Questions/Comments you receive (from non-pilots) about Flying/General Aviation

Yeah, it seems the most common misconception is that flying is just inherently extremely dangerous, and bad things "just happen" all the time and there's nothing you can do about it but crash and burn. A lot of them feel the same way about motorcycles. The concept of good, smart people making fatal mistakes just does not seem to be someting they can comprehend. "Oh, so-and-so was rich and famous, and look what happened to him!" Yeah, he was rich and famous and made a mistake that cost an airplane and a few lives. So we try really hard not to make those mistakes.

If famous people getting killed doing it was a sign that something was inherently too dangerous for most people to do, we'd all have to retire our skis, too. And our cars. And vodka bottles,
 
Plenty of rich and famous people who bounce themselves off of trees, skiing here. No different. Trying to do things they're not capable of...
 
Teacher asked me If I had ever done a stall......why yes I have. She starts explaining to the kids around "a stall is when the pilot shuts off the engine in the air and practices looking for a place to land, then 10 feet off the ground they turn the engine back on and fly away" I started to tell her she is wrong and she comes back with some sarcastic comment about me not knowing what a stall is...

She proceeded to send out an email to ALL my other teachers on the fact that I am a pretend pilot and I have no idea what I am doing. That is the day I stopped telling anybody I was a pilot..

They also can't believe that we dont all fly around with parachutes
 
Tell your teacher you'd be happy to demonstrate several power on stalls to her. Make sure it is a spin certified plane, and kick hard left rudder and opposite aileron upon the break.
 
loudbagel said:
Teacher asked me If I had ever done a stall......why yes I have. She starts explaining to the kids around "a stall is when the pilot shuts off the engine in the air and practices looking for a place to land, then 10 feet off the ground they turn the engine back on and fly away" I started to tell her she is wrong and she comes back with some sarcastic comment about me not knowing what a stall is...

She proceeded to send out an email to ALL my other teachers on the fact that I am a pretend pilot and I have no idea what I am doing. That is the day I stopped telling anybody I was a pilot..

They also can't believe that we dont all fly around with parachutes
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Ahh... Public Education. :(
 
loudbagel said:
Teacher asked me If I had ever done a stall......why yes I have. She starts explaining to the kids around "a stall is when the pilot shuts off the engine in the air and practices looking for a place to land, then 10 feet off the ground they turn the engine back on and fly away" I started to tell her she is wrong and she comes back with some sarcastic comment about me not knowing what a stall is...

She proceeded to send out an email to ALL my other teachers on the fact that I am a pretend pilot and I have no idea what I am doing. That is the day I stopped telling anybody I was a pilot..

They also can't believe that we dont all fly around with parachutes
Click to expand...
Sometimes teachers are founts of misinformation. I once told a teacher in Illinois that in Georgia the peanuts grow underground, not hanging from the bush. In England, I told a teacher that $5.4 was not five dollars and four cents; that it really has no meaning. Both teachers, of course, thought I was wrong and told the class so. sigh...
 
Today, I got this set of typical questions:

"How long have you been flying?" (About 13 years.)
Considering how old I look, "So you never flew for the airlines or anything?" (No, I just fly for pleasure.)
"Do you own your own plane?" (Yes, it is about the size of a car, with wings.)
"Do you fly by yourself or do you need to have 2 pilots when you fly?" (Yes, I fly solo sometimes. I have 4 seats, so I can carry 3 passengers.)
"How much fuel can you carry?" (Around 40 gallons.)
"How far can you fly on that?" (I can fly for about 5 hours at 100 miles per hour, so that would be around 500 miles. But I don't ever fly that far because I don't want to run out of gas.)
"It's high octane, isn't it?" (Yes, about 100 octane.)
"How much does it cost per gallon?" (About a dollar more than premium.)
"Wow, I expected it to be a lot more than that."

Other typical questions from the non-flying public include:

"Where do you fly to?" (I fly locally to fun places like Nantucket or I fly across the country to visit my grandchildren.)

"How long does it take to fly to California?" (It takes about 25 hours of flying time one way, but since I visit all along the way, it takes about 3 weeks for me to do the round trip and visit all the kids. A good rule of thumb is that flying takes half the time that driving takes.)

"Are you allowed to fly at night?" (Yes, I can fly day or night when the weather is nice. I don't fly if it is stormy.)

"How much does it cost to learn?" (I'd guess that someone starting today would need to plan on about $10,000 and three months to get their first license. That would let you fly day or night in nice weather.)
 
Anthony said:
Tell your teacher you'd be happy to demonstrate several power on stalls to her. Make sure it is a spin certified plane, and kick hard left rudder and opposite aileron upon the break.
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Yeah, right. That'll help.

Better yet, demonstrate a falling leaf stall.

Hubby has a technique where he sneaks up on a stall and then teaches his student to move into and out of a stall with small movements of the yoke while controlling the rudder. Really fun.
 
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AuntPeggy said:
"How long have you been flying?"
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This has to be the number one question I get. I used to answer in years but gave that up many years ago since it generated more comments. Now I just say, "Since I was in college". :idea:
 
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