After almost 30 years of teaching, I am still reminded to never take for granted what students are thinking - not to mention my constant learning of how the human brain works! This is a classic example of how one can pre-program the human mind by repetition and the dangers of that. This pilot had multiple successful flights from the beach taking off in a westerly direction, doing a circuit pattern and landing west. I then changed this pattern by allowing the pilot to take off in an easterly direction 180 degrees from what he was used to doing. Instead of doing a complete circuit and thereby gaining additional height, once airborne the pilot just slotted back into the previous pattern of flying without realizing this time around he was much lower than previous flights. Even my constant urges on the radio to head directly to the beach for landing were not processed properly as the pilot was in "auto" mode, just doing what he has been doing before - landing in this direction and heading down the beach (not across it as he should have at this stage). There could have been some role for "object fixation" in that the pilot fixated on the target (his previous landing spots) and thereby he kept cutting the corner to get there (also part of the pre-programmed hypothesis) not realizing the danger of landing short. For those interested in the detail you can see how the pilot keeps adjusting his final approach glide path to line up in the direction of the beach (as he is used to landing) instead of realizing the danger and landing across and directly onto the beach.
Ocean landings in the surf are generally considered as certain death and avoided like the plague. (Rather crash-land on the beach than do a sea landing). Of course this explains my somewhat upset response! ;) Of course the pilot followed my instructions perfectly after the splashdown - unclipping, then keeping the wing clear of the water, and once the wave started receding to get the hell up the beach! The pilot and I had a good de-brief - all's well, he is still flying and loving it! And I, though greyer and wiser still continue to teach this awesome sport. :)
