[Flintstone]

Let's see.......................

We have three captains working on my aircraft with a minimum of 23 years in commercial aviation each. We all fly (basic) light aircraft for fun. Looking back over my fifteen years in this branch of the industry I can recalla large number of colleagues who did/do the same.

If I think of our most senior (company) pilots the first half dozen that come to mind (all ex-RAF or airlines and now flying the some of the newest, best equip bizjets available) they too fly light aircraft on their days off.

So no, flying flash machinery does not mean you've done it all and certainly shouldn't mean you look down your nose at the ones who do. In fact I'd expand on Irv's warning and go so far to say that some who have been elevated to the world of commercial flying actually struggle with simpler machines*.




* Especially taildraggers, obviously.

[lobstaboy]

Even better, put them in a Thruster. They'll scare themselves witless...

[Genghis the Engineer]

I checked an L1011 captain out in an X'Air once.

"Think of the height above the ground where you're parked in your Tristar"

"Yessss"

"Now halve it"

"Okay"

"That's where you start to round out."

G

[chrisdr221]

One of our group is a BA Captain. After a sim session the instructor asked if he had light aircraft experience. When told yes he commented "thought so, you're aircraft handling skills are much above average".

[Silvaire]

Most of the airline pilot types I run into seem to prefer light aircraft. A former F/A-18 squadron commander I hang out with is about 5 years from retiring as an Airbus driver, and he says 'flying airliners is just a job, a good job, but just a job' He loved the fighter but doesn't seem to look back to it often. He spends much of his free time building and restoring the lightest of planes, and I get the sense that calls from AA to go fly a trip are a distraction.

Another ex US Air heavy captain and former test pilot doesn't like the really light stuff so much but says he's happy to have left IFR and endless talking on the radio behind. He likes to relive his boyhood as a young Navy pilot, doing aerobatics and criss-crossing the landscape free-form in his RV 8.

A current long haul airliner captain (a few trips to japan every month) never talks about it, and spends his spare time with his Lancair Legacy.

[PeteSpencer]

We had a very nice BA 777 captain in our group for a short time:

Sadly a combination of work rosters, family stuff and the fact that he was a PPL/IMCr instructor at a nearby airfield meant that he had very little time to fly the aeroplane so he left.

Shame really : he was a very nice bloke.

Peter

[G-AFZP]

For most of my 50-odd years of my very successful flying career (I never broken anything) I flew everything from EON Primary gliders to the DC-10 without having a problem.

At one time, I was CFI of a gliding club, flying Cessna 206 and BN Islander for the jumping beans, moonlighting on the Short Belfast and flying the DC-10 in my day job.

What I used to do to adjust myself to the task in hand was to look at the windsock (if I could find one). Then I would think about what I was going to do if the cable broke (glider), chuck the jumping beans out (spotting for the paras) or what I was going to do if I had an engine failure after take-off at maximum take-off weight (DC-10).

It is actually a pretty fatuous argument to say that you have flown with airline/RAF pilots in a PA-28 and have found them to be rubbish (using your standards and experience). What you need to do is to re-introduce them to the light aircraft world and, at the same time, ask yourself what you would have done if you had been in command of an airliner which had just suffered a catastrophic failure on take-off (in all honesty, would you really know what to do and how you would react?).

I can remember renewing my SEP with a famous lady examiner (who had a reputation for not liking airline pilots). The fun started when I lifted the cowl on my aircraft on the walk round and I was asked why the cooling fins on the cylinders on my engine were painted blue. I had no idea and I said so. I was then told that this indicated to the engineers that the piston rings fitted were of such and such a type and this would stop them from fitting the wrong ones!

This took me back to the 1960s when the RAF was run by Trappers and not Instructors. I wanted to tell her that I was a pilot and not an engineer. However, I kept my council and managed to renew my licence with relative ease.

Which reminds me of the time in 1961 when I was a student on the DH Vampire at RAF Valley. Central Flying School (CFS) paid their annual visit and I was selected as an average student on the course. I flew with this Sqn Ldr Trapper and the actual flight went pretty well. During the de-brief, he asked what the longest piece of metal in the Vampire was?
I had to give up. The CFS answer was "the generator windings".

I congratulated him with his answer and quoted a verse from The Village (Oliver Goldsmith I think). This bit was about the school master:

"And still they stared
And still their wonder grew
How such a small head
Could carry all he knew".

The sad thing was that he took this as being a compliment!

So let us get back to the beginning. I have met far too many people who simply do not know their limitations in aviation. Dare I say it, but money is usually a major factor. If I were you, I would ignore his flights of fancy. Flying a jet-powered Citation which has a weather radar to me is indicative of someone who is heading towards becoming a statistic.

Judgement is what will keep you alive in aviation, It worked for me.

[Rusty Spanner]

I only know 2 airline Captains one is a regular light aircraft pilot/owner, the other clearly wants to be, both have an honest enthusiasm for flying and will engage with anyone that shares the buzz, they aren't all up themselves.

[OhNoCB]

Obviously its an opinion (as is this, mine) but whoever says that going back to flying light aircraft would be dull compared to flying a commercial jet with weather radar (??) must have forgotten what flying a light aircraft is like.

I have been flying commercially with barely any light GA for the last couple of years and I sorely miss it and can't wait to have a bit more time to do it more. Whilst flying a citation/737/whatever might have its own excitement and challenges, the majority of the time it is work and you try to avoid much excitement to have a normal day. Any 'excitement' that does happen is rarely your own doing. Compare that to getting in a 172/152 whatever and decided yourself whether to go do stalls, steep turns, go to the local short field or go and land at the local international for a laugh or whatever is much more reliable fun.

[mick w]

Why do all the Pilots I know who fly heavies , call GA flying proper flying ?.

[masterofnone]

This thread reminds me of the story about the "pilots looking up".

An hours builder looks up just before he gets into his 152 and sees a small cargo plane go overhead and thinks "Wow, I'd love to be that guy, being paid to fly a twin...that's living!"

The cargo pilot looks up to see an airliner 20,000 feet above and thinks to himself, "Wow, I'd love to be that guy, being paid to fly a wide body jet...that's living!"

The airline captain spots a military jet flying fast above him, and says to the copilot "Wow, I'd love to be that guy, being paid to fly a fast jet, no passenger hassles...that's living!"

Fast jet pilot looks up from the edge of space and sees the space shuttle, and thinks "Wow, I'd love to be that guy, being an astronaut on a space programme...that's living!"

Astronaut in the space shuttle, using his fancy imaging kit looks down on earth, and sees a light aircraft landing on short, unprepared strip, and says to his crew mate "You know, that's the first thing I'm going to do when I get back on earth....fine weather and strip flying.... now that's living!!!!"

**Or something like that

[Flintstone]

This thread reminds me of the story about the "pilots looking up".

That used to be available as a cartoon.

[GAFlyer4Fun]

This thread reminds me of the story about the "pilots looking up".
....
**Or something like that

I like that.

I was trying to remember that story before posting it as it does the rounds from time to time... although I have a vague recollection of a variation in an email many years ago from a retired French airline pilot that referred to concorde.

Whatever we fly we are not above making mistakes. I can remember one chap that had flown many types and I think he had over 400 hrs flying experience, but only had around 9 hrs on a warrior and managed to prang it landing long.

Oh well, onwards and upwards whatever altitude we all cruise at.

[Flyingfemme]

Why do all the Pilots I know who fly heavies , call GA flying proper flying ?.

Because flying the heavies is supposed to be systems management, by the numbers and the SOPs. The powers that be try to remove the need for personal judgement or choices.

[Flintstone]

The powers that be try to remove the need for personal judgement or choices.

Ummmmmm, I wouldn't go that far but know what you mean.