Flight Instructor Actions Regarding Seriously Abnormal Learners  AMTs and Flight Instructors as Learners  2-16  Technological advances in aircraft, powerplants, and systems can outpace the knowledge of flight instructors and AMTs if they don’t  ensure they remain adequately trained. This ongoing training may remind instructors of their own tendencies to become  vulnerable and less objective. By under s tanding their own training, instructors gain the insight to direct learners to think rationally  and overcome stress. Instructors should understand that their own actions and care for others during the training they provide can  frame the way a learner responds well into the future.  Both AMTs and flight instructors sometimes deal with new or unfamiliar technology. For instance, an instructor flying a different  aircraft may have to manage a particular system or avionics suite for the first time. Likewise, the AMT who is accustomed to working  with one type of aircraft has developed analytical processes that may not transfer to another aircraft as well as expected. In both cases,  the instructors may be very highly experienced, but change and its associated stress may have risk consequences.  Figure 2-8.  A learner with marked changes in mood during different lessons, such as excellent morale followed by deep depression, is  indicative of an abnormal reaction to stress.  ⦁ $_{The flight instructor’s primary legal responsibility concerns the decision whether to endorse the }$ learner to be competent for solo flight operations, or to make a recommendation for the practical test  leading to certification as a pilot. If, after consultation with an unbiased instructor, the instructor  believes that the learner may have a serious psychological deficiency, such endorsements and  recommendations should be withheld.  ⦁ $_{If an instructor believes that a learner may have a disqualifying psychological defect, arrangements }$ should be made for another instructor, who is not acquainted with the learner, to conduct an  evaluation flight. After the flight, the two instructors should confer to determine whether they agree  that further investigation or action is justified.  A flight instructor who believes a learner may be suffering from a serious psychological abnormality has a responsibility to refrain  from instructing that learner. In addition, a flight instructor has the personal responsibility of assuring that such a person does not  continue flight training or become certificated as a pilot. To accomplish this, the following steps are available: 