In the March 2021 issue, I discussed the need to restructure the way we teach flying, to focus ab initio training on developing habits that don’t have to be unlearned as one progresses through flight training and into advanced ratings and operations. The classic example is developing in students the habit of using airspeed as a measure of how close the airplane is to stalling. As I discussed in that article, the problem with developing this habit is that angle of attack (AOA) is what determines how close we are to stalling, and that airspeed is only one (imperfect) way to measure it.
Habits are learned things that we do when certain cues or trigger events are recognized by our senses and sent to the brain. Almost everything we do routinely eventually becomes habit. The problem is our brain can’t quickly tell us the difference between a good habit and a bad one. Flying an airplane is no different. If you are landing on Runway 36 and winds are from 090 at 10 knots, your brain tells you that you have a crosswind from the right. The way you compensate for the crosswind, smoothly touch down and maintain directional control as you roll out is learned behavior, a habit formed after training and practice.
