Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

PPL air exerise with most potential risk for flight instructors??

Asked by: 2368 views , , , ,
General Aviation, Private Pilot

When teaching a new student what PPL air exercise has the most potential for danger or biggest risk for the instructor? And is there any way to mitigate these risks? 

I am thinking a stall, because of the initial unframiliarity with the concept and high angle of attack. Also I think this is one where new students tend to panic a bit more than others which can lead to poor decision making. When teaching stalls it's very important to also provide the student with a solid understanding of how a stall occurs and proper recovery.. Many dangers can arise from not only handling skills but also lack of knowledge of the fundamentals of a stall..

BUT

I am also leaning towards a spin for similar reasons. Personally I felt more comfortable learning to recover from a spin than the various stalls. But that may have been because it was later in my training.

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    Kris Kortokrax on Apr 05, 2017

    Stalls and spins are (or should be) conducted at an altitude that allows you time to recover. You can’t collide with the air.

    It is the maneuvers that happen close to the ground that give the greatest potential for risk. Like overrotating on a short field takeoff or crosswind landings where the airplane is not lined up with the runway or is drifting.

    Inadvertent application of brakes during takeoff or landing can be a big problem. As an instructor, you can’t release the brakes once the student has applied them.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Mark Kolber on Apr 06, 2017

    I tend to agree with Kris on this. It’s tempting to think of stalls, especially in terms of the student freezing on the controls in an unintended spin. And yes, that would be a horrible result.

    But a “risk” calculation has two components, only one of which is degree of harm. The other likelihood of occurring. Yes, being hit by a truck while playing in your driveway is devastating (and it happened just a few months ago not too far from me) but how likely is it to happen?

    Low level maneuvering flights and, especially takeoff and landing accidents are far more likely to happen. The injuries may or may not be serious but they are more likely to happen and the CFI has far less time to react.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.