A myriad of inconsistent behavior after 17 hours include, dumping the yoke forward during the roundout to flare. When I ask why he did that, the response is pretty much "I don't know".

Somebody mentioned flying exactly by the numbers and that is how I have taught for years. for example in the 172S at our home airport... after climbing from xwind to downwind and attaining pattern alt,,, the procedure goes something like this: 1500' - pitch 5 - 1700rpm - flaps 10 - trim for 80kts - Gumps check. Abeam threshold - reduce to 1400 rpm... etc.

It's the same procedure each lap.... He has detailed notes from multiple hours of ground covering pattern ops and profiles. These notes are reviewed ptior to flight.

Another inconsistency- sometimes, he'll try to roll the aircraft into a 50 deg bank in the pattern. He doesn't do this all the time, which is strange to me. In analyzing his behavior during maneuvering, it seems as though he'll input aileron and somewhat zone out, like he was thinking about something else or his attention is captured by some other detail.

Anyway, he will be flying this week with a new fellow and I'll get a report back on his progress after a few flights.