Please reread my original post. Putting them under the hood is simply an exercise to get them to fly more smoothly, rather than letting them bang the sticks around. Interestingly enough, and it even surprised me that once I have the student look up, she or he immediately visually locates the plane. Seems they were subconsciously following the path of their plane by sound.

I've had many soloed beginners come to me so I can help them improve their flying or they want to learn aerobactics. The first thing I notice is they may be able to takeoff, fly reasonably well and make some sort of controlled landing, but they are doing all of this essentially "mixing a batter", meaning that although the trainer is trimmed out to fly very smoothly on its own, these new pilot's fingers are constantly (unnecessarily) moving. It seems that their instructor couldn't monitor what their student's fingers were doing while teaching with a buddy-box. By looking down and with (ME KEEPING TRACK OF THE PLANE IN FLIGHT) the student can see exactly what his fingers are doing. This technique literally immediately cures the stick banging problem. After that, there is no need to look away from the plane, but if he does, he has learned how to use his other senses to know where his plane is at all times. There are other benefits of this exercise.

CCR