A reluctance to take the controls

Lots of people, men and women have a desire to not look
stupid or incompetent in public. It is a little like the
public speaking phobia. If you are not a dancer, you would
probably not get up on a stage. If you're not a pilot,
ditto.

What a CFI does, is explain, demonstrate and explain.
Pilots know it is easy. But usually, when a CFI is
involved, there is already an eager student.

Point out the visual references used to control the
airplane. Act like a tour guide not a CFI, "See over the
wing tip, that's the Mississippi River and over the other
wing is the other branch of the Missouri River. That's the
St.Louis Arch straight ahead." Drop a casual comment about
using your finger tips to move the airplane to keep the
landmarks in view.

Then ask if they want to try it. People now what they don't
know [unless they're drunk] and without a little coaching
about "how to DIY" they will decline to learn in public.



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
| In any case, kudos to Mary for *asking* instead of making
her feel
| compelled to take the controls. I hate it when someone
"asks" you to do
| something in such a way that you feel you can't
comfortably decline. You
| *do* realize, don't you Jay, that if you made her feel
dumb, afraid or
| like she disappointed *you* because she declined that
you may have just
| made her think twice about going up with you again.
There's a reason for
| the term "different strokes".
|
| You would do well to concentrate on the topic at hand,
rather than
| making gross generalizations and speculating about things
I personally
| might have said or done.
|
| No one was made to feel dumb, and no one was disappointed
because she
| didn't take the controls. I brought this subject up
simply because I
| found her lack of eagerness puzzling, and I believe that
understanding
| this could perhaps be key to figuring out how to get MORE
people
| interested in flying.
| --
| Jay Honeck
| Iowa City, IA
| Pathfinder N56993
| www.AlexisParkInn.com
| "Your Aviation Destination"
|