Testing your glide. Are people doing this?

You may be right but there's something about having some power to work with.
I think that's why I enjoy the Pitts so much.

To get back to my original post, which I hadn't realized was causing so much
followon conversation, my point was that most of the activity I see at our
local airport involves people taking off, going away to land somewhere else,
and then coming back. Two flights, two landings, lots of cruise in the
middle. And they usually take the longest and widest runway unless the wind
is dramatically favoring one of the other shorter ones (onto which a local
pilot regularly puts a KingAir!). It's not the same qualified statement
that CJ can make as an instructor, but it's my observation and, based on my
experience, I didn't really learn how to fly properly until I spent hours in
the same plane just practicing various kinds of maneuvers to see how it
performed. I hadn't really been talking about the difference between
renters and owners and my comments could only be speculative about other
pilots, but are based on my observations.

Shawn
"William W. Plummer" wrote in message
newskFmb.24669$9E1.77470@attbi_s52...
If you really like stick-and-rudder flying, look into gliders. I'll bet
you
really like it.


"ShawnD2112" wrote in message
...
My experience is that most people don't actually know how to fly their
airplanes. They know how to get them off the ground, from Point A to
Point
B, but they never do touch and gos, they never go out and do stalls, and
they really don't know how their airplane performs in anything other
than
the cruise. Personally, I enjoy simply controlling the machine. Kind
of
like racing drivers - they enjoy being in control of the machine, not
using
it go to anywhere. Therefore, I get a hell of a kick out of touch and
goes,
I stall the airplane all the time simply because it's fun, I do all
kinds
of
turns and maneuvers just for the hell of it. What this all means is
that
I
know how my airplane performs at all edges of it's envelope and with the
engine off more than I do in the cruise. Possibly all for fun, but
really,
in the back of my mind, it's so I know how to get out of trouble faster
than
I got into it.

Shawn
"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("MLenoch" wrote)
Folks should go out and practice this a bunch. Early in the morning
high
above
the airport, they should simulate a glide onto the runway, to get a
feel
for
the descent rate, speed, angle, etc. etc.


Talking to folks at airports, do you get the sense that people are, in
fact,
doing what you suggested? Or is it just a good idea ...."I should do
that,
one-of-these-days"...kind of thing?

Just curious.

--
Montblack

"Styled by the laws of nature.............Concorde"