Flying Slow

wrote in message
oups.com...
Have you ever really taken your aircraft to the bottom edges of its
flight ability and airspeed, and flown it with any degree of precision
and of more than just a few moments/minutes? Are you comfortable doing
it on the edge or nibble of a stall? Can you do it while holding
altitude and desired headings within reasonable limits - depending on
your experience?
When is the last time you did it just to sharpen your skills without
prompting by a CFI in the next seat? When is the last time you spent
some diligent time doing stalls and the full range of them with your
aircraft? Are you honestly comfortable with your abilities? I know I
have to think about it every time I go fly and always find some fault
with my performance.
In a previous post it appeared I aggravated some pilots or CFI's with
saying I felt many pilots didn't know how to fly slowly these days. I
have seen a slow errosion of what used to be basic pilot skills and
level of performance with too many pilots compared with acceptable
standards not that many years ago. Now if that won't open a bucket of
worms I'll be surprised.
Fact is, just making the FAA minimums doesn't necessarily make you
safe
or even a good pilot.
Care to weigh in on the issues?
I'll be polite in my responses in accordance to the way they are
presented to me. No axe to grind, no ego to inflate (its big enough
already thank you) just a sincere desire to make pilots think a little
more about what they are doing when they go flying. You need to make
your own mistakes to hopefully learn from them and avoid repetition.
Ol Shy & Bashful

I would not have posted in this thread had you not referenced the other
thread peripherally in your comments.

Your points are well taken, and have validity. It's true that there are
many pilots out here who don't spend nearly enough time in the left
corner of the envelope, and doing so would make them much safer pilots.
I see only one difference between my approach to flying and what you
have stated here.
I have a problem with your sentence as follows;
"You need to make your own mistakes to hopefully learn from them and
avoid repetition."
In my end of the business thinking like this will kill you.
It's for this reason that I never taught my students, both primary and
aerobatic, to think this way.
Although it's fine to learn from a mistake, and by all means, pilots
should learn from mistakes if they live through that mistake, but my
thinking on this leans heavily toward the prevention of mistakes, rather
than learning from them.
Most good pilots I know have no problem understanding that time spent in
the left corner is time well spent, and most CFI's doing the job
properly spend plenty of time exploring slow flight and flight at and
near CLmax with their students. This is especially true of aerobatic
instructors.
Plainly put, if instructors are not doing this, they are not doing the
job properly.
It behooves all pilots to stay current by practicing flight in the left
corner, and what you have said about that is highly relevant to flight
safety.
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/CFI Retired
for private email; make necessary changes between ( )
dhenriques(at)(delete all this)earthlink(dot)net