Private Pilot Flight Training and Instruction Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM Teaching Precepts Docendo Discimus...We learn by teaching. When by yourself, you are the instructor. You don't know what you don't know. Much of what you think you know is incorrect. Together, we must find out why you don't know what you don't know. It is practice of the right kind that makes perfect. You will never do well if you stop doing better. Students never fail, only teachers do. A student's performance is not so much a reflection on the student, as it is on the instructor's ability to teach. Learning is not a straight line up...let the teacher set the standards of performance. Much of learning to fly is to unlearn preconceptions and habits. Unlearning is a very necessary and difficult part of learning to fly. The way you are first taught and learn a procedure is the way you will react in an emergency. It's important to learn right the first time. You learn according to what you bring into the situation. Being prepared for a flight saves you money by saving time. Given the choice, make the safe decision. If you must make a mistake, make it a new one. One problem is a problem, two problems are a hazard; three problems create accidents. It's great to be good; even better to be lucky. Trusting to luck alone is not conducive to an extended flying career. We progress through repeated success; we learn through our mistakes. An instructors knowledge is proportional to the mistakes he's made My writings use the editorial "he" for convenience not because of any sexism. However, left handers have an advantage. Good habits deteriorate over time and bad habits take root. Accidents happen when you run out of experience. Self instruction is the garden that raises bad habits. Our failures teach us. If you want to increase your chances of success, double your efforts. ... almost always. Nothing is always. Luck will do for skill, but not consistently. One should never underestimate the stimulation of eccentricity in a teacher. It challenges the teacher, too, when occurring in a student. The nice thing about a mistake is the pleasure it gives others. If you fly long enough the 'answer' is going to be "Carburetor Heat". Never underestimate the stimulation of eccentricity. You're only young once, but you can be immature forever. Flying, like life, is full of precluded possibilities. Can't do...won't do... shouldn't do... What you know is not as important as what you do with it. Legendary Lucille Ball gave this statement that very much applies to flying, "Knowing what you can't do is more important than knowing what you can do." Written by Gene Whitt Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM