"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net wrote in
message ...
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:17:37 -0800, "Stuart & Kathryn Fields"
wrote:

Kevin: If it makes you feel any better I had one of the High time
geniuses
try to tell me that If I had a 1/rev shake it was tracking and if I had a
2/rev it was out of balance. This guy had more autos flying backwards
than
I have total but he didn't know Schit about rotor dynamics.
Some of those guys are just "Arrive and Drive" give them the keys and
away
they go. Can fly the Schit out of the helicopter but don't have a clue
what
keeps them in the air.

Exactly why I don't spend much time on those forums. I get better
info lurking in the hangar up at the airport..

Glad to know I'm not the only one that's gotten that impression from time to
time. I had an interesting conversation a number of years ago, with one of
the higher time, more respected, pilots that used to frequent this forum.
We were talking about some specific issue with the dynamics of the aircraft
and I had stated an opinion that I felt very certain of. He disagreed. I
was feeling a bit intimidated because of his reputation on the forum and the
fact that I'm not a rated rotorcraft pilot with very little actual flight
time in helicopters but still, I felt I was correct in what I was saying and
tried sincerely to communicate my point of view but was totally unsuccessful
with him. I communicated my frustration with this to him, stating that I
thought that maybe I wasn't going a good job of expressing myself and he
stated that, no, I was very articulate, just "wrong" and that was the last
he was going to have to do with the conversation.

I was later vindicated by a couple of other posters, one who had bothered to
actually look up the information for himself, and another relatively high
time and respected poster to this forum who was totally confused as to why
the first guy I was talking to had forgotten such a basic concept. The
first guy never responded one way or the other. He either didn't see the
other responses, or didn't care. All I know is "I" felt better! ;-)

I've met many high time pilots in my time. I'm talking guys that are
pushing or are over the 10k hours mark. Many of them are some of the most
brilliant pilots I've ever met. Some of the others, I wouldn't be caught
dead in an aircraft that they were flying. I've got no respect for the
"Hey, I'm a high time pilot, I don't have to worry about weather and
preflight's! I can handle it!" Yeah, right! :-/

FWIW!
Fly Safe,
Steve R.