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3 Answers

Instructor hands on yoke

Asked by: 3857 views Private Pilot

How much should an instructor keep his hands on the yoke while a proven, competent student is performing maneuvers ? 

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3 Answers



  1. John D Collins on May 26, 2014

    The instructor should be ready at all times to take over control of the aircraft if it exceeds the instructors limits that they feel comfortable with. This doesn’t usually require that the instructor have their hands on the controls once a student has demonstrated a minimum amount of competency. This is an instructor option and can depend as much on the confidence the instructor has in themselves as they have in the student.

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  2. Bob Watson on May 28, 2014

    The distance between the instructor’s hands and the control is definitely in direct proportion to the instructors faith in his/her student and the instructor’s ability to correct any errors. When I learned to fly airplanes, that distance was measured in inches. When I took helicopter lessons, it was measured in millimeters (and for good reason!).

    Assuming this was in an airplane, if you’re more than 1,000 ft AGL, I can’t think of too many non-aerobatic maneuvers where the instructor couldn’t see things falling apart in time to correct them. As an instructor, you have to let the student see and correct their own mistakes or they’ll never learn. Usually, all the instructor has to do is remind the student of what’s happening–often with just a word. e.g. “airspeed,” “power,” “bank,” etc.

    However, I’m guessing this isn’t the instructor who’s posing the question. To the student, if you have a nervous instructor, you might be able to calm them by talking through your maneuvers. It’ll be good review and practice for you and might settle your instructor a bit. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to talk to him/her and let them know this is also making you nervous and if that’s how he/she needs to work, then maybe he/she could recommend another instructor to you.

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  3. Mike Sprague on May 28, 2014

    Thanks for the feedback – and I completely agree on airplane vs. helicopter and altitude etc. as I’ve spent time learning to hover an R22. I’m a “return to flying” private pilot (kids and college made it hard to budget flying for a hobby) but it’s been a long time. I was trying to determine if I should change instructors as this guy was keeping his hands on the yoke almost the entire time and for every maneuver. This was both making me nervous and I could not completely tell if it were me, him, or the airplane. While I’ve had just a little over 2 hours with this instructor he keeps his hands on the yoke most of the time. S turns, stalls, takeoffs and landings his hands are riding on the yoke. I’ve never made any radical or inappropriate movements of the yoke but I can often feel his slight pressure or feedback in the yoke. One time we hit a moderate bump while he was doing something on his iPad and he reacted abruptly and grabbed the yoke. I was completely calm and just rode through the turbulence but I found that behavior a little unusual ( we were straight and level at 2,000 Ft AGL and just had the wings rock ). I performed 4 landings straight down the center-line with a nice flare resulting in decent landings. These were on a wide, long hard surface with no cross wind or gusts to be concerned. I’m pretty sure I did the landings – at least it felt like I did – but his hands were on the yoke most of the time. I think I’ll give him one more hour. To be honest, the flying skills are coming back quickly, the radio work, more complex airspace, and the G1000 is the steeper learning curve.

    To summarize the comments, the more confident the instructor is in the students abilities the more hands off. But equally, and possibly more important is the confidence in the instructors own abilities .

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