The question was intentionally vague. I've realized in my time if I ask a canned question like, "What documents do you have to be on board," students will just memorize an acronym and move on. They don't correlate it to regulations or even practice it when they do pre-flight. As far as they are concerned, flying and me asking questions are completely separate.
The student reaches up and scratches his head as he searches deep within his brain for an answer. Part of me thinks he's waiting for a hint. In early stages of training, I'll give them a hint or ask the question in another but leading way. Today, I'm not in the mood. This is the 4th time in a row he has been unable to answer the question. I repeat the question verbatim two more times. After each time, he pretends like he is coming up with an answer. It's on the tip of my tongue, I can hear him want to say. It's not. It doesn't take long for him to just give up. "I don't know." Sigh.
*****
I've found that working with international students can be challenging. Sometimes I feel bad for them. They have come to a completely foreign country with a dream to fly. English is their second language and, for some, saying it's even a language they speak is generous. People often have two different views of what being a pilot means. For some, they are amazed. Concepts like aeronautics blow their mind. "Wow, you must be really smart to be able to do that," they say. Others believe it's no big deal. "So you just take off and land. What's so hard about that." In all honesty, learning to fly falls somewhere between the two. It's not rocket science and it's not easy. Many students think if they just pay you money, they'll eventually just "get it." Some do. Most don't.
So, what's the point of this post? I honestly have no idea. I just had a thought and I've been unable to get to it so far. So, here's a "jump cut." It's kind of related to what I've said, but not really.
First, teachers are amazing. Ever since I've started, I've begun to develop an immense appreciation for what they go through. There are some days when I'll sit in a room and teach the same thing to three students in a row. By the third, I've had enough. I have a throbbing headache and am incredibly frustrated. I'm not going to claim to have nearly as hard of a job as they do. I mean, most of the time, I get to sit in an airplane and look down at the beach. Plus, I have students who actually WANT to learn to fly. Oh, and they have to pay me every time we interact. So, I don't have to worry about motivation. It's almost always in their best interest to learn the first time. I can't imagine having an unmotivated group of walking hormones. Pass.
I will say, however, that I feel like a Renaissance Man with respect to teaching. I've chuckled aloud sometimes when I think of all the subject areas I just taught. So, I've decided to break them down here.
Physics (Motion)
This is probably the easiest and most straight forward. I teach people how to launch an aluminum machine through the air at speeds in excess of 180 mph and put it in one piece in a location hundreds of miles away. We talk about Newton's Third Law of Motion when it comes to the torque effect an engine has on an airplane. We talk about friction and drag. We balance forces and learn how we actually rotate an airplane. By the way, the correct answer is not, "I just turn the yoke to the left and the airplane turns left." If my students tell me that, I just give them the "are you kidding me" look.
Some of the more advanced concepts are taught when we get into the multi-engine course. We talk about moments, asymmetric lift and thrust, prop efficiency, etc. So, I'll pose to you a question I'll ask a student. "Tell me about what happens when an engine fails." There are many right answers to this question. A student could tell me about how the airplane will rotate, performance lost on one versus two engines, their supposedly memorized checklist actions when an engine fails, drag affects, losing directional control and why, and much much more. More times than I care for, I get one word answers. Students will say, "Torque!" and then smile. I just stare and say, "well technically you aren't incorrect yet. I'll decide when you put some other words around the one you just said in the form of a sentence."
Chemistry
Now, I have to preface all this with a qualification. I'm not actually teaching these subjects. I do have to discuss areas from each subject area. This is probably one of the harder connections to draw but I do talk a little bit about chemistry. We will talk to the students about why moist air is less dense than dry air. I'll talk about what happens when fuel is burned and how to make combustion more efficient through the use of compressed air. Again, I know this one is a stretch, but it's slightly there.
Physics II (Electric)
I distinctly remember sitting in Physics 2 in college wondering why I was learning about how electricity works. Well, now I know my answer. I have to talk to my students about the ways we create electricity in our airplane. For example, an airplane engine is similar to a car engine with one key difference. An airplane is designed to work in the event of a complete electrical failure in the airplane. If you are flying and the alternator and battery both fail, it may go dark in your airplane, but the engine will continue to run normally. There are mini generators on the back of the engine that turn and provide sparks in the spark plug. As long as the engine is turning, they will provide sparks in the cylinders. We call these devices magnetos.
For those of you who know how an engine works, the engine will run and turn an alternator belt. The alternator belt will turn the alternator which will provide electricity to all the electrical components and charge the battery. So, I'll ask the question. "What is the main reason for the battery." Students will say a variety of things which leads me into other topics. I've heard, "to make the spark plugs work," "to run the magnetos," "to make the radios work." All of these answers are incredibly incorrect. The battery's function, other than being a limited emergency backup in the event of an alternator failure, is to start the engine and energize the alternator field. A common series of questions would look like this:
Me: Tell me about the electrical system on the airplane
Student: We have two 14 volt, 60 amp alternators.
Me: How does it work?
Student: It charges the battery
Me: Ok, how?
Student: Well, there's a belt and it turns the engine.
Me: Noooo, try again.
Student: The engine turns the belt?
Me: Ok, then what?
Student: It makes electricity.
Me: How?
Student: It just does?
Me: Are there little ferries in there throwing lightning bolts at the wires?
Student: No.
Me: We've talked about this 3 times. How does it work?
Student: I don't know.
Math
I LOVE math. Call me a geek or nerd, but I love being a geek and a nerd. I'll be them both at the same time. I don't care. So, having strong math skills is important as a pilot. You do get to use a calculator but it can be a crutch. When you are trying to talk on the radios and fly an airplane all while doing simple math on a calculator, things can get out of hand. So, what kind of math do we do? Well, lots of word problems. Keep in mind you are doing these at 160 mph with me and ATC breathing down your neck.
1) The situation is as follows: You are in an airplane traveling at 152 knots (nautical miles per hour) at 6500 feet above the airport. Assuming you go 180 knots while descending 500 feet per minute, how far from the airport do we need to start descending to arrive at traffic pattern altitude (often 1000 feet) not closer than 3 miles from the airport?
A) Simple! You are going to have to descend a total of 5500 feet (6500 feet - 1000 feet above the ground). If you assume that it takes you 2 minutes to descend 1000 feet, you are descending 5.5 thousand feet. 5.5 x 2 = 11 minutes. So, how far are you going to travel in 11 minutes? Easy! If you know that 60 knots means you are flying at 1 mile per minute, 120 knots would be 2 miles per minutes and 180 knots would be 3. So, 11 minutes x 3 miles per minute = 33 miles. Now, because we want to be at traffic pattern altitude 3 miles from the airport, we simply just add 3 miles. See, I told you it was easy.
Physical Science
Students have to have a firm grasp of weather...being that you fly in and around it. Also, it is important to have an understanding of various physical processes like ice formation, climate, wind, and temperature effects on performance of the airplane. This subject often straddles the physics line.
Trig
This my least favorite especially since this was my least favorite in school. A student has to be able to answer headwind and crosswind components by breaking the total wind into vectors. How do we do this? Using trig of course! For example, if you are landing on runway 18, you are actually landing on a magnetic heading of 180 degrees. The wind, also measured in degrees of magnetic heading, would say something like 090 at 20 knots. If you just take a minute to think about it, this problems is simple. Of course it's a 90-degree wind so it is 100% crosswind. Where it starts getting tricky is when you have a wind coming from 150 at 20. The students are allowed to use all their resources like a flight computer or wind component chart when calculating these. Unfortunately, most bury it in their bag thinking they aren't going to need it. So, when I ask if the crosswind exceeds their abilities, they just say, "uh, no?" So, I teach them, using SINE and COSINE how to quickly get a crosswind and headwind estimate. I'm not going to bore you with the details here.
Biology
"You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals so let's do it like they do on the discovery channel." Ok, maybe not that kind of biology. We talk to the students about the structure of the eye and why we have very dangerous blind spots at night. We also talk about things like hypoxia, hyperventilation, and the effects of stress and fatigue on flying. I'll say to a student, "Tell me about the kinds of hypoxia and how we encounter them."
Language Arts
I decided to clump all the arts into one. When a student comes to me in a ground lesson and neglects to student on his or her own, I will teach them the concept. After all, I do enjoy teaching. The second time they come and still don't know the answer, I make them student in front of me. "Ok, pull out your regulations. Open up to 91.205, read what it says then tell me what you read." Most students can read English around the 4th or 5th grade level. It's incredibly frustrating.
Spelling and grammar is another big one. Here is a conversation I had the other day. "Ok, so the service ceiling is the altitude you can reasonably expect to climb..." I've gotten really good at realizing when I lose a student. While I was talking to him, I saw the signs. The hardest part is figuring out what he didn't understand so I'll take stabs are "big" words. "Do you know what ceiling is? No? It's that (pointing at the ceiling). It's the top. If you were in this room, you couldn't go above the ceiling, could you. Ok, do you know what the word reasonably means? No? How about within reason? No. How about rational? No?!" I had to stop and think for a minute. I had to stop and think of another way to describe it. I sat for a minute and massaged my temples.
The more I think about it, the more subjects I can come up with. I won't bore you with the rest. I just thought this was something interesting I've observed from my time. As for an update from me? I've almost reached 1200 total hours. Still no jobs on the horizon though. Thanks again for reading!
