NCAA Flight Instructor cheat sheet

Learning is a change in behaviour resulting from experience; teaching is the deliberate arrangement of conditions that produce that change. Instruction that does not change student performance has not produced learning.

Four levels of learning: rote, understanding, application, correlation. A student who can only recite a procedure is at rote level; correlation is shown by linking the manoeuvre to weather, traffic, and aircraft system effects without prompting.

Laws of learning: readiness, exercise, effect, primacy, recency, intensity, freedom. Primacy means first impressions are hardest to change, so correct technique must be taught from the first lesson rather than corrected later.

Maslow's hierarchy applied to instruction: physiological and safety needs (rest, food, fear of flying, financial worry) must be addressed before esteem and self-actualisation needs, or attention and retention collapse.

Teaching levels: telling (explanation), showing (demonstration), and guiding (supervised practice). The demonstration-performance method requires explanation, demonstration, student performance, instructor supervision, and evaluation.

Effective demonstration criteria: the instructor must be able to perform the manoeuvre correctly, establish the learning set, show the manoeuvre in a logical sequence, and keep the demonstration within the student's comprehension.

Questioning technique: use open questions for analysis and closed questions for quick confirmation; allow 3-5 seconds of wait time, distribute questions across the group, and redirect a question rather than answering it yourself.

Lesson plan components: objective, content, schedule, equipment, instructor's actions, student's actions, completion standards. A lesson without measurable completion standards cannot be evaluated objectively.

Barriers to learning include negative self-concept, fear, anxiety, depression, impatience, and illness; frustration is shown by aggression, withdrawal, fixation, or resignation, and each requires a different instructor response.

Error analysis sequence: observe the performance, compare it with the standard, identify the deviation, determine the cause (knowledge, skill, or attitude), then prescribe the correction and re-test.

Skill errors are usually cueing errors: the student is looking at the wrong instrument or outside reference, or is applying the correction too late. Fix the scan or the visual reference before repeating the manoeuvre.

Knowledge errors show as inconsistent performance across similar situations; attitude errors show as consistent risk-taking, impulsivity, invulnerability, machismo, resignation, or anti-authority behaviour.

Correct the first error immediately in a new manoeuvre; allow small errors to develop in review manoeuvres so the student learns self-correction, but never allow an error to progress to an unsafe state.

The 'sandwich' feedback method (positive, correction, positive) is ineffective if the correction is vague; state the specific deviation, the standard, and the required action.

Common landing errors: ballooning (excess round-out or speed), bouncing (excess sink rate at touchdown), porpoising (mishandled bounce), floating (excess speed), and drifting (failure to correct for crosswind).

Common takeoff errors: premature rotation (low airspeed, high pitch attitude), over-rotation, failure to maintain runway centreline, and failure to establish climb attitude before retracting flaps.

Stalls: a student who recovers by relaxing back pressure only, without reducing angle of attack and adding power, has not learned the recovery; test with a simulated stall in a turn and in a landing configuration.

Record each correction in the student's training record with date, manoeuvre, deviation, and re-test result; this supports the recommendation for a flight test and defends the instructor's judgement.

Slow flight: configure as specified, reduce power to maintain altitude, and hold airspeed just above the stall warning; the objective is control at high angle of attack with coordinated rudder and power.

Power-off stall: reduce power to idle, maintain altitude, and establish a descent at approach speed; recover at the first indication by reducing angle of attack, adding full power, and levelling the wings.

Steep turns at 45 degrees bank: add power to maintain airspeed, apply back pressure to maintain altitude, and use rudder to counter adverse yaw and overbanking tendency; roll out on the entry heading.

Turns around a point: maintain a constant radius by varying bank with groundspeed; steepest bank occurs with a tailwind, shallowest with a headwind, and altitude must be held with power and pitch.

Short-field takeoff: use full available runway, hold brakes, apply full power, rotate at the recommended speed, climb at Vx to clear the obstacle, then transition to Vy.

Short-field landing: approach at 1.3 Vso or the POH speed, cross the threshold at the recommended height, touch down on the mains, retract flaps, and apply maximum braking without skidding.

Go-around: apply full power, establish climb attitude, retract flaps in stages, and only then retract landing gear; never retract gear before a positive rate of climb is confirmed.

Weight and balance: compute takeoff and landing weight, centre of gravity, and check against the envelope; forward CG increases stall speed and pitch force, aft CG reduces stability and can make stall recovery impossible.

Wake turbulence avoidance: fly above the preceding aircraft's flight path and land beyond its touchdown point; on takeoff, rotate before the preceding aircraft's rotation point and climb above its flight path.

Nig. CARs Part 2 governs personnel licensing; a flight instructor rating is issued by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and is valid only while the holder's medical certificate and licence remain valid.

Applicants for a flight instructor rating must hold at least a commercial pilot licence with instrument rating, meet the experience requirements, and pass the appropriate knowledge and flight tests.

A flight instructor must hold a valid Class 1 medical certificate; if it lapses, the instructor may not exercise instructor privileges until it is renewed.

Renewal and revalidation of an instructor rating require recent instructional experience and a proficiency check; the specific hours and recency periods are set in the current Nig. CARs and NCAA advisory material.

Flight instruction may only be given in an aircraft that meets the applicable airworthiness and equipment requirements, and in accordance with the operator's approved procedures.

Student pilots may not carry passengers and may not fly solo without the instructor's endorsement in the logbook and the instructor's confirmation that the student is competent for the specific flight.

The instructor is responsible for pre-flight briefing, in-flight supervision, post-flight debriefing, and accurate endorsement of the student's logbook and training record.

Aircraft accident and incident notification to the NCAA and the Accident Investigation Bureau must follow the timelines and format prescribed in the Nig. CARs; the instructor must not delay notification to complete internal reporting.

Alcohol and drugs: no person may act as a crew member or instructor within the prescribed period after consuming alcohol or while under the influence of any impairing substance; the limits and periods are specified in the Nig. CARs.