School For Perfection

weirdjim

weirdjim

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weirdjim
Richard Bach, A short story in "Air Facts" (1965) and reprinted in "A Gift Of Wings (1975).

A story about a flight school that didn't care about how long it took a student to learn, that the student would start with building their own gliders, overhaul their own engines, and then go on to learning about the whole regimen of flight. And, as Drake (the chief flight instructor noted) the students would NEVER get their "licenses" from his school, but only the knowledge that pilots that knew from the basics on up how to fly airplanes.

Fast forward.

Suppose, just suppose that there is a senior flight instructor today that believes in this tale. That perhaps there might be this magical school that turns out pilots rather than airplane guiders.

Suppose this instructor started this school that would take three students per summer. Two of which could pay more than their share in a 4-place airplane that wasn't fitted with more than the basic navigation instruments and not the "glass cockpit'. And suppose that "more than their share" was for a student that couldn't afford a nickel to fly, but wanted it more than anything else in the world.

Suppose that the 40 hours of instruction were punctuated by a "final exam" that went from California to Oshkosh for their "long cross country". And that they spent a week immersed in what is aviation's finest exhibition.

Just suppose that such a School for Perfection were possible today.

Comments appreciated. Because I'm considering it strongly for next year.
 
Sounds like an excellent idea to me. The way you describe would require someone to have somewhat of an extreme desire to become a pilot; such a desire that they would be willing to put forth more of an effort, more time and, more money than they would at another flight school. They would learn how to become a pilot by the very basics in all aspects. I really like that there is emphasis placed on using "steam gauges" rather than the glass cockpit and GPS methods. In my training and the subsequent practice, I place the same emphasis on myself. I have always thought that learning by that method would produce better pilots. In today's GPS world, I think that there are a good many pilots that would be lost if their GPS batteries die. The fact that they would have to go above and beyond to obtain the money for the training would show their level of committment to the training is high and that they would likely put forth the effort to excel.

Training them through overhauling engines and building gliders and such is an excellent idea also. This would thoroughly enhance their understanding of basic systems and fundamentals of flight.

If I were in the position again, I would definitely want to go through such a course; as I like to immerse myself in what I am learning, and I always want to learn such things as flight from the very basic to start with. That way when you lose the luxuries in-flight, you always have the back-up of doing it the old way.

My $.02.
 
Besides a desire to learn,you would need unlimited money.
 
A school something like this exists on the field at Clintonville, Ky. It's a high school votech class.
 
tonycondon said:
My favorite Bach story.
Click to expand...

X2

Best of luck Jim. I'd like to hear how it turns out. Maybe you could partially fund it with a fantasy school for perfection for pre-existing pilots!:D
 
By opportunistically weaving together various resources and experiences over the years many pilots have achieved much the same thing for themselves and their students that Bach put forth in his beloved story.

Some years ago there was a mobile summer flight school program called Flight Training Adventure Camp for Youth. FTAC trained a lot of teenagers and young twentysomethings with real cross country experience around the western United States for a period of at least 10 years I think. The leader was from Switzerland and most of the students were from Europe. They had a bus, a jeep, at least one van, and two or three airplanes. For a short time they had a glider which I was brought in to provide advice and training on. It was a neat concept and they achieved a lot but their safety record in my view reflected less than optimal leadership and management. They completely refused to follow my guidelines for glider operations and after several serious mishaps I completely removed myself from the scene. You can still find evidence of the organization on the web but I think they have been completely non-operational for over 10 years. I made some good friends there and I know that there are a bunch of pilots out in the world who got a great start in aviation with FTAC.

I told Bach about FTAC in a series of email exchanges we had in the early 2000s and he asked if they taught people to fly or merely fill in the boxes on FAA forms. He went into considerable detail about how to land a light single with mixture control and trim only.

I've read that he has made considerable strides in recovering from his recent crash and is writing again.

MM
 
I say Jim has a GREAT idea... Whether it will gather enough students who want to learn the ENTIRE aviation spectrum is the 50 million dollar question...

If I had to do it all over again... I would be Jim's first student..:yes:
 
The school would do okay, but if you tried to make that system a required system, the aviation industry would collapse for a lack of pilots. Operating equipment and understanding equipment are two disparate skill sets. You don't need one to be good at the other. The percentage of people with both skill sets and the desire to aviate is low enough that we would have a problem.
 
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