On Mar 23, 9:36 am, "Kingfish" wrote:
Total stream-of-consciousness post here...

Anbody learn to fly in a high performance complex aircraft? Bonanza,
Saratoga, 182RG and the like? I know it's possible, just wonder how
much longer it'd take for a student to master something with
significant power and prop & gear controls. (I did all my instructing
in 172s and PA28s)
I watched that goofy Segal movie Executive Decision the other day
where Kurt Russell was a student pilot flying a Bo, and later used his
stellar(?) flying skills to plant a 747 at a GA airport. It got me
thinking about ab initio folks learning in Cirruses (Cirri?)
Obviously with no prop or gear control it's a simpler aircraft to fly
but the performance is equal to or better than a A36.

I've taught a few primary students in the Mooney. It can certainly be
a handful but everyone is able to do it, and take their checkride in
the Mooney. The Mooney might be a more extreme example because its
more slippery than the planes you mentioned and requires much more
planning. Interestingly, time to initial solo is not a whole lot more
in the Mooney because pattern work is very procedural (checklist here,
gumps here, gear check here, etc). However, cross country solo takes a
fair amount more time in the Mooney because of the need to plan more
carefully. Every student I've done primary training with has arrived
at their destination during cross country training at least 5,000 feet
too high.
The challenge is to go through the checklist items and keep ahead of
the plane without having your head in the cockpit. You really have to
learn the skill of going through checklists and looking around at the
same time (something most students don't get until instrument training
because checklists are usually so short in primary training).

-Robert, CFII