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Originally Posted by Dazzler  I have a student pilot who gets freaked out everytime we fly underneath a jet...
Any suggestions on how to quash his fears? |
I have to say, that's one of the stranger fears I've heard of a student pilot having.
In general, education is the cure for fears. I'm sure King Schools or Sportys or Jeppesen has a good segment on DVD about wake turbulence. Have him watch something that includes lots of good 3-D graphics that explains wake turbulence in detail.
Books would be another option. I know the AIM has some good info on wake turbulence, although the reading is a bit dry.
The last option I can think of, although expensive, would be to have him do some aerobatics, either in real life or on a good sim. Show him that going inverted really isn't that bad and is easily recoverable, as long as you're at least a few hundred feet up. My buddy went through Flight Safety's King Air sim training and part of the training included recovery from wake turbulence upsets. It really impressed him to see how even a fairly large aircraft can be recovered from inverted flight in only a few hundred feet.
Other than that, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe the fear will go away on its own eventually, once he gets more time in the air and gets more adjusted to his surroundings in the air.