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FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL

conversation, rather than as a formal lecture, and they should again be stressed throughout the course at points where they may be pertinent to any difficulty being experienced.
The instructor will find this time well spent as an increased degree of receptivity by the student will be the result.
A number of the more prevalent of these erroneous ideas are listed below, with appropriate remarks and explanations which may be amplified by the instructor according to individual requirements.

1. That airplanes will "fall" if not constantly given the closest attention or if the engine fails completely.
Flight of any airplane depends on speed. As long as a sufficient minimum speed is maintained, it is an impossibility for the aircraft to fall. Even when this minimum speed is lost, the airplane will only fall the short distance necessary to regain it, and as soon as it is regained, the aircraft will again be flying, even though straight down, and normal flight can easily be resumed at any time.

2. That an aircraft will fall into a spin at the slightest lapse of attention on the part of the pilot.
As a matter of fact, most aircraft, if properly rigged and if left strictly alone, will do a better job of flying than the student can do. A spin is a perfectly normal maneuver and if the controls are simploy turned loose the aircraft will recover normal flight of its own accord. Such characteristics are insured by thorough testing and are required of all commercially certificated aircraft, except the very heavy ships, before an airworthiness certificate is issued.
The worst that can happen if an improperly rigged ship is left to its own devices will be a simple dive or a spiral dive. Any student will have ample knowledge after the first few minutes in the air to recover easily from either of these.

3. That the airplane is maintained in flight through a combination of brute strength and constant violent manipulations of the controls.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. It requires more physical exertion and actual movement to drive an automobile than to fly an aircraft through any normal manuever. As a matter of act, in addition to destroying his peace of mind, the more violently a pilot moves the controls the less actaul control he has of the airplane.

4. That he as an individual is endowed with a natural mechanical ability and aptitude that will make him an expert pilot after a few easy lessons.
It has often been said that, "Flying is the hardest thing in the world to learn and the easiest thing to do." Few students reailze this at first, but the majority are usually easily convinced after the first few attempts, that there is an art to proper flying well worth working to learn. The student who lacks the inherent intelligence to appreciate this fact should be discouraged from further flying. Such a student will eventually come to grief and, in the meantime, be a menace to others as well as himself.

5. That if he has natural ability it will manifest itself with no effort on his part.
This is a belief of the lazy and conceited type of student. In flying, as in other endeavors, anything worth doing is worth doing properly, and effort must be expended to learn to do it properly.