The new Fork Tailed Doctor Killer

Jack Allison wrote:

Yep, my CFII said the students that drove him the most nuts were either
doctors or lawyers. One guy in our instrument ground school (the
lawyer) went out and bought himself a Trinidad as his tool of choice for
his IR lessons. Last I heard, he hadn't completed his rating.

Uhm, I'm missing your point.

Is there something bad about using a Trinidad as the platform instrument
training? Is there something bad about someone with the monetary means
buying a high performance single?

In the interest of disclosure, I used my crusty Bonanza to get my IR.
I already owned it and its the only thing I fly so it made no sense to
rent a trainer. I'm not a doctor or lawyer (although my non-pilot wife is
a physician).


--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Boise, ID

On Mar 17, 7:48 am, Denny wrote:
Time moves along... The old V-tails are no longer the status symbol...
It appears to me that the Cirrus line of aircraft has become the new
"fork tailed doctor killer", along with stock broker, dentist, lawyer,
etc...

http://tinyurl.com/yqt94a

denny

The term "fork tailed doctor killer" survives because it has a better
lilt than "ruddervator equipped high performance retractable single."

Every airplane has the capacity to kill anyone -- no matter the
credentials.


Dan Mc

"Denny" wrote in message
...
Time moves along... The old V-tails are no longer the status symbol...
It appears to me that the Cirrus line of aircraft has become the new
"fork tailed doctor killer", along with stock broker, dentist, lawyer,
etc...

http://tinyurl.com/yqt94a

denny

I had a customer come in the other day, he is a dentist and was talking to
me about his Bonanza and that I should go fly with him sometime, I was
thinking NO WAY! I did ask him if it was a V-tail, it isn't.

On Mar 18, 2:42 pm, "Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:

I had a customer come in the other day, he is a dentist and was talking to
me about his Bonanza and that I should go fly with him sometime, I was
thinking NO WAY! I did ask him if it was a V-tail, it isn't.



...and later you find out he is an ATP with 10k hours on his sixth
Bonanza......



Dan Mc

I don't know what the pilot's occupation is, but where I fly, I've
witnessed someone go directly from the Piper Cherokee trainer to a
mega bux twin while still taking lessons. It probably costs more to
gas up and get towed to the flight line than I spend all month flying
my 150. Maybe the guy is the safest man to ever sit in a cockpit, I
don't know. Would I do the same If I had the money? No Way.

Perhaps a cure to the judgement vs money equation would be to send
some of these rich know it all's up in a Schweizer 1-26 and let them
learn what judgement means.

Another poster mentioned VFR flight at night with a SEL rating.....
that's another thing I see low time pilots doing. I don't quite
follow the FAA logic behind allowing this, but I digress....

Doug

gliderguynj wrote in news:fdc2b536-b0b9-4bd4-9e50-
:

I don't know what the pilot's occupation is, but where I fly, I've
witnessed someone go directly from the Piper Cherokee trainer to a
mega bux twin while still taking lessons.

A future darwin award recipient, I have no doubt.


Bertie

On Mar 18, 2:53 pm, gliderguynj wrote:


Another poster mentioned VFR flight at night with a SEL rating.....
that's another thing I see low time pilots doing. I don't quite
follow the FAA logic behind allowing this, but I digress....

Doug


True, though I'd hate to see a *requirement* for IFR simply because
it's night.

There are some nights that VFR is perfectly fine option.

I just think for longer XC where weather changes often and landing
sites are few that filing helps a bit.

But most times I can't justify the added risk factor of SEL long XC at
night, IFR or not.


Dan Mc

On Mar 18, 3:02*pm, Dan wrote:
There are some nights that VFR is perfectly fine option.
Dan Mc


I agree Dan, but for me that means cloudless calm full moon nights. I
don't think that the average newly minted pilot has the ability to
safely handle all that can happen at night. Especially flying when
conditions aren't perfect. 6 miles visibility in the day can be
challenging, let alone 3 miles....do that at night?

From my own experience, flying with a safety pilot in the right seat
on such a calm clear night my landing light fuse blew on final. No
problem, the safety pilot putzed around with replacing the fuse while
I did a go around. Had I been solo, the pucker factor would have gone
way up. If I had a passenger instead of a safety pilot, again not
ideal. If it wasn't a perfect night weather wise.......the prang
factor just goes up and up.

There are just a bunch of complications that night flying brings. I'm
not saying change it to IFR only, but 3 hours with an instructor and
10 take off and landings does not a safe night pilot make.

Doug

On Mar 18, 3:35 pm, gliderguynj wrote:
On Mar 18, 3:02 pm, Dan wrote:

There are some nights that VFR is perfectly fine option.
Dan Mc

I agree Dan, but for me that means cloudless calm full moon nights. I
don't think that the average newly minted pilot has the ability to
safely handle all that can happen at night. Especially flying when
conditions aren't perfect. 6 miles visibility in the day can be
challenging, let alone 3 miles....do that at night?

From my own experience, flying with a safety pilot in the right seat
on such a calm clear night my landing light fuse blew on final. No
problem, the safety pilot putzed around with replacing the fuse while
I did a go around. Had I been solo, the pucker factor would have gone
way up. If I had a passenger instead of a safety pilot, again not
ideal. If it wasn't a perfect night weather wise.......the prang
factor just goes up and up.

There are just a bunch of complications that night flying brings. I'm
not saying change it to IFR only, but 3 hours with an instructor and
10 take off and landings does not a safe night pilot make.

Doug


We all have our ideas of acceptable risk, so I can't fault you. And we
should all know that the CFRsa re legal minimums, not recipes for
success.

That said...

When I do night T/O&Ldg practice every month, I usually do about 2-3
with no landing light (you need a landing light if you're flying for
hire, of course).

Most C172s with Landing Lights mounted in the nose are notoriously
short lived -- if you fly one of these birds at night you should be
proficient in a no landing light landing.

When I practice this I turn the runway lights up full bright. If I see
flickering I know something's between me and the lights, so I go
around (my technique -- in no way universal).

Something I haven't practiced in a while (but should) is a landing or
two with runway lights off (and fully operational airplane landing
lights). This takes some coordination with the tower and not all are
obliging.

I enjoy flying at night -- air's usually stable, traffic is visible,
and the frequencies less busy. I keep my night flights to known routes
and if going longer I'll route over airports. I also restrict these
flights to airplanes that I know by sight, sound, smell, and feel.


Dan Mc

Dan wrote:


Most C172s with Landing Lights mounted in the nose are notoriously
short lived -- if you fly one of these birds at night you should be
proficient in a no landing light landing.


I think I'd done 4 or 5 night landings with my CFI before he ever let me
even use the landing light. His feeling was, "why train with it if it
isn't going to work when you need it?"