Originally Posted by
papatango269
...I think you are going about it a little backwards.
...Some of the things you are talking about would apply more to instrument flight.
I got the ideas from several books, one of my favorite is called: The Complete Guide to Flight Instruction, by Gregory M. Penglis.
Here are the excerpts that I'm basing my questions on in this thread - Page 63/64:
"The FAA wants you to learn fly by the integrated instruction method. That lofty but nebulous term simply means flying by both an instrument reference and a visual reference. Everything works backwards in flight training, so you will concentrate on those instruments because you assume real pilots always rely on their instruments. Since you have not had the instrument training of real pilots, you have no idea how to take what you see and put it in a usable picture. You also don't develop the habit of constantly looking out the window for other airplanes.
Each of those instruments you value so highly has its own particular delays and errors, of which you have no idea. This will result in you being told you are "chasing the needles," another nebulous term which has no meaning to you [as as student pilot], even though you know that you are doing something wrong.
Outside the window is the best reference ever created to observe what the airplane is doing - the horizon. ...It requires no interpretation.
There you are, being told [by your instructor] to climb, when you don't remember where "here" is, while you stare at the instruments you don't yet know how to read. That is why you have trouble in your early hours."
Penglis, goes on to say:
"...There is of course, a cure. Standardize the training. You will cut your training time in half if you can get your instructor to write down specific pitch and power settings for every configuration in normal flight. Memorize them.
For each particular pitch and power setting, you will get the same airspeed and rate of climb or descent. You can climb, descend, and fly straight and level, using a particular power setting and a visual reference where the nose appears relative to the horizon, and do it the same way every time without ever thinking about it. When you don't have to think about how to do it, you can learn to make decisions when to do it.
...Your instructor or aircraft manual may require some variation. However, the point is to use the same settings for each particular configuration every time you do it."
Penglis then goes into talking about what those specific configurations are for a C-172. Penglis, has been a flight instructor since the early 80's. Copyright, 1994 [The Complete Guide to Flight Instruction].
So, these are not my ideas. I'm reading what other instructor pilot authors have written and then doing my own little investigation by asking other CFIs what their take on the matter might be.