TIPS FOR NON-VITAL STUDENTS

The content of this page will change frequently. The information here can fill a book and, in fact, represents the contents of our "LEARNING TO FLY IN CANADA" book spread over a couple of years of web pages.

Not everyone visiting this site will be fortunate enough to train with Vital, so if we can’t have you as a customer, perhaps we can have you as a friend with the following ‘Vital’ advice.

Tip No. 12: COMFORT LEVEL

There are many licensed pilots (as well as students) who come to us from other flying schools complaining “I can fly alright but I never feel completely comfortable!”

This is common but usually unnecessary. Some will have picked up on the terminology used by regular pilots who refer to “uncomfortable” people as “white-knuckle” pilots.

It is an acquired habit that cannot be reversed. It is usually caused by one or more of the following factors:

1.         Schools that make their students fly in less than perfect conditions during the first few lessons. (This is because the school cannot afford the loss of revenue when your appointment is cancelled.)

2.         Instructors who show off and do extreme maneuvers early in the training schedule to “impress” new students.

3.         Instructors who get bored with the basic initial exercises (such as straight-and-level) and rush their students on to new exercises before they have had a chance to consolidate the simple steps first.

4.         Instructors who (perhaps unwittingly) demonstrate through their own example that it is necessary to maintain a tight grip on the control column.

5.         Instructors who do not realize that the greatest comfort–producing aid is verbalization: teaching their students to talk out loud about what they are thinking, feeling, and doing.

The only way to avoid becoming a white-knuckle pilot is to make sure none of the above factors creep into your training when you first start to fly.

Tip # 3 "FAM FLIGHTS"

Tip # 6 "GROUND SCHOOL KITS"

Tip # 10 "SOARING COSTS"

Tip#11 "INSTRUCTOR SHORTAGE"