Changes Since Your Initial Training (Get Off My Lawn edition)

Things that I learned that are gone:
-Position and hold​
-HIWAS​
-Flight Watch​
-LORAN​
-NDB/ADF's​
-A time when calling 1800 wx brief was actually useful and wasn't 45 separate menus.​
-Doctor killers were Bonanza's, not Cirri.​
 
Our local part 61 school teaches the “stabilized approach” similar to current King school videos (dreamy Martha!) which often puts you on a final approach that would not make the runway if the fan quit spinning.

Downwind with runway viewed 3/4 way up wing strut.

1500 rpm abeam the numbers, one roll nose up trim, flaps-10.

Turn base when the numbers are 45 degrees behind you, flaps 20.

Final, full flaps, 500 fpm descent, tweak power as needed until passing threshold, then reduce to idle.

With a headwind you end up motoring in on final for quite a while. Maybe wouldn’t even cross the fence if the fan lost its magic.

This method translates pretty good to a stabilized approach in turbine aircraft.

Lately, in my 170 I’ve been keeping the pattern tight and base no more than a 1 nm final. It’s draggy and I know how to wiggle the stick. No need to setup on a 2-3 nm final in it.
 
I logged 20 of the 40 hours of required time for my instrument rating on one of these in the 1970s. I took my check ride with a little over 40 hours of logged instrument time, but with have of that on this gadget I saved a ton of money, even then. :)

It was surprisingly effective in learning the procedures.

ATC 510.jpeg
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Things that I learned that are gone:
-Position and hold​
-HIWAS​
-Flight Watch​
-LORAN​
-NDB/ADF's​
-A time when calling 1800 wx brief was actually useful and wasn't 45 separate menus.​
-Doctor killers were Bonanza's, not Cirri.​
Click to expand...
BFR
 
1960 Cessna 150 for the equipment bias.

Enter the pattern at 800 AGL, mid field, throttle to 1500, carb heat on.
At the numbers, Idle.
%00 feet AGL, turn crosswind, flaps 20.
Turn final to align with runway, never over shoot this turn, flaps 40.
You should be high enough to make the numbers, if not reduce flaps as needed, no power incre3ase.
Bump the throttle momentarily after the turn final to be sure the engine was happy, and ready for a go around.
If our instructor felt that you carried power too long, he pulled it closed, and you had to make the landing happen.
\All landings at non towered airports were expected to stay close enough for an engine out landing.
The flaps lever was the alternant source of extended flight energy.

The pattern was flown close enough to the runway that the cross wind leg was very short, wings level, guage the steepness needed for the turn final, and turn.

3 crystals in the transmitter for the first 20 hours. Real radio for the check ride!

Sharing UNICOM with 5 other small airports meant we had channel congestion on sunny days, with only one or two local pilots up in the pattern.

If the instructor did not see you look down at least every 5 minutes to scan tall the guages, you got an elbow bump.

After the instrument scan, a 270 degree long outside traffic scan, or a bump.

We were expected to see traffic before the instructor (I am watching you to see if you are flying correctly, you are watching for airplanes).

T&L practice was at other airports, and limited to 2, before going to another airport. We were not memorizing landmarks, we were learning perspective of the runway.

Grass strips were a common destination, there were many around then, and they represented conditions similar to an off airport landing.
You did not know you were going to a grass strip, the instructor just notified you needed to land, where? in gliding range of a small strip that was in sight. You were expected to have already noticed it.

Now, most of that is obsolete, nobody else flies that close a pattern, and all the Nav is glass. Situational awareness is watching the ADS B for traffic, and keeping the engine way lean of peak without undesirable temperatures.

Sectionals are kept under glass, no paper one on board to clutter up the flight deck. They are redundant, though, on thephone, in the Ipad, and in the glass of the panel.

I flew in a full glass plane last year, and if I studied for a while, I could have done OK, but just getting in and taking off, there was too much information in too little space for me to develop a proper scan. In other planes with a residual of a six pack, real altimeter, real T&B, glass equivalent of a gyro compass, I am fine, and fly the plane accurately.
 
Student v “Learner”

Cockpit v “Flight Deck” Flight Deck in my Ercoupe???????????
 
Biennial Flgith Review started in the late 70s/early 80s. I remember doing them as a CFI in 1983.

I am not a fan of Line Up And Wait, but it was done to conform with international terminology, not on a whim.
 
Dana said:
That, at least, hasn't changed. Listen to 122.8 lately?
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About a month ago, my home drome changed from 122.8 to 122.975. Absolutely amazing, how quiet the CTAF has become.

As usual, some people didn't get the word. The day it switched (MONTHS notice of the change), I turned on my handheld and within two minutes, someone tried to call in on the old frequency. Quickly swamped by calls telling the pilot the frequency had changed. In one case, the pilot gave a plaintive call about "What FREQUENCY did it change to?" Result was just a squeal as a bunch of people tried to tell him at once. Great fun.

I was really cringing when the change was announced, but after a couple of weeks, I'm pretty happy with it. Even if you can't understand the transmission, you know it's at least talking about your field.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Our 5 airport with the same UNIOM were close enough that they came in when at 800 AGL. At 2,000 feet, there were dozens. I think there were only 2 UNICOMs in all MD. You did not attempt to transmit to the home drome until at pattern altitude.
 
wanttaja said:
About a month ago, my home drome changed from 122.8 to 122.975. Absolutely amazing, how quiet the CTAF has become.

As usual, some people didn't get the word. The day it switched (MONTHS notice of the change), I turned on my handheld and within two minutes, someone tried to call in on the old frequency. Quickly swamped by calls telling the pilot the frequency had changed. In one case, the pilot gave a plaintive call about "What FREQUENCY did it change to?" Result was just a squeal as a bunch of people tried to tell him at once. Great fun.

I was really cringing when the change was announced, but after a couple of weeks, I'm pretty happy with it. Even if you can't understand the transmission, you know it's at least talking about your field.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...
My Home Drome is changing CTAF from 112.7 this Fall along with the Designator (But not the name thankfully). I’m sure the 80/20 rule will be demonstrated.
 
Cost!!! When I was learning to fly, I could rent a C-150 for less than $15/hour. They had a monthly special as low as $8.50/hour.
 
I soloed in April 1954. I could take off in a Champ from Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale CA, and scoot right across the LA Basin. Radio? don't need no stinking radio, that's what light signals are for.
The Art Deco tower and terminal at Grand Central has been saved and restored. Not the runway though. :frown:
 
Anyone notice how much magnetic variation has changed in the last 40 or so years? Crazy…must be the global climate change stuff in action? ;)
 
Somebody said cost. YES!
My entire private Pilot Certificate cost about $400.........in 1965. Here is Wally. His T-Craft was $7.00 wet and he was $3.00.
Here is Wally in his UPF-7 (Thank you to the original unknown photographer!)
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
Anyone notice how much magnetic variation has changed in the last 40 or so years? Crazy…must be the global climate change stuff in action? ;)
Click to expand...
It’s purely political…politicians don’t want to admit that behavioral compasses have a true north, so they move magnetic north around to suit their purposes.
 
kkoran said:
Cost!!! When I was learning to fly, I could rent a C-150 for less than $15/hour. They had a monthly special as low as $8.50/hour.
Click to expand...
Used to rent a Citabria with CAP for $10/hour. Bird Dog for $13. I got all the Bird Dog time because all the cheap pilots didn't want to spend the extra $3.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
I’m finding that “tripping out” means something entirely different than it did when I learned to fly.
 
You true crudgeons need to give us a point of reference with these absurdly cheap wet rate quotes. :D How much was a conestoga wagon, shirt of chain mail, or ampule of Doc Harlan's Chilblain Serum then?

$400 in 1965 is almost 4 grand. I'd like to think a determined person could find a way to get PPL on 4 grand. A flying club maybe?
 
wanttaja said:
About a month ago, my home drome changed from 122.8 to 122.975. Absolutely amazing, how quiet the CTAF has become.

As usual, some people didn't get the word. The day it switched (MONTHS notice of the change), I turned on my handheld and within two minutes, someone tried to call in on the old frequency. Quickly swamped by calls telling the pilot the frequency had changed. In one case, the pilot gave a plaintive call about "What FREQUENCY did it change to?" Result was just a squeal as a bunch of people tried to tell him at once. Great fun.

I was really cringing when the change was announced, but after a couple of weeks, I'm pretty happy with it. Even if you can't understand the transmission, you know it's at least talking about your field.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...

AWO changed their CTAF a couple of years ago. But, it seems like the Canadians that used 122.7 for their air-to-air just moved to the new CTAF. Its busy enough without listening to constant multiple reports of "...manuevering over THE farmer's field."
 
schmookeeg said:
$400 in 1965 is almost 4 grand. I'd like to think a determined person could find a way to get PPL on 4 grand. A flying club maybe?
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I'm not so sure about that, assuming the student is paying for the airplane and CFI in the "normal" way. If somebody is giving them flight time for free, or their parents own an airplane, or they get a scholarship or anything like that, then of course it's possible, but I don't think that's what you were hoping for.

$100/hr for the airplane is a really cheap rate right now. It can be found, but pretty rare. That times the minimum required 40 hours is $4000 right there, not counting CFI and supplies. And of course that's only if the student completes it in the absolute minimum time. Heck, DPEs are charging $500 for a checkride now even in cheap parts of the country. I've heard of private pilot checkrides costing $1000.
 
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