Experience Question

In a previous article, "Fred Choate" said:
with my children. Actually, they put it in the context of "do you really
think it is a good idea to fly with your children until you get more

"The FAA says that I'm a safe pilot. What are your qualifications to
state otherwise?"

I took my wife and kids up for a short flight the day I passed my check
ride. I took my wife on an international flight at night to an airport
I'd never been two weeks later.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
I don't have a sense of humour, merely an over-exaggerated sense
of revenge.
-- Stephen Harris

Paul Tomblin wrote:
I took my wife and kids up for a short flight the day I passed my check
ride. I took my wife on an international flight at night to an airport
I'd never been two weeks later.


You're a brave man. I remember my first solo nighttime cross country flight: I
hadn't seen any lights for a while so I assumed I was over the countryside just
to the west of Wilmington, NC. I called into ILM approach and reported my
position as about 20 miles west of ILM. They gave me a squawk code and then
confirmed my actual position as 15 miles EAST of the airport... out over the
Atlantic Ocean... heading for Burmuda!

Oops....

I guess you can say I learned about flying from that. As I said before, God
grants a special dispensation to newbies and morons. No harm was done... and
nobody was there to witness it except me. Thank you, Lord.


--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

In a previous article, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN" said:
Paul Tomblin wrote:
I took my wife and kids up for a short flight the day I passed my check
ride. I took my wife on an international flight at night to an airport
I'd never been two weeks later.


You're a brave man. I remember my first solo nighttime cross country flight: I

As a former orienteering competitor (came 4th in the North American
championships once), I have no problems with navigation with all this
electronic stuff backing up my map and compass skills.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Get with the program, jeffrey. No one is 'wrong' on Usenet. They are
either 100% totally correct, or they are 'a lying, scum sucking weasel.'
There is no in-between. -- Garrett Johnson

Paul Tomblin wrote:
You're a brave man. I remember my first solo nighttime cross country
flight: I

As a former orienteering competitor (came 4th in the North American
championships once), I have no problems with navigation with all this
electronic stuff backing up my map and compass skills.


So how are you at map reading on hazy dark moonless nights at altitude?



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

Nurse Schnerd:

How is is that you were 35 miles from where you thought you were? Is your
airplane equipped with GPS, or other guidance? Aren't the VORs supposed
to give a hint?

About God's special dispensation for "morons," there does seem to be some
truth to this, given the most recent dozen or so crashes over the past few
days were by experienced pilots.