failure to use coordinated rudder in a turn Instructor: “Don’t forget to use rudder to coordinate your turns”
Student: “Yeah, but didn’t you see how well I did on tow!”
You will find that this is one of the most common defense mechanisms as you instruct

21. Projection
An individual places his/her own unacceptable impulses onto someone else
Example: A pilot fails a checkride and blames their failure on having an unfair, biased, or poor examiner

22. Rationalization
Probably the most common defense mechanism in reality (says Aaron)
Subconscious technique for justifying unacceptable actions
Example: “I didn’t have time to check the weather”
Example: “Nobody ever told me I needed to do check the tow rope”
Example: “I didn’t announce my position in pattern because the radio wasn’t working”

23. Reaction Forming A person fakes a belief opposite to the true belief
Example: Treating someone you strongly dislike in an excessively friendly manner in order to hide your true feelings

24. Fantasy
Daydreaming about how things should be rather than doing anything about how things are
Example: A student doesn’t want to study and instead “daydreams” about buying a glider than studying to pass their checkride

25. Displacement
Avoid unpleasant emotions by focusing on something more pleasing
Example: A student is angry with their instructor for not letting them solo when the student thinks he/she is ready and expresses their anger towards ground crew or tow pilot

26. Defense Mechanisms
Most fall within the realm of normal behavior and serve a ‘useful’ purpose
Involve some degree of self-deception and distortion of reality
Operate on an unconscious level
It can be difficult for instructors to identify excessive reliance on defense mechanisms and the underlying cause
e.g. death in family, divorce, failing grade, argument with friend/spouse

27. Student Emotional Reactions
Anxiety: probably the most significant psychological factor affecting flight training.
This is because flight training is a potentially threatening experience for those not accustomed to flying.
Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, unease
Often associated with fear of anything real or imagined
What if the engine quits? What if we stall? What if the ‘pilot’ screws up?
Anxiety comes from things that in the student’s mind have an uncertain outcome

28. Anxiety
An effective technique is to treat fears as a normal reaction, rather than ignoring them
Usually anxiety for student pilots is associated with certain types of flight operations and maneuvers (most common…. STALLS!!)
Example: When introducing stalls, instructors should talk about aerodynamics of what is going on, explain how it is going to physically feel, recovery procedures. Sometimes good for instructor to recover right AT buffet rather than do full stall as the first demonstration

29. Normal Reactions to Stress
Respond rapidly and exactly within the limits of their experience and training.
We want to train our students for this type of reaction
You practice stalls until the ‘normal’ response is automatic. They lower the nose of the aircraft

30. Abnormal Reactions to Stress
This is what instructors need to especially be careful of
The student’s reaction will be random and illogical
Examples:
Extreme over-cooperation, inappropriate laughter or singing, rapid changes in emotions
Extreme changes in mood from one lesson to the next
Severe anger toward the flight instructor, ground personnel, or tow pilot
Example:
Student who has not been properly trained to respond to a stall may ‘freeze’ on the controls or even pull full back on the stick!
Instructor must be ready for ANYTHING when teaching a new maneuver!!

31. Teaching an “Old Dog New Tricks”

32. Teaching an “Old Dog New Tricks”
The average ‘student’ age in aviation is 35 years old
Adult learners possess different learning characteristics from teens
They want to learn because they have a use for the knowledge (they have a mission in mind)
They seek out new learning experiences to cope with life changing events
(e.g. marriage, divorce, new job, etc)
Adults are self directed and autonomous
They have already accumulated a life of experiences and knowledge
(this is a reservoir of experience the instructor needs to pick up on to aid in learning!)
Adults are very goal oriented
They are generally very practical
They want to apply their new found knowledge to solve problems immediately
They have a different perspective on ‘time’

33. Teaching an “Old Dog New Tricks”
Instructors need to…
Provide a training syllabus that organizes clearly the training objectives to show how the student will progress to different stages in training
Pull from the student’s past experiences to help them integrate new ideas
Make sure you articulate your expectations of the student early on so the student knows where you are coming from
Recognize that the student needs to control pace of their learning
New instructors often try to teach too much all at once which results in task saturation and overload
Adult learners tend to become task saturated quickly. Once this happens, learning has completely stopped
Do not ‘spoon-feed’ your student
Use books, programmed instruction, and resources for your students!

34. Chapter 2: Aviation Instructor’s Handbook
The Learning Process

35. Cognitive Theory Focuses on the intellectual aspects of learning
Knowing
Perceiving
Problem Solving
Decision making
Awareness
Learning is not just a change in behavior, it changes the way a person thinks, understands, and feels

36. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation

37. Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)
The last 3 elements of Bloom’s Taxonomy relate to higher order thinking skills
In the aviation community, this is known as aeronautical decision making (ADM)
Judgement, decision making, and critical thinking is what we want to teach to
The best way to teach to this level is through Scenario Based Training (SBT)
Creating realistic scenarios and having the student use what they’ve learned thus far to deal with the situation
Example: Instructor creates the scenario where the student is too far away from airport to glide back and asks “what are you going to do?”

38. Perception
Perception is the basis of all learning ( often asked on written and checkride)
Sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste
Learning occurs most rapidly when students receive information through multiple senses
Students derive meaning from their perceptions through their past experiences

39. Factors Affecting Perception
Physical Organism – The 5 senses
Goals and Values – Everything you experience is colored by your beliefs and value structure. Things that are highly valued are pursued.
Self-concept – If a student’s experiences tend towards a positive self Image, knowledge will be better retained. A negative self image inhibits learning
Time and opportunity – Lengthening an experience or increasing it’s frequency usually speeds up learning
Element of threat – Does NOT promote learning. Students will micro focus on the things causing fear

40. Insights
Insights involve the grouping of perceptions into meaningful wholes ( another often asked question on written and checkride)
True learning requires an understanding of how each factor may affect all of the others
Example:
Early on, students are taught that the elevator makes the aircraft go up and down
A good instructor will also show that changes in elevator also change pitch, which changes airspeed
Insight is developed when the student realizes pitch/airspeed/descent rate are all coupled together
Insight is going to be acquired eventually. The instructor’s job is to help facilitate the groupings of these perceptions and to help students acquire insight.

43. Steps in Acquiring Knowledge
Memorization – First step in learning. Quick way for students to get started, however, they are doing things and not understanding why
Understanding – Taking those memorized pieces and then being able to understand what they mean or why they do them
Concept Learning – being able to take abstract concepts or ideas and apply them

44. This takes us to the three most important concepts of Fundamentals of Instruction

45. Most Important Concepts to Remember
If you don’t remember anything else from FOI, remember these
Thorndike Laws of Learning
Levels of Learning
Domains of Learning

46. Thorndike Laws of Learning
Aaron has re-arranged these into what he and many other instructors thinks is most important first
Primacy – Things learned first retain an almost unshakable impression that is going to last (potentially) for the rest of their flying career
Recency – Things most recently learned are best remembered
Exercise – The more often you practice something, the better it is retained
Effect – Responses to a situation that result in satisfaction are strengthened. (Feel good reaction from student strengthens learning)
Intensity – Something that is immediate, dramatic, or stands out is going to be something strongly remembered
Readiness – Students will better remember things if they have a clear understanding as to why they are learning them and are prepared to learn.

47. Levels of Learning
Rote
Understanding
Application
Correlation

48. Rote The ability to remember facts
Can repeat something back which was learned without understanding what it means
Example: Instructor asks student to describe maneuvering speed
Student responds “In the SGS 2-33, Maneuvering speed is 65mph”
Student unable to explain what maneuvering speed means

49. Understanding
Student knows the meaning of things learned during the rote stage
Example:
During the rote stage, a student may know that best glide speed is 70mph
During the understanding stage, a student knows that best glide is the speed with the best lift-to-drag ratio and maximizes distance traveled per altitude loss

50. Application
Student not only knows and understands concepts learned, but knows how to apply them to different situations
Example:
Instructor asks student “We get a little too far away from the airport. How do we maximize our chances of making it back (assuming no wind)
Student recalls that minimum sink speed maximizes time aloft but best glide speed maximizes distance per altitude loss and explains that they would trim for best glide speed
Most students make it to this level of understanding for checkrides

51. Correlation
The highest level of learning – Instructors should strive to get their students here
Associating things that have been learned, understood, and applied and applying them to other areas of learning
Example:
A student learns about crosswind correction (rote)
A student understands that by ‘crabbing’ into the wind, their heading and ground track will be different and they can adjust their WCA to get the desired ground track (understanding)
They fly straight ground tracks from point A -> B using proper WCA (application)
They are able to do turns around a point or a rectangular pattern by applying what they know about wind correction angles (correlation)

52. Domains of Learning Cognitive Domain – (thinking)
Affective Domain – (feeling)
Psychomotor Domain – (doing)

53. Cognitive Domain - Thinking
Recall information
Understand information learned
Application of knowledge
Analyze
Synthesize
Evaluate

54. Affective Domain – Feeling
Receiving – Paying attention
Responding – Reaction is voluntary
Valuing – Accepting what is learned
Organization – Rearrangement of value system
Characterization – Incorporates value into life

55. Psychomotor Domain – Doing
Perception – Awareness of sensory stimuli
Set – Relates cues
Guided Response – Performs as demonstrated
Mechanism – Perform simple acts well
Complex Overt Response – Skillful performance of complex tasks
Adaptation – Modifies for special cases or problems
Organization – New movements and creativity

56. Great Aaron, now what does this all mean and how do I apply it?!

57. We Want to Teach in All the Domains to Help Strengthen Learning
Example: We want to teach a student stalls
Cognitive Domain
Instructor starts by having a ground lesson on basic aerodynamics of stalls and stall recovery techniques
Affective Domain
Instructor and student go up and instructor tells student to watch, feel, and listen while instructor demonstrates a stall. Student’s experience of a stall has a psychological reaction (excitement, fear, unease, joy, etc)
Psychomotor Domain
Instructor has the student perform the stall and student uses their senses to hear, feel, see, what is occurring while also controlling the aircraft

58. Characteristics of Learning
Learning is Purposeful – Each student sees a learning situation from a different standpoint
Learning is a Result of Experience – A persons knowledge comes from their experiences and no two people have the exact same experiences
Learning is Multifaceted – conceptual, perceptual, problem-solving, emotional, etc
Learning is an Active Process – For students to learn, they need to react and respond, they don’t just learn because you are “teaching” they have to be actively participating in the process.

59. This brings us to the stages of skill acquisition
Learning how to perform a skill or task takes time and there is a predictable sequence of events that occur when learning these new skills or tasks Nobody flies an airplane once or twice and is proficient to a commercial level

61. Stages of Skill Acquisition
Cognitive Stage – Based upon factual knowledge. Student memorizes steps in performing a maneuver
Associative Stage – As the student practices, they start to associate memorized steps in performing a task with predictable outcomes
Automatic Response Stage – As procedures become automatic, less attention is focused on completing the individual steps to produce the desired outcome
NOTE: Overlearning – knowledge that is used frequently starts to take on the properties of a skill*

62. Learning Plateaus A normal part of the learning process
Instructors need to be careful because they can bring about learning plateaus by over practicing a skill
Remember, an apparent lack in increased proficiency does NOT mean that learning has stopped
Instructors can help students who have reached plateaus by moving on to other tasks and revisiting the skill at a later time

63. Types of Practice
Deliberate Practice – The student has focused practice on a very specific skill
Blocked Practice – Practicing the same drill until the movement or task becomes automatic (careful with blocked practice as it does NOT promote long term memory retention)
Random Practice – Mixes up the practice of different skills during a particular lesson

64. Scenario-Based Training
Inventing a realistic scenario to practice particular skills
What makes a good scenario?
Has a clear set objective
Is tailored to the needs of the student
Capitalizes upon the nuances of the environment

65. Scenario-Based Training – Example
Instructor wants to teach student’s what to do in case they can’t make it back to the airport and practice ‘landing out’
Instructor starts by having the student focus on a particular task such as thermaling or doing various turns left and right (distracting the student) while he/she leads them in a direction where they are going to loose awareness of where the airport is
Instructor then tells the student to ‘find the airport’ and imagine you can’t make it back at your current altitude (although the airport can still be reasonably made from current location, potentially, a full pattern entry may not be possible)
Instructor has student do a ‘straight in’ or modified pattern approach to a runway they have never landed on before so they don’t have the normal visual cues they are used to

66. Students ARE Going to Make Mistakes
Kinds of Errors
Slip – when a person wants to do one thing, but inadvertently does something else “oops!”
Mistake – occurs when a person plans to do the wrong thing and is successful

67. Memory System

68. Why do we Forget Things?
Retrieval Failure – “Its on the tip of my tongue!”
Fading – A person forgets information that has not been used in a long time
Interference – A person forgets something because another experience overshadows it
Repression or Suppression – A memory is pushed out because the person does not want to remember it
Did Gandalf’s memory fade or did he have a bad experience with the Balrog in the past and he ‘suppressed’ the memory?

69. How do we Promote Memory of Things?
Praise Stimulates Learning – If you feel good because you did a good job, you’re better likely to remember!
Recall Promoted by Association – Associate multiple things together
Favorable Attitude Aid Retention – People remember what they want to remember
Learning with All Senses – Hit upon the different learning domains!
Meaningful Repetition – The more you practice…
Mnemonics – We use this all the time in aviation! (eg. A.N.D.S.)

70. Effective Communication
Chapter 3: Aviation Instructor’s Handbook
Effective Communication

71. Basic Elements of Communication

72. Barriers to Effective Communication
Lack of Common Experience – This is HUGE in aviation!
Example: “Instructor tells student that there is a NOTAM” but the student has never even heard the term NOTAM before and doesn’t understand
Confusion Between Symbol and Object – Another biggie!
Example: Instructor says “We’re going to practice stalls” but student thinks this means the engine ‘stalls’ (aerodynamic vs mechanical engine)
Overuse of Abstractions – Words that are general rather than specific
Example: Instructor says “Level off at 2,000 ft” but student hasn’t yet learned to associate this to mean “pull back on stick and increase power”
Interference – Something prevents the message from getting across
Example: Instructor trying to teach ground lesson in a noisy/busy environment and the student can’t concentrate because of distractions

73. Effective Listening

74. Effective Listening

75. Ways to Communicate Effectively
Role Playing – The listener takes an active role in the communication. Develops critical thinking!
Instructional Communication – Instructor explains things or describes a maneuver or skill.
Listening – Instructors needs to listen to what the student has to say. Instructors can’t do this enough!
Questioning – Formulating good questions can help an instructor better understand the student’s level of knowledge

76. Chapters 1 – 3 Review: Aviation Instructor’s Handbook

77. Define Learning Definition – Learning
A change in behavior as a result of experience

78. From the Glider Flight Instructor PTS Standards
AREA OF OPERATION: FUNDAMENTALS OF INSTRUCTING
A. TASK: THE LEARNING PROCESS
REFERENCE: FAA-H
Objective – To determine that the applicant exhibits instructional knowledge of the elements of the learning process by describing:
1. The definition and characteristics of learning
2. Practical application of the laws of learning.
3. Factors involved in how people learn.
4. Recognition and proper use of the various levels of learning.
5. Principles that are applied in learning a skill.
6. Factors of forgetting and retention.
7. How the transfer of learning affects the learning process
8. How the formation of habit patterns affects the learning process.

79. From the Glider Flight Instructor PTS Standards
B. TASK: HUMAN BEHAVIOR
REFERENCE: FAA-H
Objective – To determine that the applicant exhibits instructional knowledge of the elements of human behavior by describing:
1. Control of human behavior.
2. Development of student potential.
3. Relationship of human needs to behavior and learning.
4. Relationship of defense mechanisms to student learning and
pilot decision-making.
5. General rules that a flight instructor should follow during
student training to ensure good human relations.

80. Any Questions?