Originally Posted by PearlPilot

There was an excellent article by Rod Machado on AOPA Pilot this month about teaching students basic stick and rudder skills. He talks about how the generation of WWII pilots have diminished as of the 90s and now flight schools are emphasizing more about Higher Order Thinking SKills (HOTS), situational awareness, risk assessment etc. "a method used extensively in the airline and jet community." He cites the infamous Colgan accident and the failure of the flight crew to recover from a basic stall...
I was taught the "old school" way as my FBO has been around since the early 40s. I usually take my primary students up in the Skyhawk that does not have a GPS and try to solo them in that airplane so they don't have to worry/be intimidated by the color screen flashing. With all seriousness, I feel like I cannot emphasize enough about basic aerodynamics. The first lesson is usually a joyride type, try to find their house, have them maintain altitude, and have them look outside, just to get them hooked. On the second flight I teach more on how to use the trim and have them do some climbs, descents, medium turns. I have heard instructors introducing stalls in the second lesson. I am actually a little stressed when I give that all important introductory lesson because I know that first impressions matter a great deal and I want to teach the most basic and important fundamentals of flight during those all too important pre-solo flying. I was handed off several pre-solo students from a previous instructor who moved on and I was shocked and very disappointed to learn that they had no concept of ground effect, what makes an airplane fly, turn etc. Some of them made nice landings, but they had no idea what they were doing! How can he let that happen I wondered! What basic skills do you CFIs teach in those first hours?