I am in The Killing Zone

One gal quit because she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to find
her way back to the airport.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com

That's kinda easy to fix though.

Everytime I go somewhere I am not familiar with I always write down what VOR
radials and what heading i need to be on in order to see the airport on my
10 or 2 o'clock. (generally 10, so I don't need to twist the plane).

Just a trick. I bring a piece of paper with frequencies and radials (I
figure this out during the planning phase) and heading. Write them down and
if I am "over the airport" but don't see it, that's what I do: dial the
numbers on the VORs, go there, go on the heading I chose and invariably the
airport is just where I expect it to be, right in front of my left (or right
wing).

Obviously I am talking about good visibility conditions and airports that
are reasonably close to VORs.

I had to do this a couple of times and it worked.

--
Marco Rispoli - NJ, USA / PP-ASEL
My on-line aviation community - http://www.thepilotlounge.com

It might be ok for insurance purposes to land on a grass strip with the
instructor on board but that doesn't absolve the PIC from making sure that
what you are doing is safe.


What I was doing was certainly safe. The "closed to transients" in the AF/D as
to do more with wanting to keep the noise and/or traffic down.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

"Teacherjh" wrote in message
...

It might be ok for insurance purposes to land on a grass strip with the
instructor on board but that doesn't absolve the PIC from making sure that
what you are doing is safe.


What I was doing was certainly safe. The "closed to transients" in the
AF/D as
to do more with wanting to keep the noise and/or traffic down.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

Oh is that why it was closed?

I see ... well, still. I suspect that if somebody had gotten your tail
number and reported you, you'd have been in a pinch ... possibly at the same
time with the instructor.

On the other hand I think that as a student pilot only the instructor would
have gotten in trouble.

--
Marco Rispoli - NJ, USA / PP-ASEL
My on-line aviation community - http://www.thepilotlounge.com

Teacherjh wrote:


It might be ok for insurance purposes to land on a grass strip with the
instructor on board but that doesn't absolve the PIC from making sure that
what you are doing is safe.


What I was doing was certainly safe. The "closed to transients" in the
AF/D as to do more with wanting to keep the noise and/or traffic down.


If your CFI didn't know that it was closed for noise, she/he might not have
known had it been closed for safety-related reasons. This is exactly the
issue I've found myself having with "instructor in command" (nice label,
BTW!). Had you been flying on your own, would you land at an airport
(assuming no emergency) w/o checking that airport's information?

The problem, of course, is making the choice of when to "trust" the
instructor. Based upon what?

After all, a relatively low time pilot with a fear of stalls (discussed in
another thread) might have concluded that doing the "falling leaf" with a
CFI was unsafe. That choice would mean giving up a very useful learning
experience.

On the other hand, I recall a CFI early in my primary training that wanted
to go up into a snowstorm. Fortunately, the tower's "hints" that
conditions were IFR all over the place were enough to keep us on the
ground.

- Andrew

Teacherjh wrote:
For example, a passenger pulls the power off and says you lost your engine,
what do you do? If it were me, I wouldn't set up a glide, pick a field, and go
through my emergency checklist. I would smack the passenger one good, and
shove the lever back forward. Then I would contemplate the juxtaposition of
91.3 against 91.15.

Being too lazy to open the AIM/FAR (it's right next to me, but typing is
easier), I google FAR 91.3 and find:

Sec. 91.3 Responsibility and authority of the pilot in command. ...

OK, then I google FAR 91.15 and find:

FAR 91.15. Dropping objects is not prohibited as long as you take
reasonable precautions to avoid injury to persons or property.

and then look up and find the *first* hit:

FAR 91.15 - Dropping objects. No pilot in command of a civil aircraft
may allow any object to be dropped from that aircraft in flight ...

I think the first hit for 91.15 would serve you better, except you'd
probably have to count the passenger as "persons".

.... Alan

--
Alan Gerber
gerber AT panix DOT com

Alan Gerber wrote:
I think the first hit for 91.15 would serve you better, except you'd
probably have to count the passenger as "persons".

By "first", I mean the first one I quoted, not the first one Google
returned.

Note to self: proofread!

--
Alan Gerber
gerber AT panix DOT com

Had you been flying on your own, would you land at an airport
(assuming no emergency) w/o checking that airport's information?


No. But then nobody would have pulled the power back and said "you lost your
engine". If I lost my engine for real, I would have landed in a wheat field if
that's what presented itself to me.


The problem, of course, is making the choice of when to "trust" the
instructor. Based upon what? [anectode snipped]


I had an instructor want to go up with lumpy ice all over the wing (we couldn't
bang it off after an hour of trying). I demurred. He was from Florida, newly
transplanted to the northeast, but should have known better. Sheesh.

Jose


--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

It might be ok for insurance purposes to land on a grass strip with the
instructor on board

With or without an instructor, why would a grass strip be a problem?

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com

Everytime I go somewhere I am not familiar with I always write down what VOR
radials and what heading i need to be on in order to see the airport on my
10 or 2 o'clock. (generally 10, so I don't need to twist the plane).

Well, she was probably in a Piper Cub or the equivalent. No radio, no
VOR, not even a headset to quiet the engine.

Though I trained in a Cub, we did of course have earphones and
intercom. I can't imagine what it would be like to learn to fly with
an instructor who could neither hear you nor see you (unless of course
in 1954 they put the student in the front seat).

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com

With or without an instructor, why would a grass strip be a problem?

Ask the FBO. IT is pretty much universal that if you rent and airplane, you
must land on a paved strip 2000 feet long or longer. It probably has something
to do with insurance. I won't even attempt to fathom their reasoning.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)