This is an exciting time for most students, as they get to do most of the flying, yet are still not ultimately responsible for it. During this stage they do become responsible for all of the closed and most of the open flying tasks and any judgement decisions of a closed nature also become their responsibility. On the whole it is a relatively carefree time with great feelings of progress at each outing.
Learning the takeoff, the aerotow, and the landing are major pre-solo milestones and represent abou the halfway point in the training. More than anything, the first landing can convince students that they have what it takes to be pilots.
Although the basic transitions from one zone to the next have not changed, the student for the most part is still in the ‘Yellow’ zone for most of free flight. Student flight planning is still not focused on soaring, or position relative to the airfield under varied conditions. Their main concern on each flight is planning to fly towards the circuit entry point and entering the circuit at a safe height. At the end of this segment, students should be able to recognize the ‘red’, ‘yellow’, and ‘green’ situations and understand what emphasis to place on the controlling, monitoring, and planning activities in each case. More than ever instructors should try to promote the right balance of these flight activities for each type of situation. There must be constant reinforcement in this regard. This will help greatly in coping with the demands presented in the advanced stage.
Instructors must also be careful at this stage in not upping the demands too quickly. Don’t be in a rush to see if they have the ‘right stuff’ at this stage. Be very conscious that stress can move a situation from the ‘green’ quickly to the ‘red’. The intermediate pilot is still trying to sort out and solidify the basics, and there is plenty of time to challenge them as advanced students. In fact this is one of the criteria in becoming an advanced student, the readiness to take on these challenges. This readiness is only apparent at the end of the intermediate stage.