This reminds about how one time someone asked me at what point in the flight I start thinking about the landing.
I said no later than a half an hour before take-off.
Which is true. For a really long trip, especially some place I’ve never been before, I might start the planning process several days in advance, especially if you count things like watching the weather forecasts.
Hey, Broomstick! How you doin’?
In your list of aircraft flown there were a couple of home-builts. Have you ever been involved in construction of same? And this might be too easy a question, but do you ever think about building your own airplane?
While I haven’t built an airplane (yet) I have assisted others. This assistance has taken the form of mainly holding something in place (like a wing or part of a tail), finding the right tools, and chasing wandering parts like rolling nuts across the floor of the hangar. I also have helped to perform pre-flights prior to first flights of airplanes, which frequently take hours and involve climbing about the thing with flashlights because you really do have to be extraordinarially careful about making sure everything is OK before the test pilot takes it up for the initial flight. And when folks are doing maintenance on their airplanes I’ve also helped take things apart.
I have thought seriously about building my own airplane. About seven years ago I sat down and did some serious considering and determined that, really, I was more interested in flying than building, which has lead to my current situation of renting rather than owning. There are some good aspects to renting, like being able to fly a lot of different airplanes. If I owned, all my money would go into that one airplane - which isn’t a bad thing either, just different. My husband and I might build one in the future - I know he’d enjoy the project. But it’s not cheap and frequently takes several years (although one of our local guys built his Skyraider in 18 months - he gave up every leisure time activity but building). Not a project to start lightly.
You can also buy a used homebuilt - another local pilot did just that. He bought a 7/8 scale Cub someone in Arizona had built, brought it back to Indiana, and for the last month a bunch of us have showed up on the weekends to help him with putting the wings on (removed for transport and inspection) and other stuff to get it ready for use. It’s not that an airplane wing weighs that much - I can lift one of the Cub’s with one hand - but that they’re large, bulky, and awkward to handle by yourself. So a crew of at least three, and preferably more, is needed for proper wing removal and re-attachment.
Broomstick wrote:
It’s often surprising to non-pilots just how many pilots have acrophobia. Here’s a poll of Mooney owners in which more than half said that they were afraid of heights – at least when they weren’t in an airplane:
Okay Broomstick – at the risk of being a thread-killer here:
Tell us about your near-midairs?
Best regards,
Mooney252
True. I had an instructor that was afraid of heights. He told me it only bothered him when he flew above a broken layer of clouds because it gave perspective of height. With a clear sky 500 feet to 30k feet doesn’t look that different, and didn’t bother him.
In my own case, I’m not afraid of heights, but I do hate the sensation of falling. I’ve stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon with no problem, but jumping off of a 10-foot diving board is an act of will. Consequently, stalls, spins, and aerobatics all came with difficulty for me. As I got exposed to the sensations of each, I became less and less sensitive to them.
As has been previously mentioned, taking flying lessons can be a good way to get over fear of flying. One of my students did just that, and I’m getting ready to solo him in the next week or so. And it’s a real success story because this guy was seriously terrified the first few times we went up. It took him a good 7-10 hours before he started enjoying anything about the experience. He now flies skillfully with no apparent discomfort, and it’s hard to believe how far he’s come.
Oh, this is so me - I have no problem with heights, but I HATE falling. And I, too, had to work very hard to get past the stalls. I also asked for some spin training (very minimal - don’t ask me to demonstrate, please!) in part to get past the stall requirements, but also because the airplanes I was flying at the time could spin and had been known to do so, and I thought it would be better if my first experience with a spin was under controlled circumstances wtih a competant instructor next to me rather than completely on my own or, worse yet, with passengers.
I’m involved in building a Zenith Zodiac XL right now. My brother wanted a fun project, and we have at hangar at work with all the specialty tools that are required. This airplane is pretty easy to build even from plans, as it uses pulled rivets and relatively simple construction.
Huh. Thread killer? Naw, I expect a lot of people would check in for that. They might not ever FLY with me after reading it, but I’m sure they’d read it…
All my Big Scary Experiences or just the Near Mid-Airs?
Well, let’s start with the first almost-mid-air, which was way back in 1995 when I first started flying. I had maybe 4-5 hours at that point, on the point of soloing. First of all, the trainer aircraft I was in was one of these, a Quicksilver. (The picture is not the actual ultralight trainer I was in, but one of the same sort). The other airplane in question was a Piper Cherokee (again, not the actual airplane but a reasonable facsimile)
Now, my instructor and I had just taken off from a little turf strip in Wisconsin when the owner of the Cherokee - a local man known for his dislike of “flying lawnchairs” - decided to come over and bully us. Understand that, under the regulations, ultralights have the least right of way and must yield to all other air traffic.
So there I am, doing a take-off (by that point my instructor was doing more coaching than hands-on flying) when suddenly this big ol’ GA airplane comes barrelling along through the airport airspace. I wind up cranking a hard left to get out of his way, probably about 45 degrees of bank, screaming over a neighbor’s house at full throttle (which I don’t like to do, I try very hard not to be obnoxious). Well, given that this guy was hanging around, maybe a landing might be a good idea, just to see if he’s going to hang around or not. So once I get back to a normal altitude and position for flying around the traffic pattern over the runway I set up for a landing.
I’m coming in on final, sweating a little because the take-off unnerved me (when I first started flying, thanks to my unhappy experience on an airliner, take-offs were the high stress manuver for me, even when everything was normal and went right). As we’re coming in I catch just a flicker of motion out of the corner of my left eye. Something told me to get the hell out of there, so I gave it full throttle and went immediately to best rate of climb. Which is a good thing. Because the Cherokee passed under us, and so close I could look down between my knees and read the guy’s panel. His airspeed indicator was hanging on the edge of the yellow range. Throttle full forward. I know this, because I saw this. He also had a growing bald spot, sort of ordinary brown hair, and was wearing a red windbreaker. No headphones. Yes, I remember it vividly. The picture was WAY more clear than I ever wanted to see.
My instructor, by the way, never saw him at all until he was under us. I don’t remember what, exactly, he said when the other airplane just suddenly appeared underneath us, but it was, um, colorful.
From the ground it actually looked like we had hit. This was particularly hard on my husband, who was watching at the time. I’m told he just sort of flopped over backward, thinking he had just seen his wife killed.
Well, we hadn’t hit. Anyhow, a lot of phone calls got made in short order. I understand that Mr. Cherokee maintained we were in the wrong because we had to give way, etc. etc. The FAA said yes, there is that reg, but you, Mr. Cherokee, were flying in a hazardous manner (i.e. buzzing an active runway perpendicular to the proper direction of flight) and that aircraft on final DO have right of way over those passing through the airspace. I’m not sure if he wound up with a suspension or a permanent loss of his license, but we never had to worry about him pulling those stunts again.
And it was a very, very stupid thing to do on his part. Granted, those of us on the Quicksilver would have been killed by either the impact or being chewed up in the prop, but his airplane would not have survived the impact with 700 lbs of people and machinery, either.
Fast forward to my most recent Near Mid-Air involving me in (ironically enough) a low-wing Piper and an oblivious pilot in a twin Cessna last July: a Pit thread right here on the Dope. You have to get somewhat into the OP, it’s not the first thing up.
The place where a mid-air collision in an airplane is most likely to happen is above and near an airport (either with or without an air traffic control tower) and more than half the time the weather is excellent with great visibility. Why? Because airports are where aircraft congregate, and on nice days there are more of them in the air. Rather like it’s much easier to get into a car accident on a crowded road than if you’re the only one on the pavement.
Broomstick –
Excellent job getting back to the key point on any discussion of near-misses and mid-airs.
My first was at Cuyahoga County Airport (east side of Cleveland) while in training in 1966. I was flying a Beech Musketeer back into the pattern at dusk when I see a plane do a wing-over. At pattern altitudes of 800’ or 1,000’, that’s a drastic maneuver.
When I got on the ground it turned out that it was my flight instructor. I’d announced on the radio; had flown a proper pattern; but just never saw him. It’s caused me to look 4 times ever since – particularly when lighting is bad.
–
Number two was climbing west out of Paine Field, my home airport north of Seattle. I was on an IFR plan and the family was flying down to the ocean for the weekend. My wife asks, “Is that plane supposed to be there?” It’s a Beech Baron coming in from the north at my altitude – which was about 6,800’ at the time. I make a sharp turn to the north – and have immediately got Seattle Center on my case for a course deviation.
“Center, we just narrowly missed colliding with a Baron southbound at our altitude,” was my response.
“Mooney252, the only traffic we show in your area is 3 miles south, southbound at 1200’.”
“Center, if you’re talking to that traffic you’ll want to have them check their transponder.”
–
Number three was even more interesting: it involved a jump plane. It was a King Air that almost ran us over leaving Kalispell, MT. We were down in the valley so Center didn’t have us on radar yet.
After the King Air passed us on the right side way too close for comfort, we proceeded west on the Victor airway. Near the Idaho/Montana border it was above us at 12,500’ and dropped a pair of jumpers right in front of us, on the Victor airway with no announcement.
“Center this is Mooney252, that jump plane has two jumpers away.”
The King Air responds, “No Salt Lake Center, we haven’t dropped our jumpers yet.”
I was so irritated that I filed a NASA NSRS form for the first time in my career. An Air Force officer called 3 months later to investigate and recommended that I call the FAA’s 800 number to file a formal complaint, though I never did.
–
Pilots so dislike having other aircraft in their vicinity that it makes it difficult to organize any kind of formation or “in trail” flying, as we’ve done for years in the Mooney Caravan to OSH.
One final note Broomstick: I know your area well. I had a Cessna for 10 years at PWK and trained for my IFR there.
Best regards,
Mooney252
So… is that it for questions? Anything else?
I’ve got one for you, Broomstick. Is a pilot’s license as permanent as a driver’s licence? Do you have to undergo regular medical checks to maintain it? Do you have to maintain your flying hours to keep it? Give me the facts.
Cheers, BTW 
Actually, more so - once you get the license (actually, the proper term is “certificate”) you have it for life. However, there are some things you have to do in order to keep “current”. In other words, once licensed you’re licensed for life, but there are requirements beyond a license alone in order to fly legally.
Yes.
How often you need these is determined by age, what you’re planning to do, and sometimes health conditions.
For a private pilot you need a 3rd class medical. If you’re under 40 you need one every three years, over 40 every 2. At some point in advanced old age they might require this even more frequently, but there’s no hard and fast rule, nor is there an upper age limit. I believe the oldest licensed pilot still flying was 102 (he passed away at 103). There is a woman in Tenneessee still working as a FAA designated examiner at the age of… um… she’s either 94 or 95.
A second class medical is needed for most types of commercial flying. Those are good for one year, after which they essentially become 3rd class.
Airline pilots - the folks who carry passengers - require a 1st class medical, which is good for only six months. It’s fairly intense from what I hear, and includes things like heart stress test (actually, not having had one, I’m not 100% sure of these things).
Certain medical conditions - like type II diabetes - will make getting a physical very difficult. Type I - insulin dependent - diabetes used to ground you for life, but the FAA is starting to allow a few to fly with a 3rd class, and I think there is a single one with a 2nd Class. Heart disease used to ground a person for life, too, but again, they are allowing people to go back to flying after heart surgery IF they meet certain stringent criteria, and such people may have to go back more frequently than they would otherwise. If you had such a condition, you have to prove it’s absolutely under control.
Other conditions - like a missing limb or eye - require what’s known as a “medical checkride” which you only have to take once. The purpose is to demonstrate that even though you have this problem you still have full control of the airplane and are not a hazard to others. So there are companies that make hand controls for rudder pedals for people who are in wheelchairs. There’s at least one airshow stunt pilot who is a double arm amputee. Anyhow, after you take a medical checkride you get a “SODA” which is a “statement of demonstrated ability”. I carry one myself because I am colorblind.
So, in order to use that license you need a valid and current medical, and that’s what gets renewed periodically. And if you have a SODA you may need to carry that with you, too.
A minimum of every two years you need to have a biennial flight review or the equivalent (checkride, Wings program). It’s basically a brief review of your flying skills by a qualified instructor, and some “ground school” to basically make sure you’re current on the regulations.
There are also requirements about a minimum hours in a time period for other things. For instance, no carrying passengers at night unless you’ve had at least three take-offs and landings after dark in the previous 90 days.
The truth is, 99% of the pilots do far more than just the minimum. Which is a good thing. But also, we got the license to fly, right? Not just hang it on the wall.
If you don’t fulfill the hour requirements you don’t lose your license. You do lose the authority to use it, though, until you are “current” again. So if, hypothetically, a pilot stopped flying for 10 years (reason doesn’t matter) then, before he could legally fly again, he’d have to pass a medical and have a bienniel flight review.
Now, there are some types of flying that do require a license but not a medical. Glider pilots and balloonists “self-certify” that they are fit to fly, basically they say that they have no known medical condition that could lead to sudden incapacitation. How, exactly, that works I don’t know, I don’t fly those things (yet). I believe these folks still have a bienniel flight review requirement.
And ultralights require neither medical nor license in the United States. To be honest, training is not required either. This is justified in part because they are only permitted to have one seat so only the pilot is at risk. Apparently the FAA doesn’t mind much if you kill yourself, but they do get cranky if you kill or hurt other people.
Thanks again for the info, you’re cool Broomstick. 
This guy, however, is cooler.
Broomstick, thanks for all the info. I’ve put it off too many years and plan to go for my license in the near future, thanks to the formation of a flying club at work.
Anyway, you’ve reminded me of a classic list of Things You Don’t Want To Hear:
Light aircraft pilot: “Now just sit back and relax. No point in *both * of us being terrified.”
Now you’ve reminded me of something. Back when I was first learning emergency procedures for the first time I had an unfortunate habit of using a certain expletive phrase prior to executing the required motions and actions.
My instructor said “read this checklist”. So I did. Then he handed me another emergency checklist and told me read it. So I did. Then he said “Now, where on any of these lists do the words “yell OH SHIT!” appear”
Well, those lists never said that.
“Alright, so don’t say that. You’ll scare one of your future passengers into a heart attack.”
So I started yelling OH MARMALADE! when I felt the need for vocal release.
Well, maybe you had to be there…
My ex used to be a tin kicker (insurance adjuster) and had some sort of commercial multi-engine rating as he was constantly flying off to wherever someone bent an airplane. Well, one day, the variables were stacking themselves up to make him into his next claim. The flaps didn’t, the runway shrank, the wind blew the wrong direction, the insured’s failed engine in the back was getting heavier, V2 just wasn’t happening and the trees at the end of the runway were moving closer. :eek:
You’ve probably had take-offs like this, except for the transporting of broken airplane parts back to the adjuster.
He kept his cool, didn’t swear and survived yelling “Unk, Tontor, UNK!”
He still says that whenever something needs a bit more oomph.
I’ve always told people that if I know I’m going to crash, I’ll put my clothes on backwards, put my underwear on my head, and then crawl back to the baggage compartment.
It won’t save me, but it’ll give the NTSB something to figure out.
Yes, always good to keep the accident investigators guessing… after all that hard work they deserve at least one *Twilight Zone * story, right?
Anyhoo… any more questions? The weather forecast has rain and icky thunderstorms all weekend, so I anticipate having some time to answer.
Bummer about the weather, Broomstick. Here it’s been nice enough for work during the week, but every weekend for the last two months has been crummy (including this one) and I’ve been achin’ to take a glider up. Last Sunday was nice and I was gonna go fly, until I got an email from the airport manager that the previous night’s rain left parts of the runway or taxiway unuseable - no soaring for me. Two weekends ago I couldn’t take a glider up because a broken instrument. Unfortunately flying gliders is about all I can think about these days.
Speaking of midairs and near-midairs, this happened while I was working near Tehachapi CA in January (the last time I was able to take a glider up this year). Real bummer for the natives because the fellow who died in the other plane was a local glider pilot. Pretty amazing that the Baron was able to land given the condition of the plane in the pictures.
I’d like to pick your brain for your experience in ultralights . . . how long to solo? Was the training very formal and/or time consuming? And what elements of ultralight flying did and did not translate to airplane flying? What airplane pilot techniques might yield “negative transfer” if an airplane pilot transitioned to ultralights?
Thanks,
C
