There may be some aeronautical terms that eleven plus
parents are aware of. After all, the eleven plus is to do with careful
preparation, lots of hard work and, hopefully, a successful conclusion. The
language of pilots and crew may help.
Flap
This is the trailing edge device on the wings that increases
the lift of the wings on take-off and landing.
This is what an eleven plus parent seems to tend to do when
it looks as if all is not going as planned.
Stall
This is the airspeed at which the aircraft’s wings can no
longer maintain lift to prevent the aircraft from falling. To recover from a
stall, the aircraft must have sufficient altitude to regain adequate airspeed
by putting the nose down and adding power.
This is when a parent feels that the chosen eleven plus
course does not seem to be on a downward spiral and all concerned need to be
lifted. Some-times it even means that the eleven plus candidate has to put his
or her nose to the grindstone.
Stick Shaker
A warning device on a commercial aircraft that literally
shakes the control column in the pilot’s hands to warn of the approach of the aircraft’s
stall speed.
A stick that some parents may feel tempted to threaten with if
too much back chat is offered.
Autopilot
The autopilot takes directions from the flight director,
which commands the aircraft from take-off to landing.
The eleven plus autopilot is the state of mind that some
parents seem to enter as they realise that the examination date is set in stone
and that all their child can do is simply the best that he or she can manage.
