the thrill of flying interview is here!

"nafod40" wrote in message
...
Dudley Henriques wrote:
Brandan; listen up; and get this straight once and for all.
As someone who has spent an entire lifetime devoted to teaching people
that
flying an aircraft has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING at all to do with "thrill
seeking"; and actually using what you are selling as a perfect example
of
negative motivation and negative incentive; I can tell you that if
injecting
an element of thrill seeking into your "report" is your goal, you will
find
no one here, at least in my opinion, no one who knows their butt from a
bull
fiddle, who will allow this premise to exist on this group without
cogent
and direct response. We are in the business of teaching people to stay
alive
in airplanes; NOT seeking "thrills" in them!!!

1. Dudley, aren't you a fighter pilot guy? I have one word for you.
"Flathatting". The time-honored tradition of reckless thrill seeking in
airplanes. Pilots are drawn to it like moths to the bug zapper. Many's
the pilot who has tied the record for min altitude. Your politically
correct wish that pilot's real goal to is eradicate the seeking of
thrills flies in the face of overwhelming evidence.

2. Read his web page. It's kind of funny. After looking at it, I could
see where people would submit:
a. The thrill of flying a GCA and getting only "on glideslope/on
course" calls the whole way down.
b. the thrill of a first flight in a plane I built with my own hands
c. The thrill of my first solo
d. The thrill of my first guns kill
e. The thrill of ridge soaring 100 kts at 100 feet on a beautiful fall day
f. The thrill of flying a perfect aerobatic routine in glassy air



I suggest you forget about pilots for your "thrill report"; at least
pilots
who know anything at all about flying an airplane.

I suggest he came to EXACTLY the right place.

To rec.aviation.piloting;

I don't post here on "piloting" for several reasons, but decided to put this
last post which appeared on the correct group out here FWIW. I'm sorry my
posts on this issue ended up over here with you people and will be sure to
trim more closely in the future.
This was my final post on the issue to the group where the post belonged.
Thank you for your patience. I shall "bother" you no more :-)

Posted;

There is a MARKED DIFFERENCE between the type of "thrills" you are talking
about and have listed above and the "thrills" the amusement ride industry
researches. It's important to differentiate this basic fact.
The type of thrills Mike and several others in this thread are describing as
examples to demonstrate opposition to what I'm trying to tell you are
completely normal and acceptable feelings to be experiencing while flying an
airplane. I'm not arguing this at all. These feelings are NOT the issue I'm
discussing......not even remotely related as a matter of fact. These
"feelings" you are listing are also NOT the "thrills" the amusement ride
industry is researching. The thrills you are describing are only peripheral
issues in the amusement ride community. What they are REALLY researching is
another kind of thrill......the UNANTICIPATED thrill and adrenaline rush one
experiences when subjected to an UNFORESEEN event and circumstance!! In
other words...the physical and mental aspects associated with
SURPRISE!!!!There is a HUGE difference between these two issues, and I
strongly advise everyone reading what I'm saying here to learn that
difference as it relates to flying an airplane if you don't know it already.
I'm sure a lot of you do know this and don't need me telling you, but from
what I've been reading on this thread, there are a few of you out there who
might need a "friendly nudge" in the right direction so to speak. :-)
Now, please allow me to briefly address Mike's totally incorrect portrait of
what a "fighter pilot" should be, using myself as an example.
Without getting too pedantic, let me just say that I've spent most of my
career in aviation flying high performance airplanes in the most dangerous
environment imaginable. I've flown research testing in jets, low altitude
aerobatic demonstration flying in fighters, and spent thousands of hours
teaching aerobatics and checking pilots out in extremely high performance
fighter aircraft.
I believe I'm safe in saying that I'm fairly well known all over the world
for my work in this field. What's important to understand here isn't how
great I am :-), it's to understand that I've SURVIVED all this in one
piece!! I think I know what I'm talking about with these issues. I've served
as a paid technical advisor to several firms in the amusement ride industry
and I know what they deal with on the issues we've been discussing here.
All this being said, let me address finally what Mike has seen fit to
"inform me" about how I should have been "feeling" throughout my career, and
how that relates to fighter pilots...flathatting...etc.
It's true that aggressiveness and a certain amount of "daring do" must exist
in a fighter pilot. I should know. I've trained enough of them. It's also
true that fighter pilots will always fit into two distinct
categories.....living and dead!
To live long and prosper in an environment where one is flying high
performance airplanes for a living, one has to soon learn that what Mike has
attributed as virtues to a fighter pilot are in fact attributes that will
kill you quickly. "Flathatting", and all the rest of the junk that make up
the fighter pilot "mystique" are things no professional does and lives in my
business. Hell, I could talk about "thrills" all day long with you people.
:-) Let's see here.....how about feeling a rising g in your gut while in a
P51 as you perform a vertical recovery from a Reverse Cuban turn around
while you plan to put the tips of that 11'2" Hamilton up front about ten
feet over the grass down there........how about looking over your left
shoulder at your wingman in that Tutor about six feet off your wing tip
while in the float at the top of a loop with the Canadian Snowbirds.......or
how about taking a T38 Talon out to .9 mach and maxing left aileron while
doing an inertia coupling test flight......or......or.......hell, as I said,
I could go on all day long and bore you all with the "thrills" of my career
:-) The thing here is that in all of this, there wasn't one UNEXPECTED
THRILL I COULDN'T HANDLE THROUGH TRAINING!!!...and THAT'S what keeps you
alive in airplanes.....little ones....and the other ones too. It's the
UNEXPECTED ASPECT of "thrills" that we should be dealing with in this
thread...not how good it feels when you see the sun set on the horizon... or
when you made you first solo flight. These are the "thrills" that are
NATURALLY involved in flying. The amusement industry could care less about
how you view the sunset, or how satisfied you felt when you did your first
spin. They ARE however, deeply interested in how you REACTED physically and
mentally DURING that first spin. This is the kicker...and what we as pilots
should be completely familiar with. The amusement people are SEEKING a
reaction. They WANT adrenaline flow...within set limits I might add, to be
absolutely correct. We as pilots should be interested only in training that
prepares us in every way possible to MINIMIZE adreline flow. What we want in
the airplane is the ability to recognize an emotional reaction to
surprise......and deal with that surprise through training. This is what
makes us professionals. And this I might add, is what kept me personally
alive through fifty years of a life filled with "surprises". :-)
There is absolutely no equation that should be made between the thrills we
experience as pilots and the thrills we would expect to experience as riders
on a roller coaster. On the coaster, you don't have to be prepared to deal
with the adrenaline rush. You're there to enjoy it without having to perform
personally to survive while enjoying it. In the airplane, you damn well
better be prepared for ANY adrenaline rush with an answer born in training
and preparedness, or you can easily die while your training or lack of same
is determining how long you have to live while your mind and body are
reacting to how you "feel" while experiencing this sudden "thrill" you're
having!!!!
As I said in my initial post; there is NOTHING even remotely related to the
proper training of a pilot that should equate with the amusement industry
research into experiencing "adrenaline rush" for pleasure. In fact, as
flight instructors, we should be teaching our students from the getgo to
expect adrenaline rush and how to deal with it properly through training. To
go one step further in making my point perfectly clear to you new CFI's out
there.....ALL your efforts in training should be directed SPECIFICALLY
toward preparing your student for the moment that student has to deal with
that suprise adrenaline rush. only AFTER this has been accomplished and
completely understood, should a pilot take the time to enjoy the natural
thrills associated with flying an airplane.......and then, by all
means.....enjoy!!! I do!!! :-))
I sincerely hope this rather long post of mine helps clear the air a bit on
this issue.
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt