whats, in your opinion, the best way to teach someone who has no idea how to fly into a soloed pilot?
here is what i have been doing, seeing as i was never taught by an instructor, i am makeng up my own forumla.
step 1
give them a 10 min talk about prop saftey, field rules, basic controls and flying techiniques. (how to turn with aileron/elevator type stuff)
then i take them up on my spad trainer and talk them through flying, giving them one command at a time exaple left, right, pull back, push forward (so they dont get confuesd with down and up). this way the student can understand what the controls do to the plane.
im teaching them on the right side of the tx at first, rarly throttle input and no rudder input
step 2
after they get the feel for the plane and follow my commands, i stop giving them stick movements and start telling them where to go. i also give them throttle commands to show them the stall speed, when to raise/lower throttle
step 3
once they can roughly keep the plane in a level turn , fly in a oval shape both directions, and keep the plane in the air without me touching the controls for a few minuets i have them fly figure eights, start flying parallel to the runway, and start useing rudder.
step 4
when i feel that they have good enough control of the plane i have them do takeoff's, fly at lower throttle settings and have fun with the plane (basics aerobatics).
step 5
landing approch's.....and eventually landings
step 6
prepare for solo, student does everything, im just their for comfort. once their ready then i pull the plug and let them go.

at the moment im training six people.
one person is at step 4, another is at step 3.
two people, who needed a refresher course, are on step 6 but for the most part im just their for comfort.
i have two noobs comming out tomorrow (hopefully), one of them has a super chipmunk that he got used. both are rc car guys so im guessing that they will have little problem.

im looking for input or other training techiniques. more as food for thought than anything. also anything i should change?
today the two guys that needed a refresher, were landing and takeing off without a problem. that got me thinking about the guy on step four, how on earth do i teach someone how to land?
heres what i have been thinking. at first im going to use my spad to train people how to land. mainly so that if someone crashes it (which would be my fault) they dont destroy a balsa plane, and the spad can take a beating.
i think i will have them practice setting up for approches then i will land it based on how they set it up. explaining what i had to to to correct for wind/ their bad approch, ect. then i will talk them through landing and let them get on the ground even if its ugly.
after i teach one of them how to land i will most likely go to the "you need your own plane before you can land" method, otherwise im bound to start paying to much for props/ect. i just dont want to smash someone's plane because i have never guided someone in for a landing before.
the only problem with the spad is its a pain in the a** to land, of all the planes i have flown it is by far the hardest to land. it requires a perfect approch followed by a perfect flair otherwise the plane will bounce all over the place

thanks for the advice. i just started flying a year ago . currently the most advanced manuver i can do is a rolling circle. so i have no doubt in my flying abilities, but i dont trust the noob's just yet