ORIGINAL: cfircav8r
There is a huge difference between taking over for a student air traffic controller and a flight student on short final. Yes you should be very confident with a student before you let them get to that point, but they need to eventually get there and you can't know how they will react in that split second before landing. I have never had a student crash with direct supervision, but there have been many times that had the same input been given at a slightly lower altitude and it would have ended badly. We are human and we need to do as much as we can to midigate the risks but every time you fly you accept some risk, both instructor and student.
Actually there is very little difference. In either case, the instructor lets the student go until the last possible second leaving just enough time for the instructor to make the needed corrections.
The decision to let the student land an airplane is the instructors decision. The instructor is making that call, not the student. The student is trusting your evaluation of thier performance and assuming that you have made an informed accessment of their abilities. After all, that is your job. IF you make a poor accessment and then the student crashes while landing that is the instructors fault alone. It is nobody elses fault. It is not the student's fault. It is not the universe's fault.
I am not claiming that instructors do not make mistakes. I am stating that a crash is the instuctors fault alone. And every instructor needs to understand that.
We are not rolling dice here. We are evaluating a students abilities. And it is our ability to access the student and determine if the student is ready to move forward that is in question.
I realize that not everyone has been formally trained to be an instructor. I am trying to pass along somethings that I have learned in my career. You can take them or leave them.