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Tag Archives: judgment
The Tragedy of Sun N Fun
Yesterday will long live in the memories of many of the homebuilders who flew their airplanes into Sun N Fun this week. For those who survived the devastation, they will always be grateful. For the builders who lost their planes…, … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, Life in General
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Tagged "spam-can" airplanes, a great deal of property loss, a treasure, aerial displays, airplanes, builder-owner pilot, Cessnas, Florida, flying, friends, homebuilders, homebuilt airplanes, horrific storms, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, judgment, Lakeland Airport, learning to fly, life must go on, memories, no one died, open cockpit biplanes, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, Sun N Fun, taildraggers, Tampa, The Navy's Flight Demonstration Team, The Tragedy of Sun N Fun, training aircraft, Vero Beach, Wichita
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1 Comment
The Almost Did Club
The old pilots, those much older (and presumably wiser) than me, have proclaimed, “There are those who have and those who will.” What they are referring to are pilots who have landed an airplane gear up and pilots who will … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying, Personal
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Tagged airplanes, automaticity, autopilot, breaking the rules, Cessna 210, Cessnas, charter pilots, discipline, flying, Flying Tired, GUMP check, judgment, landing an airplane gear up, landing flare, old pilots, Orlando International, pilots, professional pilots, redundant backup warning systems, Tampa International, The Almost Did Club, the famous four-letter expletive deleted, the junior officer’s hand salute, you don’t remember, “hackers”, “There are those who have and those who will”
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Comments Off on The Almost Did Club
Sky King!
As a bit of humor, yesterday I posed the question of Rin-Tin-Tin and Lassie knowing one another. By the time I finished writing at the end of the piece, I realized the true answer to the question would determine the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General
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Tagged airplanes, an old Cessna T-50, baby-boomers, Cessna 310B, Cessnas, Florida, Florida’s Beeline Expressway, flying, Gloria Winters, his niece Penny, influencing more young girls and boys into aviation, judgment, Kennedy Space Center, Kirby Grant, Lassie, learning to fly, NASA, Navy, pilots, professional pilots, Rin-Tin-Tin, Ripcord, Schuyler “Sky” King, Sky King!, STS–16-A, The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin, the shadows of Mercury Gemini and Apollo, the Sky King Youth Ranches of America, the Songbird, the Space Shuttle Challenger, The Whirlybirds
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6 Comments
Teaching Stalls, Part II
Yesterday, we hit the basics of teaching stalls. Today, let’s go a little more in depth. First, some important questions. Why should we learn how to stall? Why should we learn how to recover from a stall? What is the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged a bona fide short field, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, at what airspeed?, Cessnas, confident of the recovery procedures, controlling the airspeed, discipline, excess speed, flight training, fly with confidence, flying, how?, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing rollout, learning to fly, pilots, practicing stalls and stall recoveries, professional pilots, recognize the stall, short runways, student pilots, taildraggers, Teaching Stalls Part II, the basics of teaching stalls, the inadvertent stall, the landing area, the moment the wheels touch down, the warnings of impending stall, training aircraft, when the wing is flying again, when?, why?
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2 Comments
Teaching Stalls, Part I
One maneuver scary to many student pilots is The Stall. This maneuver comes in a variety of flavors—there is the power off stall, the power on stall, the approach to landing stall, the accelerated stall. It is no surprise this … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged a bona fide short field, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, at what airspeed?, Cessnas, confident of the recovery procedures, controlling the airspeed, discipline, excess speed, flight training, fly with confidence, flying, how?, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing rollout, learning to fly, pilots, practicing stalls and stall recoveries, professional pilots, recognize the stall, short runways, student pilots, taildraggers, Teaching Stalls Part II, the basics of teaching stalls, the inadvertent stall, the landing area, the moment the wheels touch down, the warnings of impending stall, training aircraft, when the wing is flying again, when?, why?
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2 Comments
The USS Langley, CV-1
This day in 1922 was a very important day in the records of Naval Aviation. Eighty-nine years ago, the United States Navy launched their first aircraft carrier. (Found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SSd_zPTYFQ.) The USS Langley, also known as CV-1, first served as … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General
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Tagged aircraft carrier, Commander Joseph Reeves, Commander Kenneth Whiting, Eugene Ely, flying, inexperienced pilots, judgment, LT Virgil Griffin, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, military service, naval aviation, Navy Yard Norfolk, professional pilots, Samuel P. Langley, the United States Navy, The USS Langley CV-1, USS Birmingham, USS Jupiter AC-3, Vought VE-7, “flight deck”, “seaborne aviation”
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1 Comment
Teaching Straight and Level
One of the first things a student pilot needs to learn is the task of merely flying straight and level. Sounds simple enough, right? It is, to a degree. Still, there are elements of performing the maneuver (can straight and … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged a flight instructor, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, angle-of-attack (AoA), Cessnas, CFI, climbing or descending while flying straight ahead, climbs, descents, different visual aspect, flight training, flying, flying straight and level, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, sitting height, student pilots, Teaching Straight and Level, the four fundamentals, the simplest elements, training aircraft, turns, “sight picture”
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2 Comments
Able Dogs and Spads
Today, in 1945, the XBT2D-1 flew for the first time. It was another of the great designs by Ed Heinemann, the designer of many aircraft produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company. As with many of the aircraft Heinemann created, … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, Life in General
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Tagged A-1E, A-1H, A-1J, Air Force, airplanes, Bernie Fisher, big four-bladed props, carrier-borne aircraft, discipline, Douglas Aircraft Company, Ed Heinemann, feet dry, feet wet, flying, ground troops, Helldiver, judgment, Korea, military service, Navy, Navy pilots, pilots, professional pilots, Spad pilots, taildraggers, TBM Avenger, the A-1 Skyraider, The Able Dogs and Spads, the cold war, the Congressional Medal of Honor, the deck of a carrier, the Sandy, the XBT2D-1, Vietnam, World War II, Wright R-3350, “sand blower” route
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6 Comments
Eastern Flight 1320
Sixty-eight passengers and a crew of five prepared for take off in the evening of St. Patrick’s Day, 1970. The flight, Eastern Airlines Newark to Boston Shuttle, Flight 1320, departed a little before 8:00 p.m. In the cockpit, the captain … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General
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Tagged .38 caliber revolver, airplanes, an outstanding job of flying, deranged gunman, discipline, Eastern Flight 1320, Havana Cuba, hijacking, James Hartley, John J. Divivo, judgment, Newark to Boston Shuttle, professional pilots, Robert Wilbur Jr., St. Patrick’s Day 1970, true heroes
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53 Comments
Dave, You’re Working Too Hard!
I read with interest the insights learned by an Australian friend, Dave, a middle-aged (as he refers to himself) young person as he is learning how to fly. For his insight #13, he wrote, “Watch the airspeed on late finals! I … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Australia, Cessnas, correct airspeed, Dave, discipline, falling out of the sky, fear of stalls, first solo, flight training, flying, flying close to the ground, flying the airplane, friends, glideslope, inexperienced pilots, insights, judgment, landing, learning how to fly, learning to fly, on late final, pilots, professional pilots, relax, runway threshold, slow flight, stall speed, student pilots, Trim the airplane, working too hard, You’re Working Too Hard!
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5 Comments
