November Seven

I actually have not yet begun the actual process signing up with an Instructor - so I'm not having difficulty finding one just yet. However, I'm nearly 100% positive that it will take me a while. I'm still figuring out how best to go about doing that.

When I read your post, I immediately thought of these two videos I studied recently. Here are two great examples of why I'm going through all this stuff up front.

Integrated Instruction:



Disintegrated Instruction:



In the first video, the Instructor lead, engaged and explained. He strategically connected dots by always showing why and how what was previously explained and experienced by the student was connected to the current topic or sub-topic. This progressively moved the student along and provided continuity of experience along the way. This first Instructor was able to filter out the noise and focus the student's attention on the primary objective of Lesson #1.

The first Instructor was personable and professional, kept things focused in the cockpit and caused the student to feel comfortable through successful accomplishment of assigned tasks.

The First instructor remained connected to what the student was actually accomplishing and tailored his forthcoming instructions based on how well the student did with previous instructions.

In the second video, the Instructor used out of context gotcha questions having nothing to do with the current topic or sub-topic being taught to the student. The purpose behind doing that is still unknown to me. This second Instructor threw minutia to the wind and populated the student's brain with secondary information that was far afield from the actual primary objective of Lesson #1 (an easy way to overload a brand new student on a first lesson).

The second Instructor was very personable, kept things light and airy in the cockpit and kept the student laughing, smiling and feeling comfortable.

The second Instructor abruptly broke the students focus while engaged in a learning task (taxiing to the run-up area), by taking over the controls and doing something with the aircraft the Instructor could have allowed the student to do on his own with guidance. This interrupted the learning flow of the student forcing him to now segregate partial experiences in the cockpit for later intellectual assimilation. This is no small matter when it comes to learning new tasks - regardless of what those tasks happen to be. An accumulation of these broken chains of progress can cause mis-registration of the information in the brain, further causing problems with instant recall in the future. This is how the human brain works.

I won't analyze both videos to their respective conclusions, but this same theme is recognized throughout each video. Two different Instructors with two different approaches. One seamlessly ties the previous concept to the current concept, while another delivers instruction in a very choppy manner that limits the students ability to progressively and smoothly connect dots in their own mind.

The type of Instructor I will be looking for is found in the first video. That's much closer to the model of instruction that I know will benefit me the most long term. It is fluid, connected and highly in-tune with what the student is actually accomplishing correctly.



So, I've been told previously. Which is why I need an Instructor who understands both and can tailor their communications model to fit my dominant filters, while delivering the exact same information the FAA requires. It is merely a matter of reordering the Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic aspects upon initial instruction. The student cannot do that for themselves. If the student is aware of their own dominant filter stacking order, the only thing they can do is interpolate, transform and reorder internally until what they are encountered with makes sense to them.

I can learn at an optimal level (through the correct stacking order), or I can learn at levels that are below optimal (interpolation and transformation required). Everyone has this problem one way or another whether they are aware of it or not. Sometimes the information you receive is Visual when you need it to be Kinesthetic. Sometimes is Audible when you need it to be Visual. Sometimes is Auditory then Visual, when you need it to be Visual then Kinesthetic. It depends on the individual.

Some people have unknowingly developed brilliant Interpolation & Transformation processes where they can receive input that is not through an optimal channel and reconfigure that input to work rapidly for them. It typically depends on their early childhood family environment, the ratio of Visual, Kinesthetic and Auditory types and the amount of communication they had with each one respectively on a regular basis. This is a huge part of how our brain get wired at a very young age and it determines how we interpret the world around us to a very large degree later in life.


I would hope that anything negatively affecting Safety Of Flight, would cause the Instructor to immediately intervene. Makes sense to me.

What I'm referring to is the process and model of communication used by the Instructor before the landing took place. If that student was an Auditory, then "telling" the student to apply right rudder would be most optimal for that particular student. In that case, there probably would be no need for the Instructor to intervene as the student's response would be rapid/optimized.

But, if that student were Visual or Kinesthetic, waiting until after the landing and then "telling" them to add right rudder, would immediately trigger internal dialogue to interpolate what the instructor is "saying" into a Transformed Visual Concept in the student's brain they can then act upon. Thus, the delay in the student's response, causing the aircraft to wander off center line and the instructor to intervene.

That delay comes either as a direct result of initially misplaced information in the student's brain (initial instruction never seated correctly for one reason or another), or as a direct result of the time it took for them to work out the interpolation and transformation of the "Audible" instruction from their Instructor inside their own head and in real-time.

It is not that the Visual cannot respond to the verbal instruction: "add right rudder." It is that the moment you "say" add right rudder, their brain automatically begins figuring out what adding right rudder looks like when executed. They respond, but in a delayed fashion.

For the Visual:

Here, let me show you what right rudder looks like. Let's visualize the roll-out together.

For the Kinesthetic:

Here, I want you to feel the difference in rolling out with and without right rudder. I want you to get a sense of what both should feel like.

For the Auditory:

Just use right rudder.

Same exact information being delivered in three completely different ways making all the difference in the world to the student receiving that information. No interpolation or transformation necessary, when the Instructor delivers that information through the optimal channel for the student.



I really think you are right about that. I think their depth as a career instructor will give them more flexibility and bandwidth for understanding and tailoring their communication style and approach to what's best for me as the student. I think their experience would enable them to worry less about the physical act of 'instructing (they've done so much of it that it comes very naturally to them) and spend more time figuring out how to tailor or stack their communications. It least I'm hoping this will be the case.


Yes, according to statistics, I am a rare bird in that regard. I'm a V/K split which is uncommon. I can do rapid interpolation and transformation. However, I don't want to have that burden as well as the burden of becoming a proficient pilot at the same time. Later, after my ratings, I'll have piloting skills and this won't be so much of an issue. But, going into this right off the bat, I want to clean up the communications channel between Instructor/Student and optimize it from the word go. That's something the Instructor will have to agree to. Well, first they will have to understand it, then agree to it.


Interesting. Never thought of posting an AD. Thanks for the creative thought process. I had planned to pick several career Instructors, ask them to agree to a single "First Lesson" as a working interview. Then, evaluate which Instructor's communication style fit best and their other Instructor qualifications. Explain my needs in terms of communications. Then select the one able/willing to tweak their communications a bit to fit what I need. Hopefully, that works out.


Thanks very much. You got me to think about a couple things I had not considered before, which is why I came here.