Questions from a new pilot

AR Dave · Post by **AR Dave** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:55 am

They just don't make em like they used to BL!

Corey, what's up with them whimpy pilots that made 1 fly-by this morning and went back to Anchorage? Stuck here for at least another day!

Post by **GAHorn** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:15 pm

blueldr wrote: I personally never flew a nose wheel airplane until I got into a B-25 in 1944. ... Actually, I believe there were some nose wheel trainers used in WWI, but that was a little before my time. (But not much!)

Yeah, Dick,... and didn't you guys wear jodhpurs and spurs?

dacker · Post by **dacker** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:12 pm

Blueldr, one thing you left out about training in tailwheel airplanes back in WWII and before... they did indeed train those thousands of pilots in tailwheel airplanes, they also wrecked thousands of tailwheel airplanes!

Things have indeed changed! As an example...I recently read where the accident rate for carrier jets in 1956 was 76 per 100,000 flight hours flown, in 2000 it was 0.71 per 100,000 flight hours. That is a 100 fold reduction! (I know this has nothing to do with nosewhel vs. tailwheel, but it is a good statistic to impress the ladies with!

)
It wasn't that unusual for someone to wreck an airplane and then jump right back into another. Even the "great" Lindberg went through a few airplanes.
Now days most of us have to worry about insurance and the cost of repairs (parts have gone up in price exponentially), not to mention that there are few shops that will take on a rebuild after an accident. Unfortunately the insurance companies don't make up the accident statistics on airplanes, we do - and unfortunately taildraggers lead the way in landing accidents.
The owner of a local flight school was hinting to me about how he would like to get a tailwheel airplane for training, I can tell you, there is no way in hell I would put mine on the flight line, I would only give it a month or two before it it would get rolled up into a ball! I would recommend initially flying an airplane with the training wheel up front (a flight school's),then transitioning with an experienced instructor, why accept more risk on your shoulders?
(I am putting in lots of emoticons because I don't mean this as an attack on past training (in what was mostly a worldwide emergency), nor am I attacking our great little taildraggers.

:
Fly safe!
David

alaskan99669 · Post by **alaskan99669** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:53 pm

AR Dave wrote:Corey, what's up with them whimpy pilots that made 1 fly-by this morning and went back to Anchorage? Stuck here for at least another day!

Whimpy?? 1/32 visibility gusting to 55 with blowing snow. Doesn't bother me though, I still have another week. I hope it doesn't happen next hitch, I've got tickets to Thailand!

blueldr · Post by **blueldr** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:14 am

George, you're absolutely right. I did wear Jodphurs, the shoes made by Justin of Texas, not the trousers. We only wore spurs when I was a cadet, on a weekend pass, and "hunting". Damn, those were fun days!

AR Dave · Post by **AR Dave** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:46 am

OK, maybe yesterday might have been pushing it,

Whimpy?? 1/32 visibility gusting to 55 with blowing snow.

But today? C'mon
We're going to try to make it to your doughnut shop at 10:30 tomorrow!

pojawis · Post by **pojawis** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:03 pm

Dacker:

Had my 170B on leaseback at HGR, MD and before that at FDK, MD and had no incidents in over 3 years. The FBO and instructors were first rate, to which I attribute the no-accident record.

Later == MGP