Student w/Speech Impediment

[GreenDayPilot]

I just don't know what to do anymore. I have a student who knows what he's doing in the airplane. He knows how to fly. He know how to land... but he just can't talk on the radio.

I've soloed him already and he seems to do fine talking to the tower, but God forbid he has to talk to SoCal approach or any other tower. He doesn't stutter, he just freezes up and doesn't know what to say. He already has the Comm1 program and claims he practices everytime he gets a chance.

Any suggestions?

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by GreenDayPilot

I just don't know what to do anymore. I have a student who knows what he's doing in the airplane. He knows how to fly. He know how to land... but he just can't talk on the radio.

I've soloed him already and he seems to do fine talking to the tower, but God forbid he has to talk to SoCal approach or any other tower. He doesn't stutter, he just freezes up and doesn't know what to say. He already has the Comm1 program and claims he practices everytime he gets a chance.

Any suggestions?

Have you role-played with him on the ground with you pretending to be ATC? Something like that could help.

[tgrayson]

Originally Posted by GreenDayPilot

He doesn't stutter, he just freezes up and doesn't know what to say.

He's probably afraid of sounding like an idiot. The more he freezes, the more afraid he is, because it's based on reality. Practicing on the ground may only hurt, because it only feeds his desire for pefection. Expecting perfection from yourself can be intimidating, because the odds of success are low.

I don't know how you could manage it, but some tape recordings of airline pilots on the radio sounding like idiots might make him less concerned about screwing up, since even the professionals do it.

Or perhaps you yourself could screw up on the radio and then laugh about it to show it's no big deal.

[jawright]

When I started my private, I used to "rehearse" what I was gonna say right before I said it, either by saying it aloud (so my instructor could hear me before I f-ed something up) or by going through it in my head right before I called. It only took half a second, but it helped.

[murl]

When I was unsure about what to say on the radio I was afraid I would forget things and look like an idiot so I just made a checklist for it. I would just put the things down they required of me so it took no memorization. ATIS, ID, Type, etc. This really helped me when I was first getting started, but I guess different strokes for different folks.

[Crockrocket94]

Yeah, one approach is to have everything sort of written down before he says it, especially to an approach or a center. And have him say it to you before he pushes the "forget button". When i first started I had to write alot of things down, especially when i first started getting all my clearances, be it a VFR clearence through C airspace, B airspace, or an IFR clearance (which is right now for me ).

Anyhow, try the written and rehearse method. It worked well for me.

[USMCmech]

I had assstudent who was really nervous about saying the wrong thing on the radios.

I did a flight where I handeled all the radio calls (it was a quiet day) and stammered, stuttered, and gererally mangeled every radio call.

ATC soiunded a little anoyed, but the student realized that nobody was going to bite his head off and relaxed.

[JaceTheAce]

Try to stress to the student that there's another human being on the other end of the radio and that they aren't out to get you if you make a mistake.

I'd just tell him... If all else fails, you don't have to follow a strict phraseology on the radios...just tell them what you want.

[RDDtoLVK]

I have a similar problem with an indian student im training his problem is that no one can actually hear what he is saying... his voice is so quiet... so i set up a ground with him going over every possible thing norcal and the local towers might say to him and worked on his responses. I also made a point of making him Yelll his answers... what he called yelling i call normal conversation.
seems to be working although very very slowly