Antique Airplane Checkouts

There is more to flying antique airplanes than manipulating the controls
and taking off and landing. There is also knowledge of the peculiarities
of the type, make and model.
The idiosynchrasies of starting, operating and shutting down the engine;
hand propping, fueling and securing the aircraft. These are things which
are not spelled out by insurance requirements or the FAA.
They are not things the typical instructor can impart in minimum
mandated insurance requirements.
Pilot knowledge varies greatly and even setting a minimum number of
flight hours does not mean that a given pilot is capable of safely
beginning or even completing a given flight.
Sadly, that lesson was brought home this morning when an aircraft I fly
was badly damaged by a pilot who was recently checked out in the
aircraft and met all the "legal" requirements.

Okeedokee. Did you hit Post a little early?

"Ben Hallert" wrote in message
oups.com...
Okeedokee. Did you hit Post a little early?


Yea, that 152 Q-Tip prop fell and hit his send key.

"john smith" wrote in message
...
There is more to flying antique airplanes than manipulating the controls
and taking off and landing. There is also knowledge of the peculiarities
of the type, make and model.
The idiosynchrasies of starting, operating and shutting down the engine;
hand propping, fueling and securing the aircraft. These are things which
are not spelled out by insurance requirements or the FAA.
They are not things the typical instructor can impart in minimum
mandated insurance requirements.
Pilot knowledge varies greatly and even setting a minimum number of
flight hours does not mean that a given pilot is capable of safely
beginning or even completing a given flight.
Sadly, that lesson was brought home this morning when an aircraft I fly
was badly damaged by a pilot who was recently checked out in the
aircraft and met all the "legal" requirements.

John,

How about some more details. Is the pilot OK? What type of antique
aircraft?

-Greg B.

Hi John
I guess that it is a fine balance.
We want people to keep flying these beautiful antique aircraft - but
there ain't too many of them for them to practice on.

I can only hope that your plane is repairable and will be back in the
air soon.

Tony
--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

In article ,
john smith wrote:

There is more to flying antique airplanes than manipulating the controls
and taking off and landing. There is also knowledge of the peculiarities
of the type, make and model.
The idiosynchrasies of starting, operating and shutting down the engine;
hand propping, fueling and securing the aircraft. These are things which
are not spelled out by insurance requirements or the FAA.
They are not things the typical instructor can impart in minimum
mandated insurance requirements.
Pilot knowledge varies greatly and even setting a minimum number of
flight hours does not mean that a given pilot is capable of safely
beginning or even completing a given flight.
Sadly, that lesson was brought home this morning when an aircraft I fly
was badly damaged by a pilot who was recently checked out in the
aircraft and met all the "legal" requirements.

"The idiosynchrasies of starting, operating and shutting down the engine;
hand propping, fueling and securing the aircraft."

And this is different from any other airplane, how?

different from your typical 172 or Warrior...

1. Hand Prop from front or behind the prop?

2. Hydraulic locking of cylinders?

3. Greasing the Rocker arms every 10 hours?

4. How to keep you googles from frosting over?

5. scavanging the oil from the Crank case before shut down?

6. oil dilution

7. Mechanical Brakes or heel brakes.

8. How to keep moisture from damaging you wood prop.

9. Wind driven generators

10. Adverse yaw

This is my quick list of 10 thing different in no particular order. I
am sure that are many more.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

We had a bad accident here in Minneapolis in front of a large crowd in
the 70s when a replica Curtiss Robin (?) stalled after takeoff, spun in
& crashed killing one and badly burning another.

As I recall the pilot was the local air guard commander who rebuffed
local antiquers efforts to tell him how to fly old airplanes. He had a
lot of multi-turbine time but only a fresh single engine rating. There
was nothing found wrong with the airplane.

Jeff wrote:
"The idiosynchrasies of starting, operating and shutting down the engine;
hand propping, fueling and securing the aircraft."

And this is different from any other airplane, how?

Jeff,

It is true that every airplane, both as types and as individual
examples, have quirks and idiosyncrasies. It's been my experience,
however, that the Stearman I've been fortunate enough to fly for the
last 12 months is absolutely full of 'em. The Decathlon is, in
comparison, a cake walk.

YMMV.

Dave Russell
N2S-3

Brian wrote:

4. How to keep you googles from frosting over?

I wear long johns when it's cold. That does it pretty well. :-)

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.