Ryan S's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: From Student to Pilot - Avoiding Deadly Mistakes
BASIS Advisor: John Goodwin
Internship Location: Sierra Charlie Aviation
Onsite Mentor: Don Standhardt, Owner, Sierra Charlie Aviation



Project Abstract

I plan on studying and reviewing how pilots are trained, from their initial student pilot license all the way up to an airline transportation license. Focusing on my research and project design itself, I aim to study and collect data on various mistakes student pilots make during their training, how it affects their training and future, and most importantly how those mistakes can be prevented. Through my site placement I aspire to gather data on student pilot training (maybe pilots from other license training such as pilots training for their instrument license), mostly through stage checks - a test composed of both practical and applied knowledge on the ground and in the air. From these tests and data gathered I want to compile mistakes made in these tests (and from general flying) and create a way to prevent them. To do this, I will make a list of the general areas that are deemed unsatisfactory or not proficient, confer with my advisor in my site placement at Sierra Charlie Aviation, and conclude with a lesson plan containing methods to fix the mistakes made for students. The lesson plan will mostly be informative for all of the instructors to apply to their lessons, but I will also include a different universal way of teaching a certain lesson/topic.

    My Posts:

  • Conclusion

    Hello everyone! This is it - the final blog post! This project has been fun (with its ups and downs of course), and I would like to thank everyone who made this project possible. Thank you to Mrs. Bennett and her aid to my project, and thank you to my site placement Sierra Charlie Aviation... Read More

  • Tenth Update

    Hello everyone! This week I was successfully able to implement my final product into the syllabus at my flight school! I went through the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Information this past week and found matching chapters for all of the ground lessons, as well as expanding the sub-sections of the material covered within the lessons.... Read More

  • Ninth Update

    Hello everyone! This week I continued to work on my final product. With my site advisor, I was able to dive deeper into the syllabus structure of student pilot training, and gain exposure into how the coarse is laid out from start to end. I researched different areas to add to the syllabus, ranging from... Read More

  • Eighth Update

    Hello everyone! This week I focused on coming up with a final conclusion/product for my project. Looking at multiple variables and potential paths to go down, I chose to investigate and edit the coarse syllabus for student pilots. The other option I had was to work with my site advisor to try to standardize instruction,... Read More

  • Seventh Update

    Hello everyone! This week I mainly focused on bringing my paper together and connecting all of the data collected, as well as transition my literature review into the rest of my paper. Since I have collected all of the data I need for this project, I no longer need to focus on interviewing instructors. Instead,... Read More

  • Sixth Update

    Hello everyone! This week, I met and talked directly with my site advisor. We went over the findings and data I have gathered so far, and worked on where I could gather even more information. I explained some preemptive conclusions I had arrived at through the information I had learned with the instructors, and to... Read More

  • Fifth Update

    Hello everyone! This week I've focused on consolidating my data and attempting to draw a path to take a conclusion. Since I was out of town for a lot this week, I was not able to meet with my site placement as much. However, I was able to gather my data and bring it to... Read More

  • Fourth Update

    Hello everyone! I met with my site placement again recently hoping to further study where I left off last post. Unfortunately, I was not able to interact with more student instructors, as the class was not in session, and I was not able to catch any stray students. However, I was able to talk again... Read More

  • Third Update

    Hello everyone! For this update I would like to present a more thorough analysis in the scope of my project through my site placement. I have been able to talk to even more  instructors, and in addition, more students training to become instructors themselves. In a previous meeting at my site placement I was able... Read More

  • Second Update – Initial Data

    Hello everyone! Today was my first official meeting with my site placement, and also my first opportunity to gather data. After sitting down and meeting with my site advisor, I was able to speak with instructors themselves and begin asking questions regarding their training. I started by talking with 2 instructors, asking how their personal... Read More

  • First Update – Site Placement

    In the past week I've been in further contact with my site placement at Sierra Charlie Aviation. As my research into previous studies and data collection continues, I've narrowed down my scope of focus as to what I want out of my site placement. Given access to data from instructors and students' training, I will... Read More

  • First Post – Student Pilot Research

    Since becoming an airline pilot is my ultimate career goal, I've decided to revolve my research project around the journey of student pilots as they train to become private pilots. Being a student pilot myself, I've experienced hours of training and flight time, attempting to fully absorb every ounce of information thrown at me. Although... Read More