MentorLIVE #78: When A Student Is Frozen On The Flight Controls: What You Need To Know

[from Nathan Ballard - WINGS Description, Review, Summary.docx – not SPANS] NAFI MentorLIVE – March, 2024 Description, WINGS Course Summary, & WINGS Course Review To view the referenced presentation, see the March, 2024 MentorLIVE presented by Nathan Ballard. Brief Description A learner or certificated pilot, frozen on the flight controls can kill you, if you don’t do something about it quickly. Flight training can be incredibly stressful at times.  When a person is stressed, they may react in a way that you (a CFI), must anticipate.  A fight, flight, or freeze response is a physiological reaction that happens in response to a high stress situation. These behaviors are hardwired into our DNA, and no two people react the same way when something potentially traumatic occurs. The Freeze is the one response to severe stress that you, as a CFI, must be prepared to address at all times. The instructor community and aviation community have lost many fine people to Freeze events.  Understanding, detecting, and responding to a Freeze occurrence may save your life. WINGS Course Summary Far too often, the aviation training community focuses almost exclusively on helping our students meet and exceed maneuvers and tasks in the Airman Certification Standards (ACS). However, there is much more that instructors can and pass on to their students. Helping instructors and non-CFI pilots recognize and mitigate the risk involved when a student is locked on the flight controls. The flight instructor community is constantly being refreshed with new teachers, as so many leave the profession immediately when they hit 1500 hours. We need to be teaching flight instructors how to recognize this life-or-death freeze risk, and also how to teach recognition of this issue to others. WINGs Course Review As a flight instructor you have the opportunity to pass on a lesson that could save the lives of yourself, your passengers, and people on the ground. This WINGS course presents a deep dive into a freeze event from a real-world occurrence that occurred with the presenter and his student.  The course also reviews tragic examples of the Freeze event, that ended in fatal accidents.   Most importantly, you will learn how to spot specific indicators of an impending freeze, as well as what to do if you find yourself flying with a pilot who has locked their hands on the flight controls.