Ballpoint 246niner

Spot on Nev, I teach the same- fly the plane, understand it and feel it! Numbers are like boundary fences, they contain but don't control what goes on inside.

I had a gliding instructor once- who used to undo the wingnut clamp of the rear control stick in a bergfalke training glider and if my airspeed went below 50 kts in cct, he'd release it and with a sometimes not so gentle tap on the cap yell"50KNOTS". In todays cotton wool society that seems draconian but guess what I never forgot how important airspeed was. Maybe it's one reason why I'm still flying forty years later, and hopefully for another forty( well maybe not!)but many more I hope....

Maj, is this the valley from Big Conway and Conway Beach back towards Shute?

The bloody roos and birds at YCAB are enough reason alone to be able to go round with power!!At least if the props stopped you might save the prop and only wreck the plane!

I'll match that offer too!

Hey Scoob, per the ops manual, the only person that can turn off the engine is the CFI as PIC in the aircraft, he better be damn sure that he can recover any situation after dead sticking it as he is not only answerable to the family, RA Aus,and the insurance company if it goes pear shaped, but he will have to ask himself what actual benefit he was trying to show from the exercise. While it certainly adds "reality " to the exercise, and may show the true glide characteristics of the aircraft. I feel more time catching pilots out just by pulling the throttle when they least expect it or, waiting till they are miles out in circuit, sure sorts them out and teaches more valuable lessons about positioning and situational awareness. I'm sure there will be numerous other views on this subject, but dead sticking is something glider pilots do all the time, go fly a few hours in them if you want quet with your aviation experience, otherwise you might as well just turn the mags off as you roll up to the hangar!

And just extending this line of thought to something that most adults do every day - Drive a car- how is it then that that we don't have a TV show called "world's best drivers" ( cause we practice every day!). Last time I drove( today), I counted 9 vehicles hogging the right lane, 4 that failed to indicate, 3 that crossed outside their lane onto the wrong side of the road, and 1 that drove through a red light.My guess is that they drive every day.... practice makes permanent, not perfect. Experience and recency can( does) and should help a pilot -but the myriad of accident reports are riddled with many 1000 hr + pilots( some many more than that) who come to grief, and sometimes take hundreds of innocent people with them. Obviously experience and recency alone are not enough. The purpose of the thread was to stimulate pilots to be the best that they can be TODAY, on this flight, not last week, last month, next week etc. I strongly believe if this is the focus, then we will become better and safer pilots. From the amount of posts, I am pleased to see that many have taken the concept as a thought provoking concept for betterment- well done to all those pilots.

End of first solo checklist -- flaps up, trim neutral , GRIN LOCKED for a lifetime. Well done Compulsion!

The epitome of a true aviator- may he fly high and ride long RIP Dick Nell

Yep, there called SWER lines but really they are SWEAR lines cause that's what you do when you see them:crazy:

I did about a dozen outlandings in gliders when I flew them heaps and worst I managed was a broken U/C door in a stubble paddock, and a few de-rigs as they were too short/ soft to tow out of- it was a carton shout for outlandings in those days! It seems weird to have a soaring site so close to a built up area, once you go over the back you're committed. I reckon he did an awesome job to thread it in there if that was all he had by way of options, hate to see his bar tab though!

Just thinking out loud, perhaps the issue was that demoing of the aircraft represented an intention for commercial gain, thereby requiring such operation to be performed by a qualified instructor? I wonder if the question was to simply fly the aircraft from the right seat with no one else and there was no express POH requirement if the answer would have been different?

Nev you are spot on with this post and unfortunately too many pilots are influenced by images like this but have very little understanding of the risks involved- hence my credit card analogy. What I see in all this is a lack of developed understanding perhaps in the theory of flight, which can only have severe consequences due to ignorance. "Borrow for best angle- rely on best rate"- have the wisdom to know the difference!

Best angle will give max height for a given distance, perfect for clearing obstacles etc but while lift is greater- so is drag so we now have a situation where thrust is losing the battle over drag therefore airspeed is now declining. Starting to make sense?, get your CFI to explain with pics, if necessary of lift/ drag curves and where the polar curves intersect.

Good STOL always respects the Attitude/Power envelope. You can only use one without the other for so long, play on one end of the see-saw at your peril, as any two year old knows, swing off one end of the see-saw and you will hit the ground, and get a sore butt! Best angle climb, like credit card debt, is not sustainable -borrow but you eventually have to pay it back.... Just some STOL philosophy for those who care.

LOL. !! Very creative young Matt- see you tomorrow mate and I'll share then....cheers

Still catching up on replies Tubs, sorry, restart checks, Mayday procedures and make safe checks are all in addition to the selection criteria, aviate first, no point trying to restart the thing etc if you are already dead!! FTPF--- FlyThe Plane First, or the forceful version.... FTFP. I'll let everyone work that one out!!

Ok, just a bit of feedback for some of the above posts, Firstly thanks Turbo, appreciate your support of the thread and it means a lot.... Potarero.... We have a better saying" practice makes permanent!" what you practice goes into long term behavior, and if it's correct that's good but if not it becomes a hard habit to break.... Yenn, To my knowledge unless the POH specifically says you must fly it left seat then either seat is OK. It feels weird when I get back in the left seat somedays! Aircraft like my Sav are better flown left seat anyway because of the manual flaps, like an LSA 55 or 120 Jab. But other than POH, no law as far as I know says you can,t fly right seat.WORD OF WARNING though, make sure you re- adjust your straight line reference and sighting as it is very different first time, and remember that in std LH ccts your vis will be different and maybe restricted.

Hey Bushie- we probably hang waited together at the tops or H60 or Kiera sometime?

and I add Safe glide- can I make it to there safely, glide angle/wind Services- is help available there if it goes pear shaped Surface/stock- sheep, horses, cows and all that stuff- horses are worst! Good one.....

Gnarly its a "pre- unusual attitude check- get your instructor to run through it... Height- sufficent for intended manouvre Airframe- flap setting, trim, expected load for manouvre,cowl flaps( if fitted). Security- Harness's, hatches, Loose objects Switches- Fuel pump/Lights on as required Engine- ops normal Ts& Ps Location- not over settled area,airspace, safe glide option Lookout- full clearing turns. On the turns, learn the attitude reference for left and right, theyre different as you are either high/low side of the longitudinal as you roll- always focus in front, the rate of movement around the horizon is the cue for balance as well- use the horizon( worlds biggest instrument- I call it!!). Cheers.

Good thoughts from everyone, and glad to hear that there's a fair amount of committment to continued learning. I recall in the 70's the typical aero club, at least the one I flew at, used to have flower bombing, streamer cutting, spot landing and of course aerobatics as part of the monthly club barbie w'end. Now with the rules that we all fly under, particularly in RA -Aus it has very restricted practices on these sort of things, and that's Ok... but because of this it's very easy to become "pot bound"( excuse the anology- No drug testing required!!), and the "sharpening of the saw" is harder to achieve. I do a lot of BFR's and am amazed when I ask for a HASSELL check to be done, the creative answers I get, and comments like "it's been a long time since I've done one of these...." and so on. Our Aeroclub past president has just written an excellent article in the newsletter on EFIC procedures, which we and all schools, I'm sure teach thoroughly, but when was the last time you actually forced yourself to glide from somewhere in cct other than when it's a shoe in on base? The RA-Aus website has a comprehensive breakdown on current accident trends and the news is not great- anything we can do ourselves to increase our skills and therefore our chances has to be good.... Keep the conversation coming.