Page 21 - Volume 20 Number 8

raining Wellcan’t be altered, but we can try different methods to meet the goals.I stop to take a look at the pasture – the whole pasture. Some of the turns caught me dozing and I see sprigs of survivor weeds still standing. I’ll plan a clean-up pass to knock them down. We need to take stock of each student in the class near the end of the training to make sure we didn’t forget to cover a vital detail. This is where a second opinion from a fellow instructor can be valuable, looking for things we didn’t see.Sooner than we thought, the job is done. We can take satisfaction in looking back at what we’ve done, leaving the world a little nicer than when we found it. If we put one more mortal on his personal path to the stars, giving them the opportunity to guide a set of wings wherever they wish to go, it’s a job well done. Other fields await, but w•e can take a moment to savor the clean look of the one we’ve just done. T&TTempted to rush, I must resist and actually gear down to keep the mower’s speed up through the turn’s slowdown. When flight training gets to advanced stages, we need to raise our expectations to hone skills even sharper. Landing anywhere on the runway is no longer good enough; we must pick a runway marker and give ourselves a narrow window in which to plant the wheels.As the short rows come into view, we’ll change our mowing technique, cutting only two sides instead of four because there isn’t time to swing around the narrow ends. I revert to swathing like an aerial applicator spraying crops, turning 30 degrees to the right, then making a teardrop back to the left to line up with a minimum of effort.Efficiency demands innovation, in flight training as well as weed- whacking. That’s how we reduce wasted motion and move to the finish more quickly. A good syllabus will have the student working on the next thing next, blending in new work without repeating aimlessly.Having a plan makes any important job go smoother. I drove into the pasture knowing what I wanted to do. Had I never seen it before, I would have studied the hazards and taken the first cuts more slowly than usual. Occasionally, non-typical students show up, often inherited from other instructors needing a second opinion on their work. Physical limitations, apprehension and prior failures may require a slower start. The plan’s outcomeAUGUST 2016TWIN & TURBINE • 19T