The Art of the Subgoal

This line comes from Max Ehrmann's poem "Desiderata." I find myself quoting this or paraphrasing it when I encounter student pilots who become discouraged when they compare their progress to a family member who also pursued a pilot certificate. You can dig yourself a well of despair when you do this.

One particularly memorable learner was the 20-something wondering why he hadn't soloed yet. He said his grandfather had soloed at six hours in 1940, flying a J-3 Cub as a member of the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). 

The grandson was approaching hour 10 dual given and wasn’t quite ready for solo as he sometimes got behind the airplane in the pattern and dropped the airplane to fly the radio. We discussed this and how to mitigate these challenges. Part of the problem was that his lessons had been spread out over several weeks. His flight lessons were stretched out over three months for financial reasons. The combination of not flying on a regular basis and what he perceived as family pressure weighed heavily on him, and he became frustrated and discouraged.

He was paying his own way under Part 61, and I reminded him that he was having a completely different training experience than his grandfather, who was trained in the CPTP. 

The CPTP was created prior to the start of World War II as the U.S. military did not have many trained pilots, and other nations, notably Germany and Italy, were pushing civilian training programs. The CPTP established contracts with colleges and universities that offered low-cost or no-cost flight training to selected students.

One of my mentors, Mary Jean Sturdevant, learned to fly in the CPTP as a student at Southern States University. Her class was 10 students: eight males, two females. They received 72 hours of ground school and a minimum of 35 to a maximum of 50 hours of flight instruction. They flew several times a week. Learning absolutely took place with that kind of concentration. The men went on to become pilots in the military. The women, like Studevant, became flight instructors—and members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

I shared this with the learner, hoping to lift the mental block that had dropped on him. It's awfully hard to learn when you are discouraged, and you can get in your way expecting too much too quickly. 

When it comes to discouragement, it is helpful to identify subgoals to keep moving forward.

For example, you could focus on perfecting your radio calls on a flight, or using the sectional and pilotage to find that one airport everyone swears has a cloaking device because it’s so hard to find without a GPS. Perfect steep turns using rudder and trim, flying the pattern, and doing a go-around unless the approach is absolutely perfect. Achieving subgoals can be an excellent way to boost your confidence and skill with the airplane.

How the CFI addresses the struggling learner separates the professional CFIs and experience builders from the time builders. Having the “I may not be the right instructor for you” discussion is often in the best interest of the learner. It’s a challenge to have this talk, because learners often become very attached to their instructors and some may feel like their CFI is trying to get rid of them.

Suggest the learner fly with another CFI as a diagnostic tool. When you fly with the same person time after time, they become accustomed to your patterns and may be slower to notice issues. It’s sort of like when you are planning to repaint your home, and you’ve stopped seeing the three swatches of different colors of paint on the living room wall, but that is the first thing a guest notices when they enter your home.

Choose the diagnostic instructor carefully. You want someone with good communications skills and attention to detail. “They flew pretty good,” or “They were terrible” are not effective communication.

The diagnostic CFI should look for adherence to check list use, airport procedures, and meeting the airman certification standards or close to it. If a soft spot is identified the next step is sitting down with the learner to brainstorm and apply the solution.

Sometimes the act of seeing that the CFI is taking extra care to help them reach their goals is enough to bring the learner out of their funk—and learning takes place.