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On 1 Jan 2007 06:04:26 -0800, "Jay Honeck" wrote:
At the other end of the scale is general aviation. Aviation is a horrendously complex form of transportation--the most complex around, I find this quite funny. You have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. Not at all. I think you're responding to a mix of my comments and MX's. In the narrative, above, I was tellihng HIM that *he* had fallen for it -- not anyone else. Damn attributes:-)) I do not see learning to fly as any thing extra ordinary, or macho. It, like any other discipline such as playing the guitar, or piano takes time, practice and dedication. That is why in the over all population you see so few good guitar and piano players but those two disciplines consist of far more rote learning than flying. Yet flying is much more of an art than driving a car and is much more related to learning a musical instrument. I have pondered this endlessly. Is flying an art, or a science? I think it, like skating is a mixture of both. There is a great deal of rote learning at first, then there is the repetitive practice with each maneuver building from what has gone before. Ground reference maneuvers aid pattern work. Stalls not only help to keep the student out of trouble they aid in learning to land. Eventually the pilot who practices enough will get a "feel" for the maneuvers be they the basic ones or aerobatic. I'd liken this stage to the pilots who never progress beyond flying stabilized patterns and never gain the feel and flexibility to have the controllers at Oshkosh tell them what to do when and where to set down. I know it took me at least 500 hours to feel that I really *knew* how to land an aircraft. Does that make me a dunce, or is it just an admission that flying is more like playing the guitar? I *knew* how to land one early on but it took a long time before I could do a decent job of it. :-)) Which doesn't mean I was ever unsafe in the first 500 hours, BTW. But I was playing chopsticks, instead of Beethoven's Fifth. I think most "real" pilots can identify with that. The "complexity" of GA is a myth that has been foisted upon the general public by the "big-watch" pilots who simply LOVE to flaunt how cool they are under pressure. John Wayne movies in the '50s and '60s cast the mold for this pilot stereotype (which was effectively skewered in the "Airplane" movies, BTW), and pilots have done little to counter this stereotype ever since. Again we disagree although much is in terms and actions. I know of few pilots who behave as you describe above. Even many air show pilots are showing off a skill, not lauding their ability over the mere mortals. To me, flying is a place where the macho attitude can get you killed Agree. Often the attitude I describe isn't professed as much as projected. It's that quiet, Gary Cooper-type macho cloak of "I know everything" Here the pilot has to walk a fine line between sounding like a know it all and projecting an air of confidence that will instill confidence in the passenger(s) Following a sudden bump with "Ohhhh...****! What the devil was that?, or is that floppy thing still hooked on to the wind is not exactly the thing to do either. :-)) OTOH I do have to plead guilty to having had at least a fleeting though of doing such with a couple of passengers over the years. attitude that we pilots are so good at wearing. It's taken me a long time to understand that this attitude is what gives the non-flying public the *opinion* (remember, we're talking outside perceptions here, not reality) that flying is some sort of a super-human feat that MUST be terribly difficult. That;s kinda, sorta, almost, showing confidence is arrogant while not showing it is projecting incompetence. Damned if we do and damned if we don't.:-)) I think this attitude is what gives many airports their intimidating persona, which has always adversely affected new pilots. We, as pilots, need to become more welcoming and positive about what we love, If you pull into Midland's Barstow Airport (3BS) and spot a hanger with a *bunch* of cars around it, all a newbie would have to do is go over and introduce themselves, ask a few questions, and it's quite likely some one would take them for a ride in any thing from a Sonex to a Bonanza or even a 310. if we hope to attract new believers. (This really IS a religious thing, BTW... ;-) Amen! And it's a religion to which I can subscribe with a clear conscience. It's also, BTW, one of the major reasons GA is floundering. Too many people think they're not "good enough" to be a pilot. This too I disagree with. Not that people aren't smart enough, but that they don't have the mind set to make a safe pilot, nor do they care. Although I agree with you to some degree, this is NOT something that we, as pilots, should be projecting to the general public. We need to be trumpeting the joys and advantages of GA to all concerned, and let the training weed out the incompetents. I try. We have a very active group of pilots here at Midland (3BS) and I described the EAA Chapter 1093 activities in another post. When it comes to the Young Eagles program I try to get a parent or two to go along. Some members thing we should only be taking kids but when you look at the fence hangers look at dad's or mom's eyes. You can tell some of them want to go as bad or even worse than the kid. One of my most rewarding projects was being chairman of the "Kids to Oshkosh" program for quite a few years. To do anything else results in the elimination of good, qualified pilot candidates based on our perceptions and assumptions. Multiply these assumptions by 400,000 pilots, and if we're wrong even 10% of the time, we've eliminated a HUGE number of future pilots simply by projecting a bad attitude. Why? Quite frankly, too many of us love to portray the steely-eyed God-pilot, laughing in the face of death and pressing on to our final destination at all costs -- it makes picking up chicks easier. In Again I disagree with you. I've flown for many years and the only women it impressed were those already interested in flying. The rest thought I was crazy. You haven't noticed that women are attracted to crazy guys? ;-) I've noticed a lot of the young women with kids at the skating arena don't think an old guy out on the ice is crazy. Some of the remarks are better for the ego than flying and that's saying a lotLOL You have a far higher opinion of the average driver than I do. As I mentioned, in our county the sheriff and several other officers have stated that over a third of those on the road are driving on suspended or revoked licenses. Plus we have a bunch that never made the grade. Oh no I don't. I think most drivers are idiots. However, that's beside the point. I think everyone should have equal access to both flying and driving, provided they can pass the tests. The trouble with the driving test, as it stands today (in Iowa, anyway), is that it is SO rudimentary that only the physically and mentally disabled can be expected to fail. (And even they can get waivers.) Michigan is the same. Miss a question and they'll give you the answer. And they've supposedly made the driving test harder in recent years. Scary. I would not let the average driver near my car let alone my airplane. Be it from their mental state, drinking habits, refusal to take responsibility, (blame the cop for the traffic ticket),poor judgmental ability, inability to plan ahead, inability to multitask, and/or poor communications skills I don't want them near my *stuff*. If I took the time I could probably come up with a lot of other reasons. Oh! one that comes to mind is the number that will have a criminal record is staggering. I agree that this is a problem. In my opinion, people with criminal records should be exempted from many basic societal privileges, including driving (and certainly flying). But then, I favor the death sentence for many lesser crimes, so I'm clearly in the minority. To you and me it is simple because we've done it so many times we don't need to think about it consciously. To the non flyer who never even checks the oil in the car it would be a daunting list. Come to think of it, I don't check the oil in the car either.:-)) I do look under it, just in case, but that's usually to make sure the cat isn't sleeping there. To most kids, learning to drive is fairly difficult. Imagine how hard Some never manage but still get their licenses. Coming home from the university one night in an ice storm where the roads were covered with about an inch of black ice I watched the car ahead wiggle a little. The driver immediately stomped on the brakes. This of course put the car into a skid. She never took her foot off the brake until the car came to a stop out in a field. Had she simply taken her foot off the brake in about the first 10 seconds (we were moving really slow) the car would have become controllable and straightened out on it's own. That driver didn't have the faintest idea as to how to get out of a skid and did an action opposite of what should have been done.. I started driving when I had to stand up to see out. OTOH cars were a bit different back then and a floor shift was considered old fashioned. I had a regular license, not a farm permit at 14. Of course if a car had 40,000 miles it was almost over the hill. it would be if we didn't start teaching driving until folks were in their 40s -- the average age of new pilots nowadays? Bottom line: If kids regarded learning to fly as "normal" (the way they do driving), and they had grown up flying everywhere (the way they do in their parent's cars now) I believe they would find learning to fly no harder than learning to drive. I think it's a mind set that may have developed with age rather than a limitation placed by age. People are good at convincing themselves age is going to slow them down. I quit work and went to college full time at age 47. I did far better than an earlier try just out of high school. I did find it took more work than it did when I was younger, but I didn't find that a hindrance. I did find it required I get by on less sleep than I was used to. Also I was one of those kids who never had to study to get good grades in my early years so when I entered college I did not know how to study. At 47 I had learned how to study even if it was more work. One major surprise was how my abilities had changed. In high school, English was my poorest subject. In college some 30 years later it was an absolute breeze. In high school, Chemistry was my best subject. In college it was my worst. If I hadn't taken 8 hours of chemistry I'd have graduated with honors at age 50. (just missed by a fraction of a point) I went into a good job and retired just 7 years later. As to age: After retiring, Joyce got me started in figure skating. I picked up most of the moves far faster than all but two of the kids in the classes. It took me about a year to learn to do a good scratch spin that was fast, prolonged and controllable. I did have a couple of very good coaches. My point is that with no preconceived limitations I was able to tackle both mental and physical tasks that are normally considered only for the young. If you break down the tasks involved with driving on Chicago's Interstate 294 in rush-hour traffic (basically close formation flight, with infrequent and sudden stops and starts) and compare it to the tasks involved with the average $100 hamburger flight, I don't think there's any comparison. Once you've got the rote procedures down pat, flying is MUCH easier. I'd try to avoid driving in those conditions even if flying cost a lot more. Too few of our non-flying brethren know this. We need to tell them. As I said, I keep trying. Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member) (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair) www.rogerhalstead.com |
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