Taking newbies flying...

"Walt" wrote:

This heading didn't quite work as we were heading straight toward
Blacktail Mountain, which was slightly higher than us.

15-year-old kid: "Uh, Walt, we're heading straight for that mountain.
Should I keep flying by the compass?

Me: "Yup." (I was looking for elk).

15-year-old kid: "UM, okay".

Goin intro to cockpit management. Never assume that a more
experienced pilot is competent. If something seems odd don't dance
around the bush...state what you are thinking.

Ron Lee

Ron Lee writes:

Never assume that a more experienced pilot is competent.
If something seems odd don't dance around the bush ...
state what you are thinking.

Does that apply only in the cockpit, or in newsgroups as well?

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Walt wrote:
15-year-old kid: "Uh, Walt, we're heading straight for that mountain.
Should I keep flying by the compass?

Me: "Yup." (I was looking for elk).


Walt - boy are you lazy and cheap. You sound like Tom Sawyer. Buy an
autopilot. ;-) ;-)

Geral

"Stefan" wrote:

Have I got this right? You are not a flight instructor. (If you are,
please correct me.) Despite this, you hand over the controls to a
stranger.

Where did you get the idea it was a stranger?


--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

"Uh, better now," said M_, attempting a brave smile. "That turn was a
little scary!"

That's because "T" probably didn't use any rudder in the turn.

We front seaters get a very different feeling from uncoordinated turns
from back seaters. G

I was handling the rudder part.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

"Martin Hotze" wrote:

the interesting part is missing: where are the pics of M_?

:-)

Another screwup; I forgot the camera. ;(

"Stefan" wrote

Have I got this right? You are not a flight instructor. (If you are, please
correct me.) Despite this, you hand over the controls to a stranger. To a
stranger nonetheless who sits the first time in his life in a small plane. And
you don't just hand over the controls at altitude (which admittedly I have
done myself), but right on the ground and you let him fly the take off. Then
you let him fly a 180 at low altitude. And all this *with a passenger in the
back*!

Yes, you screwed up royally. But for a different reason than you think.

What is the big F'en problem, here?

If the newbie happened to do it right, and it sounds like he did, there is no
problem. If he starts to get outside of the expected flight parameters, you
nudge and urge corrections, and if that doesn't work, you say "my plane."

Do you think that he could not tell if something was happening that was a trend
in the wrong direction? Do you think that everyone who takes the controls is
going to horse them, and screw up? If that were the case, there would be far
less new students. Perhaps that is the problem. People are so stuck on the
fact that flying is for supermen, and themselves, and nobody else deserves the
chance to prove themselves.

So what difference does it make, if he is a instructor or not. I'm willing to
place money on the fact that there are many people who are not certified flight
instructors that are way better teachers than many of the certified flight
instructors out there flying people and sometimes students with passengers
around the sky. How many people here, got to do the first takeoff that they
were in the plane, and the maneuvers following that, too? I'll bet over half
got to do the landing, with plenty of coaching and a few corrections, too.

I think your reaction is way, way over the top, on this one.

Remember the adage of many examiners, about predicting the students abilities,
and whether they will pass, or not? If you don't, it goes something like " I
can tell if the student will be able to fly, and pass, while the plane is still
being taxied out for takeoff."

So he was able to tell that the new person had a good feel for the plane, right
off the bat. It does not take a piece of paper with a bunch of initials on it
to be able to do that.

Good going, Allen. You may have just won another person over to our side.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote

Good going, Allen. You may have just won another person over to our side.

OOps! I lost track of the OP. Good going, Dan. Allen, you have to go out and
do this for yourself! g
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in
:

OOps! I lost track of the OP. Good going, Dan. Allen, you have to
go out and do this for yourself! g

Be glad to Jim!!! :-))

Allen

I've been offering rides as bar- and bat-mitzvah gifts at our synagogue.
One girl with whom I've been trying to schedule for a few months (kids
are busy these days) has a brother a few years younger who wants to come
along. He told me he would only come if I promised not to do any
aerobatics; turns out he overheard me talking with his (physicist)
father about an aerobatics course I took recently and was scared of
being in any "600 G maneuvers." I suppressed a laugh and reassured him
no, no aerobatics on their flight, certainly no maneuvers of any kind at
that level.

David

N2310D wrote:
"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...
...offers endless opportunities for screwing up the experience for them,
as I've demonstrated yet again.


I'm glad it ended up okay.
I invited a friend to take a ride with me for his birthday present. His
wife and 12-year-old daughter went along in the back seat. During the
passenger brief, I pretty much explained stuff to everyone's satisfaction
including some insightful questions from the youngster.
After we were leveled off and trimmed out, I demonstrated some movements
of the controls including, with permission a 'steep' turn, which did not go
more than 45 degrees and got a giggle from the back seat and a request to do
it again. I glanced at Mom and she was doing fine so I did one more to the
other side. We flew over their house and I did a 360 to both sides.
On the way back to the airport I gave the controls over to Bill and
coached him through some gentle turns, nothing more than 10 degrees or so.
Then, from the back seat came this young plaintive voice, "Is my daddy
flying the airplane?"
"Yes," I answered, "and he's doing a great job."
Then came this shriek, followed by, " I DON'T WANT MY DADDY TO FLY IT!!"