Power through learning plateaus

Plateaus typically occur after you experience a rapid period of improvement, but they also can happen if you start to lose interest, reach the limits of your capability for that stage, or are consolidating different levels of skill to master something new (that period right before everything clicks), according to the FAA's Aviation Instructor’s Handbook. Many students face a plateau before mastering landings, but they can happen at any stage of your training.

Acknowledge your frustration and talk with other students, pilots, and instructors, all of whom have faced learning plateaus. Just don't give up.

Try these five techniques when you hit a learning plateau.

1. Change the focus of a few lessons. If you are having trouble grasping the traffic pattern or landings, for example, ask your instructor to change up your lessons. Perhaps switch to flying to different airports so the focus becomes learning cross-country skills. You'll still have the opportunity to practice traffic patterns and landings in the context of a cross-country flight. Getting away from your home airport will help, too.
2. Change the pace at which you are training. Training frequently helps students progress faster, but if you start to feel burned out or overly frustrated and discouraged with your progress, consider reducing the frequency of your lessons a bit to give you space to clear your head. Don't take a two-week hiatus, but perhaps reduce your lessons from four days a week to two days a week for a week. During the extra downtime, enjoy activities that help you de-stress and take your mind off the learning plateau. It won't do you any good to overanalyze your performance and beat yourself up.
3. Study aspects of what you are struggling with on the ground and work with your instructor to get a better grasp of the concept. "Learning plateau problems can sometimes be alleviated also by the instructor better explaining the lesson, the reason for the lesson, and how it applies to the learner," the Aviation Instructor's Handbook recommends. For example, stalls aren't a necessary evil. They help students develop a feel for how the airplane performs at the edge of the flight envelope and learn how to prevent getting into a dangerous situation. Gaining a thorough understanding of stalls and how they apply to your flying can help you over the hump.
4. Try a lesson with a different instructor. This might feel as if you are cheating on your instructor. The move isn't a slight to your instructor or his or her abilities to teach you. You can suggest a swap or your instructor might even recommend it. Another instructor might have a different approach to teaching the maneuver that will help everything click. In addition, the other instructor might be able to find gaps that you and your instructor need to work on to get through the plateau. So don't look at it as a bad thing—embrace the change for a lesson or two and then go back to your regular instructor. It might just be the move that will help you break through the blockade and leave that learning plateau behind.
5. When you feel a breakthrough coming, keep going. You'll often be able to feel when everything clicks and know when that moment is getting close. If your lesson ends before the click happens but you feel you are ready, schedule another lesson soon with your instructor to keep that momentum going. Just be cautious not to overdo it. Overpractice can also contribute to learning plateaus.

While you likely won't overcome a plateau as quickly as you want, know that it is a normal part of learning to fly and that all pilots have experienced it at some point in their training. Be patient, don't stew on your performance, and try changing up your lessons to give you a mental break. The "aha!" moment will come, and you'll start progressing once again.