AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 30

LICENSETOLEARN

BY ROD MACHADO

Oshkosh 2011

E

lectric airplanes, synthetic vision, and iPad accessories—these things, and much more, were abundant at this year’s EAA AirVenture. Having

One young man who flies Beech 99s for a commuter airline told me about a paying customer he had sitting in the co-pilot seat on a recent flight. She was nice enough until right after takeoff, when he reached over to her side of the panel and set 123.65 in the auxiliary communications radio. At that point she started fidgeting and giving him the evil eye. He thought he might have offended her, but he just couldn’t figure out how. Upon landing, he taxied to the gate, shut down the engines, then looked over at just returned from the festivities in Oshkosh, I’m her and said, “Ma’am, is anything wrong?” here to say it was an exciting year. But it’s the people, She pointed to the frequency in the communiRod Machado is even more than the advanced technology and sexy cations radio, looked over at him with a scowl and a member of the airplanes, who make the experience particularly said, “They quoted me $85.50 for this flight and I Aviation Speakers interesting to me. Everyone has a story to tell, and I ain’t paying that amount.” Apparently she took the Bureau. take tremendous pleasure in listening to these tales idea of air taxi literally. of know and woe and sometimes ho-ho-ho. One of the things that always strikes me as fasAt the beginning of the show, a flight instructor cinating are the confessions nonrated spousal approached me and offered a warning to all those training new passengers make about their nervousness aloft. These are typistudents. “Always make sure you ask if they have any physical cally individuals who have never taken a flying lesson or an Air disabilities before you start training them,” he said. “If you don’t, Safety Institute Pinch-Hitter® course. It’s not hard to imagine you might get a big surprise aloft.” how nervous someone might be without at least a basic under“How so?” I asked. standing of how and why airplanes fly. Apparently this instructor had one student show up for his One lady told me that on an early flight with her newly rated first lesson, which was 30 minutes of ground school followed husband he mumbled, “Oops” right after takeoff. Now, there by a 45-minute lesson. During the flight, the student looked are two places that you don’t ever want to hear the word oops over at the instructor and asked, “Excuse me, do you mind if I uttered. One is in a tattoo parlor; the other, an airplane. For the remove my leg?” next 45 minutes she sat in her seat contemplating every danger They didn’t cover that in CFI school. The instructor told me scenario that her fertile imagination could cook up. Finally she he said, “Well, that depends. What other parts are you planning couldn’t stand it anymore, so she looked over at hubby and said, on removing?” “Ahh, sweetie, has that oops expired yet?” It turns out that the student was wearing a prosthetic leg and Another nonflying spousal partner told me that when her hadn’t found a way to comfortably adjust himself in the seat. husband does something scary in an airplane, she grabs her Unfortunately, the student didn’t inform the instructor about rosary and gets down to business. She said that she occasionally the prosthesis before the flight. Of course, there’s no reason gets so nervous that those beads move through her hand faster that this would prevent someone from flying, but it did take than an ammunition belt through a machine gun. the instructor by surprise. So it’s certainly wise to do a little leg I always ask these individuals if they’ve ever taken a work and ask your students about any disabilities beforehand. Pinch-Hitter course. Most say they haven’t, or that they were A fellow pilot from my neighborhood in Southern California concerned they might be asked to physically fly an airplane told me about testing the brakes on his new Pulsar. He had been when they really didn’t want to. I can certainly understand their working on the airplane for a while and finally had the brakes concerns. On the other hand, a good course can decrease the connected and ready for a taxi test. He hadn’t yet installed the nonflier’s anxiety by providing her or him with a sense of control wings on his airplane, which was about to bother someone over their environment. else more than it bothered him. He taxied out at one of our So excuse the shameless plug here, but I hope you attend local nontowered airports to do his taxi test. A student pilot this year’s AOPA Summit in Hartford, Connecticut. Aside from in another airplane spied him, picked up her mic, and yelled, being another exciting aviation gathering, AOPA will be offering “Don’t take off! Don’t take off! You don’t have wings!” a Pinch-Hitter program taught by a highly skilled and personHe laughed and told her about his taxi test. Of course, I able instructor named Susan Parsons. You (and your nonflying promptly scolded him for missing a golden opportunity to say, friend or partner) will love her and the course. I promise. I hope “Oh, my gosh, I need to do a more thorough preflight next time.” to see you in Hartford. Had he done that, this young lady would have had an amazing story to share with her comrades in flight. Visit the author’s blog (www.rodmachado.com). 30 • OCTOBER
2011

AOPA PILOT •


http://www.rodmachado.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011

AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011
Contents
President’s Position
Hangar Talk
AOPA Media
AOPA Action
Letters
Waypoints
Proficient Pilot
Safety Pilot
License to Learn
Pilot Counsel
Fly Well
Pilot Briefing
Rally GA: Come One, Come All
Epic Flight: Greenland Adventure
Budget Buy: Drag Your Tail—Cheaply
Swamp Pirates
Tattoos in the Air
2012 Tougher Than a Tornado Sweepstakes: New Again
Technique: The “Panic Pull”
Wx Watch: MOS for the Masses
Avionics: The iPad-centric Cockpit
Never Again
Fly-Outs
Fly by Wire
Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - President’s Position
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Hangar Talk
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - AOPA Media
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - AOPA Action
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 16
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 18
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Letters
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 22
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Waypoints
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Proficient Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Safety Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - License to Learn
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Pilot Counsel
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Fly Well
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 36
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Pilot Briefing
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 39
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 42
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Rally GA: Come One, Come All
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 47
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 50
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Epic Flight: Greenland Adventure
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 54
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 58
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Budget Buy: Drag Your Tail—Cheaply
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 62
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 64
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 66
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 67
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Swamp Pirates
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 70
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 71
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 72
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 73
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 74
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 75
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 76
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Tattoos in the Air
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 79
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 80
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 81
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 82
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 83
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 84
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 85
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 86
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 2012 Tougher Than a Tornado Sweepstakes: New Again
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 88
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 89
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 90
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Technique: The “Panic Pull”
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 92
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 93
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 94
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Wx Watch: MOS for the Masses
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 96
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - I1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - I2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 97
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 98
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Avionics: The iPad-centric Cockpit
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 100
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 101
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Never Again
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 103
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 104
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 105
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Fly-Outs
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Fly by Wire
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 108
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 109
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 110
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - 111
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2011 - Cover4
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