Getting students to line up with the center line

Ask the students where they are looking.
Probably just over the nose.
Tell them it is like driving a car... look down the road (runway) to
the end or beyond.

The runway should be lined up in front of the pilot, not in front of the
airplane. Many new (and even some experienced) pilots put the runway on the
nose. It will look funny at first, but put the runway in the middle of the
pilot's side of the window.

Jose

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EDR erood@rrohio wrote:

Ask the students where they are looking. Probably
just over the nose. Tell them it is like driving a
car... look down the road (runway) to the end or
beyond.

That's what helped me. As a glider pilot (tandem seating) transitioning to
power, everyone said I would be overwhelmed by the radios. The radios were not
a problem ... what gave me the most trouble was sitting on the left side of the
airplane and lining up with the centerline! My instructor on final would say:
"Line yourself up with the centerline" and I'd say, "I *AM*!"--looked like it
to me! Not only did getting my eyes up off the nose and down the runway help
with lining up the aircraft, it also helped solve the problem of flaring too
soon and too high and bouncing. Didn't bounce when doing touch-n-gos, only full
stops -- glider instructor said it was because my eyes were fixated too close
to the airplane on the full stops, whereas doing the T&Gs, you automatically
look down the runway. Made perfect sense. Faking myself out that I was always
going to do T&Gs helped solidify the habit of "eyes down the runway." I still
find it amazing what a big difference a seemingly little thing like that could
make!
--Shirley