Flight training before learning to drive?

Ross wrote:
Curt Johnson wrote:
Steve Hix wrote:
In article ,
Curt Johnson wrote:

Ricky wrote:
Do you think it would make for a safer driver?

Ricky
The evidence would be if an auto insurance company offered discounts
to pilots. Their actuaries don't miss much.

Might could be a small enough group for them to safely ignore.

Progressive gives me a couple hundred bucks a year discount for
belonging to IEEE, which has 375,000 members worldwide. There were
624,007 certificated pilots in the U.S. in January 2008 according to the
FAA.

Darn, I shouldn't have dropped my membership to IEEE years ago. I wonder
what other discounts there are? I can get a discount for being old
though AARP.

You have to wade through all the fine print from your insurance company.

I did and found there are discounts for things as obscure as having
an engineering degree, among a bunch of others.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

"gpsman" wrote in message
...
I think I've learned something that I can apply to driving from every
different type of vehicle/equipment I've operated.

Funny, in some ways my experience was the opposite!

I spent a lot of my childhood tooling around on homemade go-karts that were steered by foot - push
with the right foot and the kart goes left. In adulthood that was reinforced slightly by the way
shopping carts steer. When I started my flight training, it took me forever to become comfortable
with the fact that when you push on the right rudder pedal, the nose goes *right*!

Eric Law

"gpsman" wrote in message
...
I am of the opinion that kids learn to "drive" long before they take
the wheel. Those that don't spend all their time in the vehicle
playing video games, etc., anyway. They learn to endure and ignore G-
forces.

I actually agree... and then some.

This is a bit OT but... there's an automotive discussion board I frequent and from time to time
someone will post that their kid just started driving and they're concerned about unsafe things the
kid is doing - speeding up for yellow lights, ignoring stop signs, etc. I tell them what they need
to do is get a "wayback machine", go back about 15 years to when junior began observing *them* doing
those things, and cut it out!

Eric Law

"Eric" wrote

I spent a lot of my childhood tooling around on homemade go-karts that
were steered by foot - push with the right foot and the kart goes left.

When I started my flight training, it took me forever to become comfortable
with the fact that when you push on the right rudder pedal, the nose goes
*right*!

Yeah, me too, with that observation....

I think we should mandate a change in all airplanes, to our way of thinking.
g
--
Jim in NC

On Mon, 4 May 2009 17:24:29 -0700 (PDT), Ricky wrote:

My daughter is only 7

That's old enoubh, roll her over on her back.
--
That white softball comes at me. I am not afreed. I kill it.
To the warning track. I do this a lot. NO softball timidates me
if after me. I kill it. I am The Man, I play a kid's game.
http://tr.im/1f81

On May 4, 8:24*pm, Ricky wrote:
Here's possibly a stretch of a question...

My daughter is only 7 but already I'm thinking of her driving and,
hopefully, learning to fly (like me). I'd love to teach her myself if
she shows interest.

I've heard many times that a pilot makes a safer driver and, looking
at myself & some other pilots I know, I believe that may be true. I've
never seen statistics but would be interested in knowing if this is
fact statistically.

Anyway, I expect to be a CFII & further soon (com./inst. now) and was
wondering if anyone has ever taught a sibling (or anyone for that
matter) to fly before they learned to drive?
Do you think it would make for a safer driver?

Ricky

Not quite on topic, but this is a neat story

I was talking to an retired MD a dozen years ago, turns out he flew
bombers in WW II. He went into the army young, later transferred to
the army air corps. He became a command pilot, then a section leader,
and finally a squadron commander, leading at least dozens of heavy
bombers over Germany.

Finally he returned stateside to train new pilots.

We went home on leave, asked his father if he could borrow the car. He
could not -- he didn't yet have a driver's license! He was qualified
to lead dozens of airplanes, and tens of dozens of crew, in harm's
way, but not drive down the streets of his home town.

When I hear of talk about "The Greatest Generation" I told him I would
think of him. He says he thinks about the crews he led out that did
not come back.

Sorry for the diversion, but it's a favorite story. Now back to the
regularly scheduled program!
he comes to mind. And he says

I don't see any way that it can do any harm, and a methodical approach
to flying will probably transfer to driving as well, but it would
depend on getting a good driving instructor.

Mature judgment is a critical component of both driving and flying,
and that's a mental process that doesn't mature early - probably not
until mid-20s.

Curt Johnson wrote:
Steve Hix wrote:
In article ,
Curt Johnson wrote:

Ricky wrote:
Do you think it would make for a safer driver?

Ricky
The evidence would be if an auto insurance company offered discounts
to pilots. Their actuaries don't miss much.

Might could be a small enough group for them to safely ignore.

Progressive gives me a couple hundred bucks a year discount for
belonging to IEEE, which has 375,000 members worldwide. There were
624,007 certificated pilots in the U.S. in January 2008 according to the
FAA.

That discount isn't because IEEE membership means you are a safer driver.

Gig 601Xl Builder wrote:
Curt Johnson wrote:
Steve Hix wrote:
In article ,
Curt Johnson wrote:

Ricky wrote:
Do you think it would make for a safer driver?

Ricky
The evidence would be if an auto insurance company offered discounts
to pilots. Their actuaries don't miss much.

Might could be a small enough group for them to safely ignore.

Progressive gives me a couple hundred bucks a year discount for
belonging to IEEE, which has 375,000 members worldwide. There were
624,007 certificated pilots in the U.S. in January 2008 according to
the FAA.

That discount isn't because IEEE membership means you are a safer driver.

California Proposition 103 requires personal automobile insurance rates
to be determined using only factors that have a substantial relationship
to the risk of loss (Ca. Insurance Code Section 1861.02a).

The discount can only mean that membership in IEEE and other qualifying
organizations indicates that, statistically, you are a safer driver.

I waded through the list of qualifying organizations on the Progressive
web site. Air traffic controllers qualify. Pilots do not.