As a student pilot, you’ll undergo hours of ground school and flight simulator training, and each stage of your training will require you to correctly apply the things you’ve learned in order to progress through the course. With so many exams and modules to study for, as well as the pressure to ace the course, it’s easy to succumb to your nervousness and make mistakes during your training.
Although it’s common for student pilots to make mistakes while taking their type rating course or pilot license certification, making the same mistakes over and over will affect their performance and confidence as a pilot. If flight instructors don’t see any improvements, they’ll have to give their students a failing mark. To help ensure that you avoid failing your training course, let’s look at the 5 common mistakes student pilots make so you can avoid them.
Placing Too Much Focus on What’s Inside the Cockpit
When you’re flying a plane, you have to make sure that you’re paying attention to what’s going on both inside and outside the cockpit. It’s easy to think that just because you’re thousands of feet up in the air, you don’t have to spend so much time looking outside the window since it’s just nothing but you, your plane, and the skies. However, forgetting about what’s going on outside the plane causes you to miss out on important flight details such as the weather and air traffic. You have to make sure that you dedicate enough time to focus your attention on what’s going on outside the aircraft as well as inside the cockpit. The FAA recommends that 20% of your time must be spent checking your instruments while the remaining 80% is spent looking outside the aircraft.
Overlooking Things from the Pre-Flight Checklist
Flying a plane is an exhilarating experience, but it’s unwise to let the anticipation of soaring through the skies get the best of you. Before you can even get the plane off the runway, you have to perform a thorough pre-flight check. After all, conducting a pre-flight check is a standard procedure as it helps ensure the safety of your flight.
If you’re too consumed by your excitement during your standard pre-flight check, you’re likely to overlook simple tasks like checking the fuel gauges, setting the trim, or fastening your seatbelt. When you’re a pilot, you have to remind yourself that the way you conduct your SOPs can determine the success of your flight. That’s why it’s important to stay focused and calm, and never forget to perform the pre-flight check procedure.
Not Having Proper Control of the Aircraft
It’s no secret that airplanes are sophisticated machines designed to transport people and cargo, so sitting behind its controls can make you feel nervous. With so many instruments and systems to keep an eye on, you might be overwhelmed by the number of things you need to keep track of. As a result, you miss out on important details that can affect your flight.
A lot of student pilots tend to overexert their control of the plane when they get anxious and realize that they’ve made a mistake. Even if the mistake is minor, they tend to start adjusting the controls wildly or pressing buttons aggressively to try to correct the situation. However, over-controlling the aircraft can result in exacerbating the problem, and this could put the lives of the people on the plane in danger. Therefore, you have to keep in mind that the plane only requires you to make small movements and adjustments to ensure proper control of the aircraft.
Not Studying and Preparing Enough for the Exams
Although flying a plane looks fun, it isn’t easy. There are a lot of factors that go into the entire flight procedure, and your instructor won’t hesitate to ask you questions regarding each stage of a flight during your exam. Even if you think that your skills are good enough to ace your training, it’s still not a good reason not to study for your exam. Being too overconfident can set you up for failure because, when you’re blinded by your own biases, you can easily forget your flight SOPs and start making mistakes.
This is the reason why flight instructors and successful pilots can’t stress enough how important studying for your exam is. Coming prepared to your exam will not only increase your chances of passing, but it’ll also show your instructor that you’re passionate about having a career in aviation.
Not Having the Right Attitude
You’ll face a lot of challenges during the course of your training. However, if you commit to your training with the right attitude, you’ll be much more motivated to study hard and build a strong relationship with your flight instructor and your fellow student pilots. Having the right attitude will help you focus on your goals and get you through the hardships you may encounter. By keeping the right mindset all throughout your training, your flight crew will be more comfortable communicating with you and helping you ensure the success of your flight.
Completing any kind of aviation training course is challenging, and a lot of student pilots struggle to get through their training. Flight instructors are aware of the difficulties their students face, so they know it’ll take some time for their students to get their SOPs right and feel comfortable whenever they need to pilot an aircraft.
Although flight instructors give student pilots some leeway for their mistakes, making the same mistakes continuously can cause student pilots to fail the course. By being aware of the common mistakes student pilots make, you have a better chance of avoiding them and passing the course with flying colors.