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by Friday Morning Flight Plan at [date]
I’m not sure how to break it to you gently, but decades of research find that so-called learning styles are a myth. There’s no such thing as a visual, kinesthetic, or auditory learner. One recent study sharply states that learning styles remain, “one of education's most seductive falsehoods.”
We also need to chat about Santa Claus.
But even when scientific research bursts the balloon of pop psychology, it shines a light that allows us to achieve what we were striving for in the first place, which is to get better at doing things and knowing stuff. It just so happens that those same academics who looked down their noses and said, “Well, technically speaking…,” have made good on showing us that there is a proven process for teaching and learning, especially when it comes to performance on the flight deck.
Dr. Robert Gagné is one of the fathers of modern educational psychology, and his theories can be used to great effect in the creation of modern flight training lessons and proficiency scenarios. Redbird Guided Independent Flight Training (GIFT), for example, implements his strategies to assist a number of flight training programs in efficiently and thoroughly training pilots. The secret to GIFT’s effectiveness isn’t simply that it provides flight training in a high-fidelity sim, but that it provides instruction in a way that’s proven to work.
Think back to your own flight training, or the last time you pushed through a tune-up flight. Regardless of how effective and efficient your learning was, it can likely be improved. You can even make slight modifications to Gagné’s “Nine Events of Instruction” and be your own instructor to some extent. Yes, emphasis on to some extent.
Obviously, you don’t want to fly in a real airplane without an actual CFI for certain things (like spins, for instance). However, guiding your own learning and proficiency education in a sim using the following steps can dramatically improve the quality and retention of your learning. It also might help you better understand the role you can play in improving your own outcomes the next time you train with a CFI.
Here’s how to do it.
1. Get your head in the game.
For example, watch a video of an entire procedure or maneuver you’re learning or improving. Today, we’ll imagine that maneuver is a crosswind landing with no gusts.
2. Clearly understand the end goal.
Describe out loud the specific procedure you will be able to perform at the end of your self-guided lesson and the level of performance to be achieved. For example, you decide to perform three crosswind landings in a row. At touchdown, the airplane must be no more than three feet off centerline and heading no more than five degrees off of runway heading.
3. Think about related actions or maneuvers.
Recall any skills or knowledge related to some part of crosswind landing techniques. For example, think about the steps used in performing slips.
4. Watch a perfect demonstration.
Watch an in-cockpit video of a pilot performing a perfect crosswind landing, preferably with step-by-step narration. Alternatively, have a CFI demonstrate, either in a simulator or on a real flight.
5. Look at different sources.
All the steps in this list are important, but this one is especially critical. Review clear instructions on crosswind landings from different sources, and watch a few different examples. Take note of any differences in conditions, technique, style, etc., no matter how minor. Think for a minute or two about any opinions you might have about these differences.
6. Give it a go.
Start performing, self-monitoring along the way. Go through the whole process until completion, even when mistakes are made. Correct the mistakes during performance if practical, but don’t stop halfway through and start over too often.
7. Coach yourself while performing.
Analyze your own performance and give yourself feedback in the moment, noting both things that you did well and things that need improvement. Between landing attempts, consider jotting down things you noticed from your last attempt that can be used to improve your next performance.
8. Pose as DPE.
At the end of your training session, evaluate your ability to perform to a set of standards (ACS, your own standards, etc.—both quantitative and qualitative). Decide if you have achieved mastery/proficiency.
9. Etch it into stone.
Practice crosswind landings in different scenarios, such as at various times of day or at different airports. After your sim time, fly the sim again or chair fly crosswind landings the next day, then three days later, then seven days after that. This solidifies the learning and allows you to apply the skill in new, real-world scenarios in the long term.
If you follow these steps with diligence, you can’t help but learn. Even better, the steps are practically universal when it comes to learning a skill that requires you to perform a physical task. Surgeons are just one example of professionals who owe their expertise to training structured upon Gagné’s instructional techniques.
For decades now, Robert Gagné’s theories have been used both in traditional classrooms and across many industries. But you can rest assured that his strategy applies perfectly to pilots. Dr. Gagné created the Nine Events of Instruction when he was hired by the United States Air Force to improve pilot training.
Incidentally, if this article seems to stick in your head a little better than others, there’s a reason for that, because it was written as an instructional document using a modification of Robert Gagné’s theories of learning.