Recent content by starglider

Ah, hrm . . . ? Do I have a doppelgänger somewhere? I’m neither the OP nor disagreeing with that. I was just saying that I think the FAA is being reasonable on this one; I don’t expect any changes either.

In fairness, it's not really the FAA's fault that various schools, parents, and mendacious psychiatrists use imaginary diagnoses to medicate kids (either to make them more manageable or for intellectual performance-enhancing purposes). The FAA pretty much has to take the position that what a...

I've had an Aerostar 702P for about two years. Generally, I agree with Tim. Bottom line: it's probably the best bang for the buck in terms of performance, but that doesn't mean it's cheap (cost, like energy, rises exponentially with speed). I'm also not sure it fits your mission (more on that...

Honestly, this doesn't seem too unreasonable to me. Obviously the OP isn't going to get smacked by the FAA; he was a student. Hell, it's practically a student's job to screw up. Nobody cares what name is on the flight plan. Yeah, it's supposed to be the PIC, but every instructor I've flown with...

Most important thing: don't ever, ever pay in advance. Get your bill after the lesson and pay it. Students lose thousands of dollars by prepaying, and it happens one of two ways: 1) the operation was a scam, and the students fell into the trap; 2) the flight school was so poorly run that it...

In my experience, pilots tend to be an inquisitive bunch and tend to interpret things like this as challenges. :)

I've done a bit of training with them. I'd say they're an average flight school; they've been around for awhile and have a reasonable fleet. Interview your potential instructor ahead of time. Compared with where you're coming from, it'll feel like paradise.

I'm a bit late to the party here---and it seems like the thread has already gone off the rails discussing the latest "new-new-new math," which will inevitably be abandoned like the original "new math" in a few years---but I figured I'd drop in my $0.02 since, well, since I live nearby. That...

Maybe the climate is really going to change catastrophically in the next twenty years, but there's a global conspiracy by the chemtrail Illuminati to obfuscate it by scaremongering relentlessly so that nobody takes it seriously. Seriously, if I wanted people to NOT take me seriously, I'd say...

Yep in the A* best practice is to tap the brakes. Doesn't do anything for the nosewheel, of course.

It's totally something practice will fix; don't sweat it. Seems like you did great. Feeling overwhelmed is, honestly, part of the process. It's like weightlifting; you can't really build muscle until you push to near the breaking point. The trick is knowing when you're getting dangerously...

Operating these complex aircraft can be so . . . taxing. :D

Stewartb is correct. Oil pressure has absolutely nothing to do with it; not sure where that idea came from. The prop governor is working just fine on the ground, but the prop is already at the flattest pitch, so it's got nothing to do. Think about it this way: say you have the prop control set...

There's not a lot of book learning for the MEL. As others have said, it's mainly knowing the POH of the aircraft and then the various techniques for flying around on one engine. I think what's covered in the Airplane Flying Handbook is entirely sufficient. I added an MEL to a commercial, and...

I really want to get a 185 for that. Buddy of mine has a 310; it's an impressive machine. But yeah, these big twins don't do short/soft very well. :)