Originally Posted by
November Seven
Yes - that is scary. But, out of pure curiosity - was he 'touching' the controls in an attempt to speak to you through his actions? It would freak me out as well, but I'm just curious if whether or not this is a typical method that Instructors use when the see something the student is not doing right - rather than talk to the student, they simply nudge the controls a bit. Not sure if that's true or not.
I've had instructors touch controls to speak me through things (i.e., making sure I hold back pressure long enough to feel the stall), but it's usually followed with a verbal indication. The time I'm referring to was very egregious and might have initially started with the intention of making a minor correction without any verbal communication. It happened multiple times throughout the flight. Simulated engine failure, I want to go to a field on my right, but the instructor knew of a field below us that we just flew over to our left. I try turning to the right and he is literally pushing against me without saying anything. That's not teaching or good CRM. Maybe the field behind us was better, but the best method isn't to stay silent while fighting for control. Same reason examiners want students to speak out loud through their actions - mind reading tends to be a difficult thing to do.
The culmination was on our final landing rollout when the plane started veering in a direction off centerline. I make a correction, but the instructor was apparently also trying to correct the direction with rudder inputs without saying anything. In my mind, I'm thinking we have crazy winds, a blown tire, etc so I make stronger corrective inputs. He corrected even harder without saying anything, then I start losing control more and fight the rudders more. It was a zigzag landing rollout that was completely unnecessary if the instructor would have either said 'my controls' or 'let me help get us back on centerline' or just wasn't so anal retentive and allowed me to correct. (I had just passed my PPL weeks before and was getting checked out to rent that flight school's aircraft). I find it hard to believe that my basic flying coordination atrophied so badly over a month since passing in front of an examiner. The instructor was paranoid maybe?
Maybe he was a newly minted instructor not used to allowing someone else to be at the controls? I don't know. I told him to take control on rollout after I realized he was fighting my inputs and then I asked him why he did that without saying anything. He denied it vehemently until he connected the dots of why I told him to take the flight controls.
Instructors might nudge the controls a bit without saying anything, but it should never get to the point that the two people are fighting each other with near full deflection inputs. That goes way beyond a nudge. At that point, something verbal needs to happen and/or if its that serious the instructor should just say "my controls" and debrief afterward. Scared me? Yes, but I'd get over it. Lying about it? Unacceptable, bad frame of mind so I won't voluntarily fly with that person again.
Therefore back to your original question - I don't take for granted the importance of verbal communication anymore. CRM is real even at the lowly PPL level.