"Michael" wrote in message
om...

But what 5000 hours they must have been. Could any number of hours
getting hundred dollar hamburgers, going around the pattern, or
reading the newspaper while the autopilot flies the plane and the
stews serve drinks ever compare?


There's a lot of truth in that. Ferrying little planes over big oceans does
not attract the risk-averse, that's for sure. This kind of flying is right
up there in my book with fishing in the Bering Sea or climbing the
Himalayas. A good part of the US was settled by people who piled wives and
little children into covered wagons to cross a continent full of deadly
weather and hostile natives. There isn't a lot of room left in the world for
people like that.

The only thing I find myself really choking on in this case is the turn
coordinator. That strikes me as a sort of russian roulette. Plan A is you
have the AI. Plan B is you have the TC. Plan C is compass and altimeter.
There's a realistic chance you'll need Plan B eventually and it is
survivable. Plan C means you're most likely f---ed, but it's pretty unlikely
you'll lose both the AI or vacuum and the electrical system at the same
time, so I don't think about it. Taking off without a working TC meant her
Plan B was really Plan C. So yeah, I'm going to conclude there was a serious
element of recklessness here.

-cwk.