how many irrelevant experiences does one need to be "well rounded" ? Ever done any pipeline inspection or cropdusting ? If not, do you feel deprived by missing those experiences ? I've done both and they don't mean squat for throwing the kids in the beechcraft and toodling them along to grandma's house

I knew if I just gave it time, you would eventually be speaking my language.

Steak N Potatoes - makes Peter happy.

I knew if I just gave it time, you would eventually be speaking my language.

Steak N Potatoes - makes Peter happy.

The disadvantage of switching personal aircraft often is the pilot doesn't really get to know the aircraft very well. True, you can operate the aircraft fine and probably can handle some hiccups along the way.

Compare that with pilots who have deep knowledge of their aircraft. If something fails they know what caused it and know work-arounds for the system failure and have Plan B, C and D into muscle memory and without any confusion what to do next.

I believe most pilots have difficulties maintaining proficiency in one plane. Flying your aircraft two hours a week is good for the aircraft's health, but more importantly absolutely essential for the health of the pilot.

Hey, I stumbled on the cure for GA, for every 4 hours spent on BT, fly one hour in your plane, problem solved.

Sorry, not buying it......

There's more to aviation than learning to fly a bunch of slow airplanes. If you want to throw Amphibs and Helicopters etc. into the mix to be "well rounded" I get that but 150-172-Bonanza etc.... all the same thing.

They do what their companies SOPs require. Not sure you would even want to put your aileron into the wind in a 30ton plane with hydraulically boosted controls.

I had a friend who had high cholesterol, so trying to be good, the day before he goes to the doc; he orders Lobster Bisque followed by Clam Chowder, since it is seafood it is lower in fat and cholesterol is what he told me. :duh:

Tim

funny - a couple weeks ago an ercoupe taxi'd by and the clueless guy next to me said "look at that idiot in that tiny plane with his ailerons not turned into this nasty wind"

One advantage for Pilot A is the avoidance of scenarios like this:

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=132680&hilit=black+hole


If this pilot had a black hole experience in a 172 first, when things are going a lot slower, he would be more likely to survive the experience and then could apply that experience to faster airplanes.
The NTSB says the number one cause of GA accidents is loss of control of the aircraft. Flying smaller airplanes develops stick and rudder skills that are key to avoiding loss of control accidents.
Increasingly airline pilots are losing stick and rudder skills because they are just sitting there pressing buttons when they fly. The Asiana pilots who plowed into the seawall while attempting a visual approach at San Francisco is an example.

I have to agree, using rental planes for many years exposed me to a lot of things I just don't deal with in a plane I own and maintain. Same in the military where we flew a different one each day. Had to look at the squawk list before starting and remember the 14 items written up. You know like, you have to thump on the left fuel gauge to get it to work Glad I was in a rental when I went through my first hail storm.

Two ways to look at it:

Had he learned to fly planes like god intended by flicking on the AP at 300ft, he would have never gotten into trouble. He had just stepped up to an overly complicated legacy aircraft with difficult to understand autopilot modes that are named after long dead greek philosophers. An autopilot with envelope protection wouldn't have allowed him to fly himself into the lake.



It was january. He would have died closer to shore.

One advantage for Pilot A is the avoidance of scenarios like this:

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=132680&hilit=black+hole


If this pilot had a black hole experience in a 172 first, when things are going a lot slower, he would be more likely to survive the experience and then could apply that experience to faster airplanes.
The NTSB says the number one cause of GA accidents is loss of control of the aircraft. Flying smaller airplanes develops stick and rudder skills that are key to avoiding loss of control accidents.
Increasingly airline pilots are losing stick and rudder skills because they are just sitting there pressing buttons when they fly. The Asiana pilots who plowed into the seawall while attempting a visual approach at San Francisco is an example.

Right! Because airplanes piloted by 2 veteran, commercial pilots never crash?
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Acc ... R1503.aspx

I definitely believe that pilot skills that are important today were acquired when I was a newbie pilot using simple beginner aircraft for transportation and having to improvise in not always perfect VFR weather, with rudimentary avionics, often without autopilot resulting in a lot of hand flying and situations requiring pilotage. And no question that flying a 1940’s Stearman taught a skill level of active feet on the rudders that never would have happened in tri gear aircraft. Used that just three days ago landing the Cheyenne in a gusty 20+ kt crosswind with plenty of wind shear on final. The nose was yawing around in ground effect as gusts hit the vertical tail, requiring lots of rudder input to keep it pointed straight. The Yellow Peril was a great teacher for that.

I believe there's nothing like a full motion simulator to hone your flight skills. You can have repeated wind shear, engine failure, generator failure, hydraulic failure, instrument failure all before first coffee break. Makes a single system failure seem like a walk in the park. Also demonstrates what to do and not to do and no one gets hurt. Reset, try it again, but this time........


Does Cirrus have a SF50 simulator in place?