The pre-flight briefing is your opportunity to see of the student is ready for the flight. The easiest way to accomplish this is through proper questioning to see if the student has the required background knowledge to apply in flight. Remember, students learn what they need to do on the ground and they apply this knowledge in the air. If the knowledge lacks on the ground, the application will not go so well.
If the student is not ready the instructor has a few options. The instructor can reschedule, reteach or choose another exercise to do.
CAR 405.31 states:
No person shall commence a training flight unless the trainee has received from the flight instructor
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(a) a pre-flight briefing; and
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(b) where new flight exercises are to be conducted during the flight, preparatory ground instruction.
For simplicity sake, training flights can be easily categorized as any flight that goes into a PTR. These flights include all dual and solo flights, and also any CPL training flights like the 300 nm cross country.
Here is a basic list of points to discuss during the pre-flight briefing:
1. What are we going to do?
2. How are we going to do it?
3. Current Weather, Aerodrome Conditions and NOTAMs
4. Location of the exercise(s) to be conducted
5. Take-off time and flight duration
6. Review airmanship points and safety considerations
7. Question the student to determine if they’re ready for the flight
8. Review concepts of PDM (Pilot Decision Making) to the flight.
All of this information on pilot training and flight training in Canada is also available at www.flighttrainers.ca.