Primary training in a Hi Perf complex acft

Hi Matt;
One example of what you folks are discussing on this thread would be the
Paris Texas operation back in the sixties run by Junior Burchinal.
(Issac Newton to his friends :-)
Junior would take you from not knowing anything at all, right though a
complete checkout in his Mustang or his Bearcat, or several other
military airplanes.
We always considered Junior to be a die hard gambler, but in reality, he
was actually a VERY good pilot and instructor. He did keep a real close
rein on those he checked out though and all the flying was done in and
around his dirt strip near Paris. The bottom line on Junior was that
anyone with the bucks could walk through the door and solo in a P51 or
any of the other airplanes in Juniors stable of "patched up old war
birds still flying"
You would think the name of this game would simply be the money, and
admittedly, many of those who went through Junior's "program" had deep
pockets, but I can tell you that his operation, although a bit rusty and
dusty, was a first rate teaching and flying setup.
Junior's program for the 51 for example was (if I remember right anyway
:-) 10 hours in the Stearman, then 10 hours in the T6; 5 in front, then
5 in the back to get used to having that nose out there in front of you.
So you basically have a 20 hour program ending in a P51 checkout.
My personal opinion on this from my own experience doing checkouts and
giving dual in this type of situation, is that its not all that out of
line.
You can start someone out in a complex high performance airplane and
take them right through the program. Its harder for sure, and there's a
bit more to learn going through, but the bottom line is that it can, and
most certainly has been done many times, and successfully too.
I'm jogging my memory a bit now, but to my knowledge, Burchinal's
operation had a great safety record. I don't recall a major incident
involving someone who went through his program.
On the GA side of things;
I've had several people who bought their own high performance airplanes
before starting instruction and then went on with me from the beginning
on through the program. Solo took a few hours more, but after that, all
was basically normal from there. I wouldn't say it was all that much
more difficult teaching them in these airplanes than it would have been
in a 150 Cessna or a 140 Cherokee.
In the end, it all depends on the same things in this scenario that it
does in a non- high performance airplane;
1.The motivation of both the student and the instructor
2.The competence of the instructor
One side note to all this, and its strictly a personal observation based
on my own experience flying many types of airplanes; I have actually
found high performance airplanes easier to fly all things considered,
than planes with limited performance. (In teaching turn dynamics in the
T38 for example, you simply tell them to point the airplane where you
want it to go :-))
Dudley Henriques

Matt Barrow wrote:
"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...
It is all relative, the mind will adjust in a few minutes to
a faster airplane.



To a point, yes , most will. Whether it takes "minutes" is questionable.

Some can never make the adjustment to even 152/172 speeds.

Matt B.