Stick and Rudder nearly killed me and my CFI (long)

CharlieD3

CharlieD3

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CharlieD3
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away... I was a student pilot. I'd read about flying since I was about 10 or 11. I'd spend my allowance on bottles of soda and the latest issue of Flying magazine or (IIRC) Plane and Pilot or both. I loved reading about flying airplanes, more than I loved comic books! I wanted to FLY!

That was 50 years ago, almost 12 years before I started my journey to fulfill the dream.

I started the journey in 1978 (according to logbook #1, my only logbook, BTW)

My wife at the time bought me an introductory flight for 10 bux for my birthday, took me to the grass strip, and surprised me! .6 hours of ground instruction, and .4 in the air... I got to FLY the plane! I was almost 23 years old. WOW!

My second lesson was a month later, "T.O., climbs, descents, hold steep turns, traffic pattern. George Cobley" .8 hrs, .3 ground instruction... Great!

BTW, this was costing me 18.50 an hour for a Cessna 150, and $45 an hour for the instructor... If my math was right back then.

In all my reading about flying, I had read Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche about 6 times by then, and everything was lining up with my book learning...

Lesson 3, 1 week after #2.... The killer! Well, nearly. Log book entry: "Steep turns, Slow flt, Power off stalls George Cobley ### CFI-AI"

Bless his heart, he didn't say anything about the angels... I heard 'em, maybe he didn't?

Power off stalls....

George demonstrated. "Follow along," he said. Simple enough... My turn.

Remembering what I read, not what George taught me. What I read was (as I remembered at the time)"... in a stall, push the stick forward, all will be fine."

So.... Throttle back to idle, ease the stick back, wait for the horn, AND the tail buffet.... And..... PUSH the stick forward... ALL THE WAY! ARMS "DOWN AND LOCKED!" Get out of the stall... Hey, the fields are getting bigger! The whole windshield is full of farm fields! The cows are getting bigger! George is saying something... No, yelling something... I can't hear him... ARMS DOWN AND LOCKED! I didn't black out... But I did (eventually) think to take my hands off the yoke... Perhaps I folded my hands in prayer... I don't 'member that part so good... But I was saying silent prayers, I know...

Next thing I know, we're easing back into flying straight and level, and then climbing back up to practice altitude... About 3500 agl.... And George says, "You wanna quit for the day?"

Maybe HE did... But I said "George, if we go back now, I'll probably never fly again... And, I want to do it right."

He demonstrated again. And explained that we probably wouldn't have created a crater, we might have done an outside loop... And thoroughly explained (while demonstrating) that all I had to do was release the back pressure on the yolk, and the plane would recover... I did so the second time, we did a couple more and headed back to McBride field...

It was 1982 before I went for my checkride.. It took 4 years of scrimping and saving and working overtime to get my ticket... Total expenditure, not including ground school and one of those weekend seminars guaranteed to pass your written, was a WHOPPING $2051.83

I'm determined now; at 63 years old, and semi retired: to pass a flight medical, get current, and start flying again. I mean, It's only been 21 years since I've been PIC...

I'm gathering all the info I need for the physical... And I've found a flying club that rents 172s for $80 an hour wet...

Wish me luck! And if you're so inclined, say a prayer... I just KNOW there are angels watching out for me....

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
 
Lndwarrior said:
Awesome story. Thanks for sharing.
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I hope it brought a smile... We all make mistakes, flying is about learning... I always try to learn something every day... I'll have to try really hard to keep doing that as I re-qualify...

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
 
Ryanb said:
Sounds like you about killed your CFI. I’d say he earned his pay that day.
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He tried really hard to convince me I didn't. I'm forever grateful for his "blase" treatment of the incident...

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
 
CharlieD3 said:
He tried really hard to convince me I didn't. I'm forever grateful for his "blase" treatment of the incident...

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
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I’d imagine most CFIs have dealt with more than one student who had a death grip on the yoke with locked elbows.
 
CharlieD3 said:
Thanks! Maybe they all should! I know I'm not the only one who's scared the bejeebers out of a CFI!

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
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My boss got written up in the club newsletter for causing our mutual (at the time) CFI to break the yoke of the C-172 we were flying pulling out of a dive at the runway. He was landing and was a bit high, so he pushed suddenly and caught the CFI off guard. The result was a broken yoke, but not a bent airplane. And a lot of laughs as he re-told the story.
 
Back when I was flying 20-30 hours per week as a full-time CFI, I would take a short lunch break and return to the next student with a cheeseburger and iced tea...

When it got to the part in the flight when they were trying to kill me, I would interrupt my munching to intercede in my impending demise and take the controls...
 
CharlieD3 said:
In all my reading about flying, I had read Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche about 6 times by then, and everything was lining up with my book learning...
...
Power off stalls....

Remembering what I read, not what George taught me. What I read was (as I remembered at the time)"... in a stall, push the stick forward, all will be fine."
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In case you lost your copy, here's a link to one: https://archive.org/details/StickAndRudderAnExplanationOfTheArtOfFlying/page/n10

On page one he does say when falling in a stall or spin to point the nose at the ground as though you wished to crash. On page 33, he says to relax the pressure to recover. You weren't the only student that didn't listen to the CFI on stall recoveries, I've had one or two myself. :)
 
EdFred said:
$45/hr in 1978. CFI pay definitely has not kept up with inflation and cost of living.
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I think he misremembers. When I learned to fly in 76-77 it was $18 for the C-150 and $10 for the instructor... at a Part 141 school, the FBO down the way was $15 and $8.
 
Dana said:
I think he misremembers. When I learned to fly in 76-77 it was $18 for the C-150 and $10 for the instructor... at a Part 141 school, the FBO down the way was $15 and $8.
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Could be... But I totalized the column hours for instruction, and divided what was paid (total) by the hours... Your pricing sounds right, though.... Good thing CRS is not a disease on the medical....

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
 
midwestpa24 said:
As a CFI, I have learned many new wrong techniques for different maneuvers. Its been entertaining to say the least...
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Once, I sat dumbfounded as I watched my student set the parking brake prior to run-up by use of the carburetor heat knob. :) Should have had a camera to catch the expression on his face when we went off to the races.
 
Dana said:
I think he misremembers. When I learned to fly in 76-77 it was $18 for the C-150 and $10 for the instructor... at a Part 141 school, the FBO down the way was $15 and $8.
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May have reversed the numbers. In the '90s I was paying $23/hr for the CFI. I think the plane was around $50.
 
CharlieD3 said:
I'm determined now; at 63 years old, and semi retired: to pass a flight medical, get current, and start flying again. I mean, It's only been 21 years since I've been PIC...
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I took an 11 year break and in '17 at 61 years old got back into it and got my commercial in Sept '18 (already had the instrument). Nothing will build your confidence more than flying a LOT. Git 'er done.
 
Just returned from my first night flight in the plane. Brought my CFI along to check me out... he laughs at my logbook as it too is "Logbook #1" ... earned my PPL in 1978... dropped out in 1982 and re-earned in 2018... a mere 36 years break...; ) Here is to all of us Rusties.

PS: How cool is night flying? Forced me work on pattern precision, what an absolute blast.
 
AGLyme said:
Just returned from my first night flight in the plane. Brought my CFI along to check me out... he laughs at my logbook as it too is "Logbook #1" ... earned my PPL in 1978... dropped out in 1982 and re-earned in 2018... a mere 36 years break...; ) Here is to all of us Rusties.

PS: How cool is night flying? Forced me work on pattern precision, what an absolute blast.
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Yeah, I always did love night flying...
 
CharlieD3 said:
Could be... But I totalized the column hours for instruction, and divided what was paid (total) by the hours... Your pricing sounds right, though.... Good thing CRS is not a disease on the medical....
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Heh...in 1967, I needed a 1 semester science course to fill out high school graduation requirements. One of the available courses was Earth Science, known to be a pud course, taught by a guy who was a ground school instructor. Instead of Earth Science, he ended up teaching us aviation ground school, and one final exam option was the the FAA Private Pilot written, which I took and passed. Sitting at home one day bored, I found a Cessna introductory flight coupon in a Sports Illustrated magazine. $5 got me my first 45 minute flight lesson in a brand new Cessna 150. It was $13.90/hour for solo ($14.90 for the C150 Aerobat, which I loved) and$18.90 an hour for dual. 36 flight hours later I was signed off for my PPL checkride, in 1967 (certified flight schools could get you a check ride in only 35 hours - I guess it's called Part 141 now - not sure what it was called then. The chief pilot of that Cessna Flight School in Omaha was a DE). Owned a few planes, flew a lot, for decades, including several years as a Mission Pilot for the local CAP squadron, rank of Major. Quit flying in 1992 when the bureaucracy of the CAP got too onerous and then drifted away from flying (kids, house, work, etc). Fast-forward....about a month ago I did my first Flight Review in almost 30 years. Class III medicals aren't as easy at age 69 as they were at age 39, especially if you haven't had a Class III since before July 14, 2006, but they're do-able, with persistence). It took me 2 1/2 hours of dual until my CFI said "that's enough...you're rusty but you're safe". Now I'm concentrating on navigation and avionics. My old David Clarks still work well, but my first major purchase was a Bose A20, followed by a Foreflight subscription, followed by a suction cup mount for my iPad Pro. Whole new ball game. General Aviation is very cool these days.
 
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MacFly said:
Whole new ball game. General Aviation is very cool these days
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I recall when RNAV debuted, “Wow, I can move this VOR to wherever I want”. That was the early 80’s. Now the most tedious issue for me is remembering all of the minima for the gps rnav approaches. Badly in need of a good mnemonic.
 
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