Use this forum to flag up examples of red tape and gold plate
#1475623
I have a poo brown licence. I trained and qualified on the C150. When I moved house, there was only the PA28 available for hire at the local airfield. My conversion to this took 20 minutes.

Some months later, I was asked if I'd like to bring a Piper back to base from Sywell. It had been abandoned there due to bad weather. Free flying? No brainer.

I got dropped off in a 172. No shut-down. Just told "That's it over there. It's got plenty of fuel and the keys are in the ashtray", before he departed into the blue.
It was an Arrow. Complete with wobbly prop and picky-up gear!!!
I found a phone and rang base, explaining that I'd no idea how to fly the thing. I was told to stay by the phone and they'd call me back.

They did, and told me to wait by the aircraft as someone was coming to 'sort me out'. It turned out to be a locally based Arrow owner. An hour later, with 30 minutes on type and a bit of paper with gear extention , flap, approach speeds and RPM/MP settings etc, I flew it home solo. Non-event really.

Since then, I've shunted lots of different aircraft about. Armed with the critical numbers, and knowledge of any quirks, it's no big deal. If anything, the biggest problem is being confronted with unfamiliar radios/avionics/ glass screens/ autopilots etc. They can be a distraction if you let them. Sometimes it's easier to leave the gizmos alone and let Skydemon get on with it. :D

The most recent scare I've had was with a Eurostar. After accruing several hours in them, I was told that for Insurance purposes I needed a check-out with an instructor. He didn't know that I'd been flying them. I didn't know that he'd never flown one. (Group A instructor). After a touch and go he decided, at about 150ft, to chop the throttle to simulate engine failure. He won't ever do that again :shock:

Sorry for waffling on. I've completely forgotten what point I was trying to make. :) :)
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By cockney steve
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1475700
flybymike wrote:
A natural sense of self preservation will ensure safety by adequate voluntry self imposed training and familiarisation before flying a new type. Idiots won't take any notice of regulation anyway.


Your notion that humans naturally will do the right thing is laudable but naive in the extreme.



A prime example of Darwinian Selection in action no doubt the survivors go forward with better skills....the rejects get buried. :twisted:

There seems to be a reluctance to acknowledge all the delivery pilots in WW2 who would jump into a new type and fly it, having only the pilot's notes as preparation. ...yes, there were casualties,but were type-conversion to be such a skilled black-art as is being suggested, I'd expect to see a lot higher proportion of losses back then.

the statistics, "39-45 would suggest that any competent pilot with a modicum of natural ability,should have little problem transitioning.

of course, these people were selected by aptitude, not their ability and willingness to pay for schooling and type-ratings.

*ducks and dons tinfoil helmet*
#1475798
Joe Dell wrote:. An hour later, with 30 minutes on type and a bit of paper with gear extention , flap, approach speeds and RPM/MP settings etc, I flew it home solo. Non-event really.

Since then, I've shunted lots of different aircraft about. Armed with the critical numbers, and knowledge of any quirks, it's no big deal.


Much like the ATA pilots during WW2 who flew anything up to Lancasters with just a book of notes and a lot of bravery.

Rob P
User avatar
By kanga
#1475825
I started my civilian SPL training in Canada on (very low power) C140s, tailwheel like the Chippies I had flown a fair amount as an Air Cadet (including, in those days, T&Gs from the back seat with no view forward :roll: ). I had solo'd and done my Canadian PPL ground exams before I left. I completed my PPL in UK piecemeal (university vacations) on low-power non-complex nosewheel types (Colt, Cherokee, C150), while still a student.

On graduation, with few hours since my PPL, before starting fulltime job, I revisted Canada including my first FC. A member still there who had been a fellow-SPL in same theory classes as me had recently got his PPL there (on C140s and Cherokees), and promptly bought himself a Mooney. Former owner had provided all the 'differences training' (VP, retractable) in one demonstration flight prior to sale. Now my former classmate did the same for me, and let me use it .. shocking :roll:

Decades later, after flying lots of different SEPs, I wanted to fly a 3-axis microlight with similar performance to the C140. Obviously, I now needed formal 'differences training', for which I was equally obviously grateful. :thumright: .. how would I have survived without it ?

[oh, and ATA pilots flew not only 4-engine bombers (always with a Flight Engineer, IIRC), but also Meteors before there was a 2-seater jet trainer :salut: ]