What techniques can you use to help a student overcome problems with landings?
I think a good landing always depends on a good approach. If the setup is correct, the airspeeds and descent rates are correct, the landing itself becomes much easier to manage. If my student has troubles maintaining a consistent descent rate (which is what I struggled with while learning) I would take him up and just practice flying a modified rectangular pattern. Start at a little bit higher altitude and just have him/her practice descending while flying the pattern keeping it consistent.
Chair flying would also be a good thing to practice with getting the flows down. BCGUMPS can be performed over and over sitting on a chair with a picture of the cockpit in front of you.
At what point do you tell your supervisor that they are struggling?
I think that after 2 possibly 3 flights where the student continues to struggle with the same problems, you should let your supervisor at least know what you are dealing with. They may have suggestions for you or they may want to take your student up with them to maybe get a different perspective and then be able to share some different ideas of how you can help your student.
When do you decide to have the "maybe aviation isn't for you talk" with your student?
I think that talk should happen after your supervisor has had an evaluation flight with your student and can see what you are dealing with. Some people just don't have it, it's true. I was personally in flight school with a guy who actually tried to take off from a taxiway...are you kidding me? So, there does come a point that you do just know if a person is capable or not. The difficulty lies in if there is only maybe one or two aspects of their flying that they can't improve, but everything else is within standards. It really could be only a matter of practice or perspective, basically whatever that student needs to overcome that particular learning plateau. You could sit down and have a money talk with them and inform them that we can continue to go up and practice, but with no improvement, it will cost more and more money without any progress. It is definitely a case by case basis deal because you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, yet you need to be honest with them. I hope it never comes to that with my students, but I know how Murphy's Law works. Because I made that statement, I will have plenty that I have to make that decision with....
