Instruction Visual Aids/Supplements

tonyg1130

Filing Flight Plan
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Aug 21, 2020
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Tony
Hey everyone, first post here. I'm training for CFI and am fascinated by how different people learn. I thought it could be a neat thread if people posted some of the best 'visual aids' that have helped you understand a particular aspect of flying. For example, a link to a YouTube video or image that really helped you grasp a concept or maneuver.

I am interested in things that have helped YOU learn, not necessarily something you have used to help other people learn.
 
Good morning! I am currently studying for the PPL written and was missing a lot of questions on the practice tests regarding airspace until I watched this video. I realize you are specifically talking about flight skills, but if you ever teach ground this helped me more than anything else. Once I drew it out a few times, I was good to go on airspace by memory.

 
Styrofoam cup to illustrate compass errors and a corkscrew to illustrate how a prop governor works were good ones for me.
 
Dang. Can’t find that scene from Hot Shots, or was it Part Deux that had hands on the end of sticks instead of airplanes
 
Styrofoam cup to illustrate compass errors and a corkscrew to illustrate how a prop governor works were good ones for me.

Thanks, but would you flesh out those visual aids? I'm not familiar with either.
 
Good morning! I am currently studying for the PPL written and was missing a lot of questions on the practice tests regarding airspace until I watched this video. I realize you are specifically talking about flight skills, but if you ever teach ground this helped me more than anything else. Once I drew it out a few times, I was good to go on airspace by memory.


This is a perfect example of why learning is fascinating to me. After watching that video my head is spinning! For me I was able to pick up airspace fairly easily by just memorizing the chart, but it's such a great reminder that as teachers we must remember our students don't all learn like we do! Appreciate the video! Good luck on your PPL training, you can do it!
 
When I was picking a spot landing, my instructor told me to imagine that spot coming right at my chest. Not my head, not anything on the aircraft, but my chest. Yeah, it sounds weird but it worked for me. I made me visualize where I was going to land and accounted for the time in the flare.

Don't know if that will make sense for other students but it did for me.
 
Thanks, but would you flesh out those visual aids? I'm not familiar with either.
The styrofoam cup visual aid:

Hold a styrofoam cup upside down and write 30, 60, 90....360 in (obviously) 30-degree increments around the top of the cup, which is on the bottom as you’re holding it. Looking at the cup, 60 will be to the left of 30, 90 will be to the left of 60, etc., just like a whiskey compass. Or you could just do N, E, S, W if you choose.

take a pencil and poke it through the cup, entering above 360 (or N), and exiting above 180 (or S). The point of the pencil points north, so as you’re facing north, you see the eraser end of the pencil above 360 (or N). The pencil is the magnet, and the pointy end points toward the north magnetic pole.

As long as the compass is vertical, it’s accurate. But the earth’s magnetic field isn’t parallel to he surface of the earth. If you initiate a left turn from north, the compass will bank with the airplane. In the northern hemisphere, the pointy end of the magnet will get pulled down (the north magnetic pole isn’t at your altitude, it’s under the surface of the earth), and the compass will indicate a turn to the right initially, and lag behind the actual heading, with the error decreasing until you get to west, at which point there will be no turning error.

same for acceleration/deceleration on east/west headings.
 
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