Dealing with students who struggle is a huge part of flight instructing. almost all students are bound to struggle with at least one subject. although some may face more difficulties than others, it is still important to recognize learning plateaus and deal with them as they come up.
if i had a private student who was struggling with landings, i would first have to analyze how big their mistakes were, how they originate, whether or not it is a small thing that is leading to messing up the landings or a big mistake that the student is constantly repeating. i would first try to give little pointers or come up with ideas that could help the student overcome whatever they are doing wrong. i would talk to other instructors to ask for their advice and see if they have dealt with anything similar. if i could not correct this problem after a couple of lessons, i would then proceed to focus less on landings and more on different maneuvers. i would still have landings be part of the lesson, just not focus on them as much and do less than usual. if after a few lessons and the landings have not improved, i would ask another instructor to fly with the student to see if they could find any way to correct the landings or do something to help the student. if the problem continued to occur, i would continue with the lessons, and keep an eye on the landings. i would not focus on the landings on every lesson plan, but would occasionally make them the key subject of the lesson. after about ten lessons or twenty hours with no improvement i would probably talk to the student about how they are not being able to overcome the problem and that flying may not be for them.
