Explaining GA to non-pilots?

Pi1otguy

Pi1otguy

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Fox McCloud
Am I the only one who has a hard time with the ... um ... interesting questions about our "little planes"? Especially when I dispel the belief that ATC guides us everywhere we go via radar. Based on the questions I'm pretty sure it'll blow her mind when I take her up one day.

Such gems as...
How do you get there (to you destination)?
I point the plane where I want to go.

But with GPS like the big planes how do you know where you are?
Some planes have GPS, I also look outside and look at the map. I have a magical ability to read a map. Then I point the plane where I want to go.

Then how do you know which way to point?
We have a compass.

So there's no roads in the sky?
There are, but they are sort of optional for me.
 
How many stops do you have to make. How much gas do you carry?Do you have to tell anyone where your going? Can you fly in a cloud? How high do you fly at? And on and on and on.
 
frfly172 said:
How many stops do you have to make. How much gas do you carry?Do you have to tell anyone where your going? Can you fly in a cloud? How high do you fly at? And on and on and on.
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Where do you get permssion? :mad2:
 
Henning said:
"I listen to the voices in my head."
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After 25 years in EMS and police work, I always wondered why the voices in peoples' heads never said "Take a shower."
 
The one I've been getting recently is "you do where a parachute don't you???"
 
It's great when people say " so you can just takeoff without telling anyone where you are going or do you need permission?" The people who ask are somehow terrified when I say, " well you don't ask permission really you just tell ATC where you want to go and sometimes you don't have do even do that- depends on the airport.". Almost immediately their face goes blank and they follow up with something like-" well that does not seem safe." Which is the end of the conversation for me.
 
jspilot said:
It's great when people say " so you can just takeoff without telling anyone where you are going or do you need permission?" The people who ask are somehow terrified when I say, " well you don't ask permission really you just tell ATC where you want to go and sometimes you don't have do even do that- depends on the airport.". Almost immediately their face goes blank and they follow up with something like-" well that does not seem safe." Which is the end of the conversation for me.
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A more PR friendly approach is to explain it to them in terms they understand. E.G. "You don't usually have to ask someone where you can go in a car, do you?" "We have maps and airspace regulations that tell us where not to go (like you have "One Way Street" signs, or "Road Closed" signs.)." Makes it more understandable for them and helps move them a skosh closer to understanding what we do.
 
My father in law doesn't understand when I fly up to BGM that I don't ever have to talk to any controller on the radio (until tower at BGM) and don't have to file any sort of flight plan. If he were in charge, he would change that, I am sure!!
 
And I say - Now when you get in your car outside you don't leave until you call the state police with your planned route and they give you "permission". How's that work for ya?
 
jspilot said:
It's great when people say " so you can just takeoff without telling anyone where you are going or do you need permission?" The people who ask are somehow terrified when I say, " well you don't ask permission really you just tell ATC where you want to go and sometimes you don't have do even do that- depends on the airport.". Almost immediately their face goes blank and they follow up with something like-" well that does not seem safe." Which is the end of the conversation for me.
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Ask them if they need to tell anyone where they drive or get permission to drive?
 
Pi1otguy said:
But with GPS like the big planes how do you know where you are?
Some planes have GPS, I also look outside and look at the map. I have a magical ability to read a map. Then I point the plane where I want to go
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You should have said
"I whip out my papyrus which has everything I need to get from point A to point B" :rofl:
 
At the rate things are going now, somebody in DC may beat him to the punch.

David7700 said:
My father in law doesn't understand when I fly up to BGM that I don't ever have to talk to any controller on the radio (until tower at BGM) and don't have to file any sort of flight plan. If he were in charge, he would change that, I am sure!!
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Q: What makes an airplane fly

A: Dead presidents
 
Gotta love the dumbing down of America.:no: Given the opportunity, people would regulate themselves to death.
 
I usually get silly questions but it's not hard to explain. Every year I spend five hours talking to people and loading kids into my plane at the Air and Space Museum. I actually hand out a souvenir postcard with a picture of the plane and the frequently asked questions....

What is it? It’s a Ryan Navion B.The plane was designed by North American Aviation after WWII as they thought that all the pilots we trained in the war would buy them like family cars
How old is it? It rolled off the assembly line in December of1950. It was originally the business aircraft of the Eureka Tea Company of Chicago
How fast does it go? 175mph
How many miles per gallon? About 11 mpg (aviation gas, about $5.50/gal)
How long have you had it? Since 1995
How many does it hold? 4 (including the pilot)
Are you a pilot? Yes, we are both pilots
How did you get it here? I landed on the runway at Dulles and taxied it the last few miles down (there's a connection from here to the airport runways)
Where do you keep it? We have a hangar at the Culpeper airport as well as a hangar/home on Long Island Airpark on Lake Norman in North Carolina
Where do you fly it? We go back and forth between our two homes as well as other vacations: Beach, Boston area, Oshkosh Wisconsin
How far can it fly? About 1000 miles on the 100 gallons it holds
How far have you flown it? Our two longest trips were to Cody, WY and Ft. Collins, CO​

Of course, my biggest number of questions was when I flew into a Boston-area family reunion right after John-John crashed and I had to answer questions about that all day long.
 
From my daughter, who should have known better, "and that little propeller is the only thing that holds it in the air?". Dad, "no, the great big wings hold it in the air. The little propeller just helps move it forward".
 
People always have a look of disbelief and fear when I tell them I don't actually have to talk to anyone on the radio in most cases. They also are sometimes shocked to hear I can fly at night without some sort of special certification.
 
First thing from a newby passenger after I fire up the engine and turn the avionics master switch on, powering the intercom:

Passenger: (in a wisper) "Can the tower hear us?'
Me: (wispering) "Shhh...yes. Now were did I put the airplane instruction manual?"
Passenger (gesturing me with index finger over mic, wispering) "they can hear you..."
Me: "I guess I should mention then that there is no tower, and if there were, they wouldn't be able to hear us unless we push the button on the yoke..."
Passenger: "Oh..."
 
kujo806 said:
People always have a look of disbelief and fear when I tell them I don't actually have to talk to anyone on the radio in most cases. They also are sometimes shocked to hear I can fly at night without some sort of special certification.
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The US is the only country I'm familiar with where that is true.
 
Usually people don't ask me about flying questions. Then again, I usually don't bring it up, because I often fear having to answer such bizarre questions (I'm horrible at explaining things, otherwise I'd be a flight instructor).

Where I used to work, the questions I would normally get from my managers was what type of planes I was allowed to fly. And one from a girl asking how much it costs to rent a plane.

Though I suppose my parents and some other family members have asked some silly questions. Like my dad wondering how I don't get lost during a local flight in clear weather with a GPS at a coastal city...
 
a lot of mention about 'silly' questions from non-pilots. I'll just say this....it wasn't all that long ago that I was a total non-pilot, and may have asked some of the same questions. I typically don't stick up for the 'general public', but I think this is slightly different than your typical 'silly computer questions' that you get FROM PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS DAILY AARRRGGHHH!!! Most people know NOTHING about aviation other than having sat their fat arses in a commercial plane once or twice.

so, so far, I'm rolling with the 'silly' questions I get asked, and am actually enjoying people's enthusiasm, as well as any logical explanation I'm now able to give them.
 
I usually get one of these before the flight:
Q: What if there's bad weather?
A: I don't fly in bad weather.

Q: Can you take us to Vegas?
A: Yes, it's a 20 hour round-trip flight and your share will be about $1500.

Q: How do you know where you're going?
A: I just make up my mind then I go [cheeky].

Q: What if we get lost?
A: I don't get lost (a half-truth, but they'll never know the difference).

Q: What if the engine quits?
A: We land.
 
Every time a small plane has an accident people always say I was thinking of you,no matter where in the country it happens.
 
I think most people are astonished that we can fly without having to file flight plans, get approval and be in constant contact with ATC, simply because the commercial flight experience is so totally controlled and regulated. It stuns them to learn that I can walk through the doors of the FBO at our local C airport with no screening, no metal detectors, no TSA when it's an hour long ordeal for them to get to the gate on the other side of the airport -- where they know if they look at someone the wrong way they're liable to end up in handcuffs.

About the only time most people hear anything at all about GA is when people are talking about the super-rich (private jets, you know) or when there's a crash. They don't hear or know anything about the tens of thousands of ordinary pleasure flights, burger runs or training flights that happen all around them every day. Even the people in my neighborhood, who hear and see piston singles overhead every day (we're right under the GPS12 approach to Millard, and on an almost direct path to the regular practice area) have no idea who flies them or what for. Most of them are afraid to go anywhere near an airport, even a place like Millard or Blair, for fear they'll get arrested for looking through the fence.

Dunno how to fix it, or even if you could. Just my observations.
 
I will admit though, when I first started learning to fly, I was surprised by what I perceived to be a laissez faire attitude to the whole thing. Namely what I thought was a lack of security at certain FBO's (especially at uncontrolled airports), and the ability to pretty much fly wherever you'd like without being required to plan every single thing in advance.

So I can kind of see why the "public" might be surprised about those things, as the only form of aviation they're familiar with is the airlines.
 
GA consists of two types of planes. Piper Cubs and Lear Jets.
 
The difference between my airplane and the airlines is a lot like the difference between my car and Greyhound. Greyhound has a schedule and a driver with a commercial license and lots of special regulations. With my car and my airplane we can just jump in and go where we want on our own schedule. I have a Private Pilot's license, not a Commercial Pilot's license, so I know how to fly my little airplane, but I couldn't fly an airliner. I get to use the same airways and traffic control if I want to, but it is voluntary on my part, so I'm not required to file a flight plan or get permission (except when I am using the runway at a field with a control tower). There are a few hundred airports with control towers, but there are thousands of smaller airports all over the place with no control towers. I don't need to radio for permission to land there, but I do broadcast my intentions so that other pilots in the area know I am there and what I intend to do. The difference between my car and my plane is that the regulations on maintenance and safety inspection are very much stricter. As a result, my aging aircraft is still very safe.

Oh, and I'm required to fly with an instructor every so often, just to make sure my skills are up to date.
 
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A common misconception I hear is that any airport that isn't a big class B or C is a "private" airport. People don't realize almost all of these airports are part of the public infrastructure just as much as roads, bridges and tunnels.
 
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