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Skills and Habits

The skills in this segment require handling the aircraft in a wider range of flight. While all flight requires co-ordination in the sense that moving one control affects the others, the student is introduced to manoeuvres such as the sideslip or incipient spin, which call for different movements than were encountered in the basic stage.

The takeoff and landing require refinement of slow flying skills, and the introduction to the aircraft’s ground path, as opposed to how it moves in the air alone, and how wind affects this. Coupled with the circuit, the student must now develop some understanding of glide path and the effect of the wind on the relative glide ratio.

Students should now learn how to fly on course as opposed to just keeping the wings level and be able to locate the airfield at all times. They should also begin mastering the control and monitoring aspects of abnormal and emergency situations and begin participating in the planning aspects of the flight.

In addition to control and monitoring, the student should be able to fly and at the same time perform all of the closed planning tasks. This means that the instructor should not have to take over the flying at any time while the student performs checks or lookouts. The instructor should be able to talk the student through most closed tasks and man of the more open kind.  In addition to those asked of Basic students, the Intermediate Student should:

  1. Start all checks without prompting.
  2. Fly the aircraft with good co-ordination and attention to the yaw string.
  3. Re-trim the aircraft when the attitude is changed.
  4. Be able to locate the airfield using key landmarks.
  5. Recognize and communicate the prime decision heights (300' and 1000').
  6. Always re-check the wind speed and direction after entering the base leg.
  7. Take advantage of the appropriate points to track traffic in the circuit.