My wife getting scared

On Sep 30, 10:58 pm, (Paul Tomblin) wrote:

I don't think she'll tell me to stop, because she knows I was a pilot
before we married. But what can I do to reassure her? The pilot
community is pretty small, and losing three people associated with our
little club is pretty scary for her.

Paul,
How about trying to get her more involved in flight planning:
checking the weather, obtaining airport information etc? If she is
not interested in direct planning, you can explain to her your flight
planning procedure, your go or no-go criteria. Knowing more about the
flight will certainly make her feel more at ease. The same goes when
she is flying with you, you can ask her to help out by reading the
map, looking out for traffic, learning to use the GPS to check for
nearest airport, terrain etc. I'd think that being activively involved
in the flying process will make one feel safer, more in control.
Someone had already suggested you to attend safety seminars,
getting additional training, practicing emergency procedures. By doing
those things and letting your wife know that you are doing it, will
certainly make her feel safer. Better yet, take her along to safety
seminars. We attend safety seminars regularly and saw quite a few of
non-flying spouses.

Hai Longworth

On Oct 1, 4:47 pm, Brian wrote:
As just a bit of food for thought, how conservative are you?

Are you conservative in that you limit the size of the box of aviation
activities and behaviors that you expose yourself to?


Brian,
Great advices. Thanks.

Hai Longworth

You don't fly and you wil never have a wife so you don't get to say
anything, fjukkwit.


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Paul Tomblin writes:

The problem with that approach is that after the DE guy died, that
worked because Rochester aviation's dirty little secret was that he
was a known corner-cutter and risk taker. But when the other two
died, I had to admit that I've flown with one of them a couple of
times and I couldn't fault anything he did. He seemed to me careful
and methodical and professional.

What was the actual cause of his accident?




What's it to you?

You don't fly.

Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Shirl writes:

Yep. I've been teased that my preflights are like 100-hr inspections. I
do everything you listed above, and it didn't stop the oil cooler from
failing.

Was it your own aircraft?


Why, you'll never have an airplane, wannabe boi

Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Jay Honeck writes:

On the plus side, this fear has made us VERY meticulous and careful
pilots. Preflights are NEVER omitted, fuel tanks are ALWAYS filled,
gas is ALWAYS tested, maintenance is ALWAYS done. Still, we all
know that "**** happens", and we could become statistics at some
point.

If you are indeed that conscientious, the risk is very small. Perhaps
"**** happens," but not nearly as often as people who prefer to avoid
or deny responsibility would like to believe.



How would you know?

You don't fly and never will,.


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Paul Tomblin writes:

I've been a pilot for 12 years now. I've been married (this time)
for 10. Three years ago, the DE who passed me on my private and
instrument tickets died in a stupid accident. My wife had met him a
few times at flying club dinners and around the airport. A few weeks
ago, a club member who she'd also met several times died in his float
plane, a plane that I'd flown in a few weeks before that. He died
with his best friend, a former club member who I knew a bit but whom
my wife didn't.

Now that two people she's met have died flying in a relatively short
period of time, she's getting less and less secure about my own
flying. Every time I head out to the airport, she gives me the talk.
"Be careful. Don't die. If you have the slightest doubt, come back."
Etc. And so on.

She's right.

I don't think she'll tell me to stop, because she knows I was a pilot
before we married. But what can I do to reassure her?

Follow her advice, and come back alive.

The pilot community is pretty small, and losing three people
associated with our little club is pretty scary for her.

I don't blame her. That's a lot of death, and it doesn't speak very
well of general aviation.

You can tell her that general aviation is safe when done correctly,
which is true. And you can prove it by flying aircraft that are
properly maintained, and flying in a safe way.

Overall, flying a small aircraft is about as dangerous as riding on a
motorcycle with someone. However, you can reduce the danger
dramatically as a pilot by safe flying practices and by flying only
aircraft that are in good condition and well maintained.


How would you know, moron?

You don't fly.

Bertie

Jay Honeck wrote:

My mechanic -- a guy with over 40 years of experience as an IA, A&P,
grand champion home builder, and owner of an engine and prop shop --

Is he a pilot? airplane owner?

says it this way:

The average privately owned GA aircraft is flown AT MOST once a week.
As a result, rust (from inactivity) is the #1 killer of the average,
privately owned GA engine. Many don't make TBO because of
inactivity.

Touch & goes are the #1 worst thing you can do to your engine. Flight
school planes do them all day long, but it's because they are flown
daily, sometimes 8 hours per day, and they therefore NEVER experience
the ravages of inactivity. Therefore, although it's STILL the worst
thing you can do, the engines often make it to TBO simply because they
are flown all day, every day.

They make it to TBO because they are flown many hours per week, the
numbers add up fast, and they are monitored, inspected and maintained
every 100 hours (which might be every other month) ... not simply
because flying them every day enables the engine to withstand doing the
"worst" possible thing 75% of the time it is in use.

Engine out practice is essentially the same engine management
procedure as a touch & go. Long periods of high power, followed by
suddenly low RPM, followed by a sudden application of power at the
end.

And you do half of that every time you take off and land. That doesn't
damage your engine, but the one extra application of power during a
touch-n-go or go-around is going to do your engine in?

Bad, bad, bad.

Plenty of people practice touch-n-goes in their own airplanes ... if
they are THAT damaging to an engine, we'd be hearing of this engine
damage all the time. People with Cubs or other small tailwheels are out
doing touch-n-goes ALL THE TIME...doesn't seem to bother their engines.

I understand and agree about inactivity and that most privately-owned
airplanes aren't flown enough. But you're saying that an engine that
flies for 8 hours/month and does touch-n-goes/engine-out practice during
ONE of those hours is more likely to be damaged than an engine that
flies 80 hours a month and does the damaging maneuvers during 60 of
those hours. If it's THAT bad, subjecting it to 60 hours a month would
still take a heavy toll even it flies every day.

I've heard many owners and mechanics agree that the worst possible thing
you can do to an airplane engine is to NOT FLY IT; I've never heard
anyone say that privately owned airplanes aren't flown enough to do
touch-n-goes or simulated engine failures without risking damage to the
engine. In fact, wasn't part of your training getting so familiar with
the airplane that you know how it acts and reacts to as many different
conditions/configurations as possible? How can you do that if you're
afraid that touch-n-goes or simulated engine failures are going to ruin
the engine?

Are the engines designed to take this kind of abuse? Sure. But they
were designed to be run daily, not weekly, too.

I've never seen anything in my engine documentation that says it was
designed to be run every day.

And when you are
paying something in the range of $20,000 for an overhaul (as we did
for our O-540) we don't generally make a practice of stressing the
engine any more than necessary.

And as an airplane owner, that's your choice and your right.

I just spent at least that much, too, and I'm sure as heck not going to
intentionally abuse the engine. But I'm not going to skip some aspects
of ongoing skill retention drills that I've seen the pay off firsthand
in an emergency because I'm thinking about the $20K I just spent.

Maybe your reactions in a real engine emergency today would be just as
sharp and accurate as they were when you'd been practicing engine-outs
frequently in your private pilot training in school airplanes. I'm not
good enough to maintain that level of competence if I don't continue to
practice it every so often.

In skating, we used to teach students that they could expect to lose up
to 25% of their actual ability/competence during their 4 minute routine
in a competition due to nerves and pressure; so if they wanted to show
the judges 100% of their capabilities, they have to be skating at 125%
in the weeks prior to the competition. I don't know if those numbers
translate to flying, but I think the concept itself does. I would hate
to lose a percentage of my ability in an actual emergency if I was only
at 80% to begin with. YMMV, of course. Everyone's different.

"Jay Honeck" wrote:


But I do believe that repeated and sudden applications of full power
are harder on an engine than steady-state operation.

But *why* do you believe it? Why is it the worst thing you can do to your
engine?

--
Dan
T-182T at BFM

On Tue, 2 Oct 2007 05:56:51 -0500, "Dan Luke"
wrote in
:


"Jay Honeck" wrote:


But I do believe that repeated and sudden applications of full power
are harder on an engine than steady-state operation.

But *why* do you believe it? Why is it the worst thing you can do to your
engine?

And why would a pilot use sudden movements of the controls? Aren't we
taught to be smooth?