Any idea what is different about these planes than most of the planes out there today?

Have you figured out the difference? If not, look at the next pictures and compare them to the previous ones:

Got it now? The planes we were starting with are called Tail draggers, as they have two wheels in front and one at the tail of the plane. Most planes today have tricycle landing gear as seen previously, they have two wheels in back and one in the front.

If you are going to learn to fly a plane, an important question that is asked is, do you EVER plan to fly a tail dragger? Why? Because if you ever PLAN to fly a tail dragger, you should LEARN in a tail dragger.

The instincts and muscle memory that you learn for a tail dragger works in ANY plane. However, if you learn in another type of plane, your instincts will NOT work for a tail dragger, and the transition is very difficult. Also learning on a tail dragger makes you more alert and responsive on landing any other type of plane.

Proverbs 22:6 tells us: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Psychology tells us there are four levels of competence.

1. Unconscious incompetence

You don't know how to do something, and don't even know that you do not. My wife tells me that some new parents she runs into at daycare, don't have a clue what they are getting into, they don't take any classes on how to care for a child. They think they know all they need to, and don't know enough to know that they don't know anything they actually need.

2. Conscious incompetence

You don't know how to do something and are aware of the lack. Most of us here don't know how to regulate a nuclear reactor, but we are smart enough to know that, and we don't try to walk up to one and regulate it.

3. Conscious competence

We know how to do something, but we have to think about each step. Such as cooking a meal. You think about each step and each ingredient as you put it in.

4. Unconscious competence

We know how to do something and it is so integrated, it is automatic. The most basic examples someone learns are breathing and walking. But we also add on other skills as we grow, such as driving, or piloting an aircraft.

If we look back at our verse, which level of competence do you think we need to train our children about God and the Bible ?

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I think we need to teach our children the Unconscious competence level of competence in God’s word, one a Tail Dragger pilot is at.

© Vivian P. Kirkpatrick, 2015