Overcoming Bad Habits

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 09:32 AM ET

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This image shows an airplane about to lift off but still primarily governed by the rules relating to the two-dimensional world. A miscue at this point would likely result in some sort of ground loop or similar event.

Key Takeaways:

Initial flight training often instills "two-dimensional" habits (like driving) that are inadequate or dangerous in the "three-dimensional" aerodynamic environment of flight.
These transferred habits manifest in critical areas such as stall recognition (relying on airspeed instead of angle of attack), power management, and landing techniques, leading to delayed or incorrect responses.
Such ingrained errors contribute significantly to loss-of-control incidents, the leading cause of fatal accidents, highlighting the need for flight training to focus on developing correct "pitch-and-power" habits from the outset.

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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.

This image shows the same airplane after it attains its own center of gravity, i.e., while it’s airborne. Even though it’s still close to the ground, a miscue at this point would be aerodynamic and in three dimensions. At this point, aerodynamic habits are necessary for proper control.

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.