Show, don’t just tell. It’s a key thing we learn as instructors—that few of our students get the message when we simply tell them a procedure or concept, without a picture or a demonstration to accompany it. Even the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook notes that the combination of sight and hearing accounts for 88 percent of what people learn—with only 13 percent for hearing alone—and regardless of what you think of that tome on learning theory, it rings true with my experience over the years.
An Illustrated Guide to Flying by expert aviation author and instructor Barry Schiff introduces key concepts and provides a solid orientation for those new to aviation using the effective combination of succinct words and copious illustrations and photos. The full-color, 216-page book, published by Aviation Supplies & Academics (ASA), came out this week, just in time to tuck it into a budding pilot’s stocking—or get it on your wish list for the new year. It’s a great first read for folks who have been considering learning to fly—or who are really anywhere in the process of initial flight training.
