2.4 (12) The First Stage Check & Learning Plateau
Almost Spin! Stall Recovery
With the first stage check approaching, I practiced hard—reviewing procedures and doing mental drills for airwork, go-arounds, and more. One day, while practicing stall recovery, I almost entered a spin.
A spin occurs when the airplane’s wings exceed their critical angle of attack (stall) while a sideslip or yaw is acting on the aircraft at or beyond the stall point. It’s essentially a stall combined with autorotation. In Top Gun (the original movie from many years ago), there’s a scene featuring an unrecoverable spin. The one I nearly entered, however, was a recoverable spin.
FAA Airplane Flying Handbook, Figure 5-15, Spin: An aggravated stall and autorotaiton (helicopter, etc.)
The instructor quickly corrected me, but I was really disappointed. With the 1st stage check approaching, a student pilot should be at their best. In fact, I was quite discouraged. Then, I shared this experience with a young, new instructor, which made me feel better. It felt like sometimes it’s easier to be heard by a sibling or friend close to your age than by your parents.
The 1st Stage Check
Despite the “almost spin” incident, I changed my mindset. My progress in ATC communications, landings, and other skills had been quite good, so I was expected to take the 1st stage check to determine whether I was ready for solo flight.
The flight itself was a mess. I felt rejected even before starting the maneuvers because I was so nervous in the strict atmosphere created by the instructor I was flying with for the first time. I couldn’t maintain the altitude and airspeed that I had previously managed easily. As I was tested on each maneuver one by one, the checker’s stern expression unsettled me. I wanted to give up before completing the stage check. But at the end, while flying over the ocean, I was lucky enough to see a school of dolphins.
A school of dolphins
Therefore, I couldn’t easily proceed to solo flight, so the flight training continued as usual. Triggered by the chaos of the stage check the previous day, I found myself unable to do things I had done before. During the post-briefing, the instructor seemed to have something on his mind and asked to see my notebook.
I’m going to Sedona
Looking at my notebook, the instructor said, "You are currently in a learning plateau, so your progress is only temporarily stalled. You will definitely improve after this, so please take a day off tomorrow and go somewhere you enjoy. A learning plateau is a temporary stagnation in growth, appearing like a flat section on the learning curve. To me, it didn’t feel like a plateau, but more like a learning cliff. Still, I felt somewhat relieved."
FAA Instructor’s Handbook, Figure 3-17,
Learners will probably experience a learning plateau at some point during their training. Not only in flight training but also when I studied for qualification exams, I never considered “taking a break” or “going out” because I didn’t think it would be effective. This time, too, I had no idea that going out could help make the subsequent training more successful. However, when I unexpectedly told myself, “It’s okay to take a break,” I recalled a beautiful landscape of Sedona from a photo book I had seen at a bookstore. That made me want to go to Sedona. So I asked, “Can I take three days off? I’m going to Sedona.”
So, I flew to Sedona. For three days, I tried to forget about the training and didn’t bring any study materials with me. (continued)