Comments on: Flying to Standard http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=1950 A place to discuss safety-of-flight issues, procedures, techniques, and judgment. Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:27:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Mark Jones Jr http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=1950&cpage=1#comment-31421 Mark Jones Jr Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:57:54 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=1950#comment-31421 Bruce,
Thanks for replying–it is an uncommon courtesy these days. I appreciate your openness to dialogue. Keep pushing the whole community to higher standards.
Thanks,
Mark

]]> By: Robert Carlson http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=1950&cpage=1#comment-31395 Robert Carlson Sat, 06 Aug 2011 04:27:03 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=1950#comment-31395 Don’t you just wish that instructors would use proper judgment?

]]> By: Jack Straw http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=1950&cpage=1#comment-31393 Jack Straw Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:40:13 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=1950#comment-31393 Who are Laurel and Hardy?

]]> By: Bruce Landsberg http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=1950&cpage=1#comment-31392 Bruce Landsberg Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:21:13 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=1950#comment-31392 Mark….

We may be closer to agreement than you think. If you’ve got somebody who’s reasonably sharp – by all means challenge them – stretch them so they get benefit out of the experience and grow.

However, some of the really poor skills we see in too many accidents could be alleviated by just flying to PTS. The perfect is too often the enemy of the good. If I’ve flown with a weak pilot, my goal is to get him or her to PTS standard and safe. Then we can look at moving to the next step.

When starving, basic food will keep one alive and after stabilized you can go for something fancier. We really do need to get everybody up standard then work them up to excel.

]]> By: Mark Jones Jr http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=1950&cpage=1#comment-31390 Mark Jones Jr Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:42:06 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=1950#comment-31390 I can’t agree less.

The PTL are just a baseline, a foundation. We should expect more and BETTER out of all pilots. We should challenge them to fly better. We should see what they have learned since then. And we should be prepared to give them instruction that is commensurate with the experience and maturity and judgment that they ought to have.

I have instructed and evaluated a very, very wide range of pilots in the last five years (and I’ve been a student myself in two separate formal flight training courses, as a highly experienced pilot). I NEVER expect to see a pilot fly as good as they did on their last checkride!

Why not take them out and help them learn some advanced judgment and techniques, like practicing the impossible turn (as presented by AOPA)?

What I am saying is this: “good enough…isn’t.” And as pilots, we need to do more growing than just growing old.

]]> By: Jon Moore http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=1950&cpage=1#comment-31374 Jon Moore Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:11:54 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=1950#comment-31374 Recently, a pilot who asked me to give him a flight review told me he was going to find another instructor when I mentioned he would be expected to fly to PTS. It was his prerogative to turn me down. I mention this only as an illustration of the mindset of many pilots out there.

When I took my CFI oral, the inspector asked me a pointed question: “Which tasks in the PTS are not important enough for you to test a pilot on in a flight review?” The correct answer was “none.” The inspector went on to tell me the PTS should not only be used for practical tests, but it is the standards by which we should all try to fly.

I think of the PTS as “best practices” for pilots. Take traffic patterns, for example. There is no regulation requiring you to enter on a 45, but if you strive to enter the pattern correctly every flight, all of us will have a little bit lower risk of collision.

]]> By: Michael McIntosh http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=1950&cpage=1#comment-31373 Michael McIntosh Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:04:28 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=1950#comment-31373 I also tailor my FR to the pilot I am reviewing. Your list is nearly a carbon copy of my minimum tasks. I like to take the pilot to the regional airport in our area, as well as to a smaller municipal airport, to emphasize the different sight picture one gets at different sized runways, and to practice ATC procedures. I try to do SEF’s to a airport other than the “home” airport to let the pilot test his judgement as to how he will land the aircraft. I am surprised how many pilots do not know simple things like the glide profile of their own aircraft, or some of its other performance limitations. I’ve found that many aircraft owners that use their aircraft routinely, do just that, and do NOT practice any type of emergency procedures. Many who were excellent stick and rudder pilots for common tasks were abysmal in unexpected situations, and had no plan for the least glitch in their flight plan. I blame complacency for this, or a lack of ADM training.

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