TEACHING BY SHOUTING – B25 MITCHELL ‘PANCHITO’

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Instructing people how to fly an aircraft, whether it is for a private pilot’s licence or just a familiarisation ride, demands a set of interpersonal skills which both guarantee the safety of the aircraft and impart knowledge to the student/receiver.? Whilst each instructor will have their own individual style based on their experience and character it is my view that the methods used should be both calm and coherent, to ensure communication effectiveness and, of course, good CRM.

I had arrived at the United States Navy Test Pilots’ School for one of my regular visits as Officer Commanding ETPS, coinciding with the ‘Preview’ event for that year’s course.? I wasn’t really expecting any special events beyond the normal qualeval flight on one of USNTPS’ many aircraft types, which was the norm for any visits (it worked both ways).? However, on arrival from Washington DC I was quickly directed toward a briefing room where I was told to expect a flight briefing.? It soon became clear this wasn’t the normal qualeval experience and I was to fly in the B-25 Mitchell along with another one of the USNTPS instructors.

The briefing was pretty standard and we walked out to the aircraft ‘Panchito’ for our flight on a bright late October day.? I was second up in the cockpit so went to my seat in the cabin and readied myself for take-off.? Despite the age of the aircraft we were soon on our way and I settled on sitting in the nose area which had the best view.? Because of the nature of the intercom system I didn’t hear any of the other pilot’s experience and was just able to enjoy the scenery of Southern Maryland.

It was then my turn to sit in the left hand seat and it was clear that this was going to be a higher workload experience.? No sooner had I sat in the seat than the instructor started to bark instructions at me whilst taking over the throttle levers irrespective of what I was attempting to do with them.? Now I might be a helicopter pilot but I can certainly fly a fixed wing aircraft (I hold a ppl) without two much difficulty and at the time was also qualified on the Tucano turboprop.? It was very disconcerting to be quite so under verbal attack the whole time since I was definitely flying the aircraft within normal tolerances and certainly nothing to be worried about.

Once we had completed some up and away manoeuvres it was time to move on to circuits at the Naval Air Station.? The shouting and control interference then began to increase and at points I certainly didn’t feel I was in control of the aircraft.? It wasn’t particularly difficult to fly the aircraft accurately on the approach, but it felt like I was never going to be allowed to.? Each of my 3 landings was fine but you would never have guessed from the commentary and there was certainly no effort made to express anything like encouragement or praise.? I came away from the flight happy to have flown in the aircraft but underwhelmed by the whole experience, and I was CO of a test pilots’ school.? I hate to think what more junior students felt afterwards.

Whilst the instructor might have been nervous about the aircraft being damaged or the the skill level of the pilots there was certainly no need for the aggressive nature of his instruction.? I have over 1000 hours of instructional experience and firmly believe a firm, clam and reinforcing nature gets the best our of a student, whatever their experience.? Yes I have flown a B-25 but it would have been a much better learning experience if I had actually enjoyed it.