{"id":95,"date":"2010-07-05T19:11:24","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T00:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/?p=95"},"modified":"2010-07-05T19:11:24","modified_gmt":"2010-07-06T00:11:24","slug":"can-a-flight-instructor-teach-judgment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/2010\/07\/can-a-flight-instructor-teach-judgment\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a flight instructor teach judgment?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here for our featured aircraft this month<\/a><\/p>\n

There is an old aviation saying: \u201cGood judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment\u201d.\u00a0 And another well known quote that is found in numerous FAA manuals goes like this: \u201cA superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid those situations which require the use of superior skill\u201d.\u00a0 But how do we get that \u201cGood or superior judgment\u201d?\u00a0 The FAA does not tell us flight instructors how to teach judgment.\u00a0 However FAA manuals do define pilot judgment as the mental process by which the pilot recognizes, analyzes, and evaluates information regarding himself\/herself, the aircraft, and the external environment.\u00a0 And they go on to say that good pilot judgment can be developed as part of a flight-crew training program.\u00a0 But the FAA does not mention anything on how to teach judgment, more so good judgment.\u00a0 The FAA does say that the best way to learn good judgment is through flying.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A quote from FAA-P- 8740, Pilot Prerogatives: \u201cYou don’t have to fly every day to be good – to be sharp – but you do have to fly and to practice often. Practice makes better pilots. What is needed, then, is to gain exposure to flying in small, digestible chunks, and to effectively evaluate this experience. This is how judgment is developed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 As an instructor it is easier to fine tune a student\u2019s flying skills than to teach them good judgment.<\/p>\n

Words like sound, good, critical, poor, best, professional are often used to describe what kind of judgment a pilot has or should have.\u00a0 The FAA explains (in very good detail) what can impair our judgment or what can have an adverse effect on our judgment.\u00a0 Designated Pilot Examiners use judgment when conducting a check ride.\u00a0 We as pilots are even taught that good judgment is so critical to flying safely.<\/p>\n

So how do we teach good judgment?\u00a0 When examining this question in the various FAA manuals we find that the FAA does give some clues on teaching good judgment.\u00a0 Judgment goes hand-in-hand with decision making and experience is also used when discussing judgment.\u00a0 So perhaps the key the teaching judgment (good judgment) is to give your students the necessary tools and skills so that they demonstrate \u201cgood\u201d decision making skills, and through their good decision making skills they will gain experience at their own comfort level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pilots can relate to real life stories or experiences from other pilots.\u00a0 There is nothing better than to learn from others mistakes.\u00a0 So when teaching judgment I find that it is best to give real life examples or scenarios.\u00a0 Share with your students your experiences.\u00a0 A good discussion to assist in teaching judgment is a talk about early fuel stops and weather delays.\u00a0 Years ago I was told a story about an airline captain on a flight from the west coast to New York.\u00a0 As the flight neared the Ohio area the talk on the frequency was about a line of storms and that there would be a delay of about an hour getting into New York.\u00a0 ATC was giving holding instructions to pilots and most said that they had enough fuel to hold for over an hour so hold they would.\u00a0 This particular captain had \u201cbe there, done that\u201d and he decided to land short of New York and take on fuel.\u00a0 After landing and refueling he arrived up at altitude only to hear on the frequency that the other flights that decided to hold were getting low on fuel and had to land ASAP for fuel.\u00a0 Our captain displayed good judgment, he evaluated the weather and the amount of traffic on the frequency and with all of that information he knew it was best to land early and get fuel.\u00a0 As it turns out his flight was one of the first into KJFK (the delay ended up being more than 2 hours). Perhaps his good judgment was because of his experience.\u00a0 So back to our question of teaching judgment, we can give our students tools to assist them in their decision making process and thus they will be gaining experience.\u00a0 And it is their experience that will give them good judgment.\u00a0 We as flight instructors may not teach judgment directly however we teach decision making and it is through decision making and experience that pilots learn judgment (good judgment).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here for our featured aircraft this month There is an old aviation saying: \u201cGood judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment\u201d.\u00a0 And another well known quote that is found in numerous FAA manuals goes like this: \u201cA superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid those situations which require the use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p95FsX-1x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3577,"url":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/flight-test\/","url_meta":{"origin":95,"position":0},"title":"Flight Test","date":"October 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"FLIGHT TEST DPE- Do not ask questions during preflight 1. 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Continue testing if maneuver is incomplete\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Newsletters"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":618,"url":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/changes-in-atp-training\/","url_meta":{"origin":95,"position":1},"title":"Changes in ATP Training","date":"April 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The FAA is proposing to make sweeping changes that you should plan for in case they go through.\u00a0 Please read the FAA document available at the link below.\u00a0 Bottom line is if you do not yet have your ATP rating, you best hurry and if you teach ATP students under\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Newsletters"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44,"url":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/2010\/02\/faa-revision-to-sport-pilot-rule-mostly-favorable\/","url_meta":{"origin":95,"position":2},"title":"FAA Revision to Sport Pilot Rule Mostly Favorable","date":"February 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The FAA's long-awaited revisions to the five year-old Sport Pilot\/Light-Sport Aircraft Rule were published Monday, February 1, in the Federal Register. 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We will do the takeoffs &\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Newsletters"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":328,"url":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/fly-fast-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":95,"position":5},"title":"Fly Fast","date":"January 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are some simple tips to help get more speed out of your aircraft.\u00a0 Number one is to relearn what the rudder pedals are for.\u00a0 Hint, they are not foot rest.\u00a0 Anytime you are at the controls of the aircraft your feet should be on the rudder pedals, I often\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Newsletters"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97,"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}