Stage Checks and Accurate Feedback

I debated on whether or not to add this topic to the recent virtual instructor meeting and decided that a post here was appropriate since I missed my window. I want you to all consider the stage checks that we do. Our goal in a stage check is for quality control, if you will, in many levels. It gets the student used to flying with another instructor from time to time, helps them develop their skills with a measured benchmark on their way to the certificate they are working on, gets them a second professional opinion as to their completion of the syllabus, and allows us to assess how instruction is going. All told, stage checks are a flight school best practice regardless of the level of instruction the pilot is receiving.

One thing I need you all to consider, though, is how you are using the stage check. If it basically aligns with the statements above then you get it. That’s what should be happening. However, it is not uncommon to also get feedback from some of you that goes along the lines of, “I just needed them to fly with you so they could learn that they weren’t ready for their checkride from someone else.” Sometimes I’ll hear solo in place of checkride. If you have ever used a stage check, especially a mock oral or checkride in that way, then you really need to consider this. The goal should be that the check instructor’s feedback should be on the same page as your own - not radically different.

We have discussed often the importance of relevant, accurate, and timely feedback. To give such, we have to make sure that we know what we are assessing in the first place and must have some standard we are measuring. For a checkride it is the ACS. Along the way, it is the benchmarks outlined in the syllabus lessons. They are a progressive path that leads the student to ACS level of performance (and hopefully higher!). This breaks down, though, if the student is not accessing those standards. Yes, you can let them know verbally at each lesson but ultimately the student needs to become independent with their assessment so they know how they are doing without you telling them. That requires better communication. It centers on the student analyzing their progress for themselves and not the instructor giving all the feedback. It’s about breeding independence in the cockpit.

Especially on the mock checkride, it is inappropriate and, honestly, unprofessional to put the check instructor in the role of “the bad guy”. The primary instructor needs to be able to have difficult conversations with students and be honest with them. Missing feedback is just as bad as inaccurate feedback. If a student believes they are doing great with a sequence of maneuvers because they have not been told otherwise, then they move along through instruction on that misconstrued reality. They continue to repeat the poor performance solidifying substandard execution of their piloting tasks. Instead, the instructor needs to give the feedback promptly that things aren’t going well. It should be verbally during the debrief and then in writing in the lesson writeup. After much struggle, it is appropriate to say, “Pilot, this task just isn’t sinking in. We’re going to have to try another approach.” Eventually, it is also okay to have that hard conversation and say, “You know, your progress is coming along much more slowly than average. The reasons I have observed are…”

The last thing we want to do is get a student to the end of the syllabus but have them flying like they are near the beginning. When that happens, it is on the instructor 100%. That shows a lack of understanding in assessing the student’s progress or that the student was given inaccurate, poor, or little feedback in the first place. By the fact that you possess your flight instructor certificate, it indicates that you have passed an assessment of how to do this and are deemed competent at it! I want to rely on your professional background here. You need it, the student needs it, and the school needs it. Please consider what I have said and ask yourself if you have ever sent in ill-prepared student up for a stage check as a means to let someone else have the hard conversation. If you have, reconsider this practice. I will always make myself available to support you in your assessments with students - especially the hard conversations - but the message needs to come from you. The instructor’s credibility often falls off a cliff when they are pushed to a stage check they are not ready for then get a laundry list of tasks that were performed well below standard. Please consider that, too. I promise you, your students will remember you for the rest of their lives. Make sure that legacy you leave is a good one!



Have a look at this AOPA article for an outside view on the stage check.
https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/flight-schools/flight-school-business/newsletter/2019/april/15/stage-checks-part-two