Flying in the NY Times

[N6399A]

Aerotech. Sigh. My flight school. AND MY WIFE'S... Matt had a VERY bad day of answering telephone calls from irate women pilots yesterday. And Matt should know better than to suggest that all women students cry when yelled at. He knows my wife has yelled back, and hit as necessary... LOL! Matt says that he was sorely mischaracterized. The reporter apparently took this quote out of some larger discussion, which included a local member of the 99s, BTW.

OK, didn't see that before I posted. Will maybe let this guy live.

 

[Dan Smith]

My wife read that article (she's ASEL, with lots more multi time than me), and was, shall we say, "not amused".

I go with the "too expensive" theory. Flying's a lot of fun, and sometimes it's useful, but it gets hard to justify the numbers when there are so many other rewarding activities that cost a hell of a lot less.

There certainly are people with money to blow, though. The latest AOPA Pilot touts the Saratoga TC, of which Piper sold 37 last year: $611K for a "six seater" with a full fuel payload of 450 pounds!!! And less than that if you add TKS. If you actually put 6 FAA standard people in it, you can carry a whopping 17 pounds of gas; not even 3 gallons! The Mooney Ovation 3 costs $150K less, has a higher payload for the same fuel load (102 gallons), is faster, has a greater range, is known ice certified... why in hell would anyone buy a Saratoga? Just to cart around two empty seats that they can't put anything in?

Dan

 

[TMetzinger]

Buy a 6 seater so you can take your sub-100 lb kids along, and keep them separated enough for calm flying. Or take 800 lbs of pax and still have 2 hours and reserves, good for some missions.

Figure two adults (340), two medium kids (say 140?) and 100 lbs of luggage. 580 Lbs means lose 130 Lbs of gas, or 22 gallons. Still reasonable legs with 80 gal and decent comfort, and you can pull out the middle seats and put the fuel back in, or take fatter pax.

None of that takes away from the fact that useful load has diminished. But if you lost the turbocharger, O2, and other stuff the Ovation3 doesn't have that the Piper does, the weight difference becomes less of an issue.

 

[Dan Smith]

Buy a 6 seater so you can take your sub-100 lb kids along, and keep them separated enough for calm flying.

And that's a $150,000 "feature"?

None of that takes away from the fact that useful load has diminished.

I'll say... "diminished" by about 30%! The 2007 Saratoga TC has a useful load (as tested) of 1037 pounds, pretty close to that of my '70 Cherokee 180. My Piper Standard Catalog shows an average useful load for a '78 Turbo Lance at 1518 pounds, and an '80 through '85 Turbo Saratoga at 1488. Glass panels are nice, but I sure can't see why anyone would want one of the new models.

Dan

 

[Diana]

Heh. It has occurred to me that one possible reason there are few female pilots is that in the dynamics of a relationship the opposite situation is even worse; woman wants to fly, man is not too keen on it.

My ex-husband was like that. He's only a short chapter in the novel of my life.

 

[Diana]

do wonder... Brook, Laurie, Diana, Danielle, Mari? Were you ever yelled at by a male CFI?

Nope, never have and better not be, either. I've fired CFIs for less.

Why do I think this guy's comment was somewhat twisted?

Because it was.

 

[mikea]

I joined our semi-often cigar dinner Thursday night and sat next to the businessman I had hooked with, "GO TO THE AIRPORT!" He got to 25 hours a year ago and was about ready to solo when he quit due to winter weather but mostly because he didn't have the time. He had to tend to the business. I think I talked him into going back now.

He said radio work was intimidating. He's flying at UGN which is Class D. I guess there are more advantages to training at uncontrolled field. I still never had too many butterflies talking to ATC.

I always wondered how you can get any landings in when you fly from a airport like MDW. When I met a guy who is training from MDW. He says they fly out to fields in Indiana.

I wish I had soloed in 25 hours.

 

[t0r0nad0]

Actually, radio work is one of my strong points as a 11.9 hour student, to the point where the first time I flew with the guy who is now my Project Pilot mentor, he thought I was a high-time licensed pilot due to the way I talked to Houston Approach. Two things helped me: 1) Doing a lot of flying on MS Flight Sim, and more specifically, on VATSIM with the live virtual ATC (PM me or reply if you want more info) and 2) I bought a radio shack scanner and got the local airports' frequencies off of airnav.com, then I sat out at the end of the runway and watched and listened. I can see how it would be intimidating if you're not used to it, but that's what practice is for .

 

[ScottM]

His statement reminded me of something that happened when I was a new CFI, though. I was given this student who was the wife of a guy who was learning to fly at the same place. I think her husband was pushing her to learn and she was going along with it. On about the second or third lesson I was trying to explain how to hold the controls when taxiing in a crosswind and she started crying, saying she would never be able to learn all this. I was stunned and speechless and couldn't think of anything to say or do. It was completely outside anything I had been prepared to deal with.

I run into this as a scuba instructor as well. Usually the women are being pushed into it by their husbands. I have had several break down crying and this is what I say. "I know you are upset and frustrated, what can I do this very moment to make you less upset and reduce your frustration". I find that if they are truly motived to do something they will offer a suggestion and verbalize their issue in a more constructive manner. If they just want to quit this will be the time they tell you and then you can give them the out to quit without feeling like failure.

 

[Everskyward]

this is what I say. "I know you are upset and frustrated, what can I do this very moment to make you less upset and reduce your frustration". I find that if they are truly motived to do something they will offer a suggestion and verbalize their issue in a more constructive manner. If they just want to quit this will be the time they tell you and then you can give them the out to quit without feeling like failure.

I think that's a great idea. Hopefully if something like that happened to me now I would be able to handle it better. But I was young and an idiot about knowing how to deal with other people's insecurities. It's not that I don't have my own insecurities, but I felt helpless in the face of meltdown that was happening right in front of me. I thought I should be able to do somthing to help but my mind was blank.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Actually, radio work is one of my strong points as a 11.9 hour student, to the point where the first time I flew with the guy who is now my Project Pilot mentor, he thought I was a high-time licensed pilot due to the way I talked to Houston Approach. Two things helped me: 1) Doing a lot of flying on MS Flight Sim

Just don't get the idea that MSFS' "with you" is standard phraseology.

 

[gprellwitz]

Just don't get the idea that MSFS' "with you" is standard phraseology.

Well, let's define "standard", shall we? It's "standard" in the same way that Microsoft's IE is the "standard" browser: commonly used and ubiquitous. It is not standard in the way that many other browsers are standard, i.e. conforming to the published regulations.

Kent's point is, I think, don't do what the masses are doing; instead do the "right" thing and follow the phraseology from the Pilot/Controller Glossary.