Recent content by j1b3h0

Compared to almost any piston twin the utility and performance of the airplanes you cite are incredible. Merlins look cool and will do the mission, but sure is a tank to fly. Complicated airplane, if flown single-pilot, requires an experienced hand. Turbo Commanders with dash 10 engines are...

Good all around airplanes that are fun to fly, go kind of fast, carry what you want them to, and easily perform the missions one likes are rare. Super Decathlon does everything well—loops from level flight, cruises at 140+, carries a couple of fat guys, takes off and lands short, and is...

Funny the things one learns while flight instructing:At any given time most swimming pools are not being used. In the SF Bay area, it used to be every TV antenna pointed at Sutro Tower. Or, more importantly, until a student SEES clearly what it is the point his/her instructor is trying to get...

When i think of all the money I’ve squandered on things that don’t really matter to me, airplanes and their associated costs seem like money well spent.

I would think most of the premium cost would be hull. I don’t know anyone who got rich flight instructing. It’s a shame that the insurance companies want to suck all the profit out of it. I wonder about self-insuring.

Seth—Are you talking about “straight ahead” power on stalls, or stalls in a turn? I have witnessed many students express anxiety over these maneuvers. I you happen to be training in a model aircraft with an overly large instrument panel, whenever the nose is high enough to stall (power on) the...

Ryan—Does it make a difference if one’s airplane is ONLY rented dual? Say I have a Luscombe and I wanted to start giving tailwheel endorsements in it,—but never rent the airplane out solo, is the insurance still cost prohibitive? Also, is most of that cost hull, or liability?

According to the guys from Ada Oklahoma, who teach LOP engine operation, checking your mags inflight at cruise power and LOP is a much better test of your engine’s ignition system than in the runup area at 1700rpm. I check them inflight, and if they check good, I don’t check them again on the...

Compared to a V-tail Bonanza, the A-36 and especially the 210 fly like tanks. They work pretty well, tho. Like a poster above I used to fly checks in a T210N. More capable than lots of twins, it will carry most anything loaded in it, zip along at Navajo speed and, in a pinch, claw its way to...

To pilots who don’t understand it, the ball is fool’s gold. Limiting students to 20 degrees bank suggests instructors who either don’t know how to turn or, don’t know how to teach someone to turn. Don’t believe me, take one of them flying in an airplane like a Cub, T-craft or Luscombe and watch...

Oops, one more thing: all the airplanes you mention (the cheap ones, anyway) have 65hp, no electric system, save a battery-powered radio. Fine if you just fly alone, and don’t mind roughing it by hand-propping, stay out of certain airspace and live near sea level. Champs, Taylorcraft, Vagabonds...

I have flown and instructed in several vintage machines of that ilk. Tandem airplanes are usually more comfortable—much less likely to have not enough shoulder room. I was always comfy in the back seat of a Citabria, but when I had to teach a bigger person-shoehorned into a side by side...

My Luscombe slips well.

Shelter Cove is cool! But yeah, check weather. Also, know that it’s faily remote (lost coast), there is simply nowhere to land within about 40nm., nothing but mountains, connifers and coastline with steep cliffs and very cold water. If you took off from there in darkness, you would be IMC on all...

In addition to using a slip to get down, one can slip the airplane to slow down. I used to come whistleing in to the runway at 140mph in a Super Decathlon, and on about a half mile final just cross control (very aggressive slip, but not so much bank). Could slow from 140 to 75 in a quarter mile.