AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2013 - 12

LETTERS

FROM OUR OCTOBER 2013 ISSUE

My $1 Million Education
Senior Editor Dave Hirschman had an epiphany: What have all his years of flying cost him?
And what else has he gained? Readers could relate.
I am writing to let you know
how much I enjoyed, "My $1
Million Education." I, too,
have been extremely fortunate to fly a wide variety of
aircraft and I always try to
learn as much as I can from
each-about their individual
characteristics and about flying in general. The thoughts
Dave Hirschman masterfully distilled for his article
rang very true, and resonated
immediately with me. I agree
with everything he wrote, but
I particularly appreciate his
remark on the magic inherent
to round-engine, tailwheel,
and floatplane flying.
Charlie Moss 
AOPA 4327475
Port Charlotte, Florida

My favorite is: Absolute certainty that you've totally
mastered an aviation skill
assures a large serving of humble pie is coming your way. I got
over that one a long time ago!
And, as for It's OK for family
members not to share my passion for aviation, my son, now
24, told me when he was about
10 that he would fly with me
if I got my multiengine rating. Well, I got that in a Piper
Seminole. Shortly after that,
we were out watching airplanes come in for landings,
and I reminded him that he
said he would fly with me
now that I was multiengine
rated. As a Citation flew overhead inbound for a landing,
he said, "Mom, I meant that
multiengine!"
Amy Carpenter
AOPA 3401758
Atlanta, Georgia

12  |  AOPA PILOT  December 2013

P&E

FRUGAL FLIER

My $1 million
education
Return on investment isn't guaranteed
B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N

IT'S HARD TO PLACE a value on my
nearly 7,000 hours spent aloft in general aviation aircraft, but $1 million is
probably close.
That's an average $142.85 an hour
for airplanes ranging from Piper
Cubs to warbirds, so the million-dollar figure is, if anything, too low.
Even more surprising than the
monstrous sum is how little I seem
to have learned during 25-years of
"higher education." I still make errors,
have lapses in judgment, and bungle
landings with sad regularity. My only
consolation, or schadenfreude, is that
others-some with even more expensive educations than mine-prove
themselves equally dense.
So, even though the thoughts
offered here for free aren't worth
anything close to a million bucks,
here are some of the lessons that my

7,000 hours of flying has imparted:
* There are few earthly problems
that flying can't improve, even if getting off the ground only provides a
brief respite and a welcome change
in perspective.
* Flying with smart, experienced
pilots and doing what they do is the
first step in learning how to think like
they think.
* Aircraft engines can and do quit,
and when they do, actual engine-out
glides look and feel much different
than practice ones.
* It's OK for family members not to
share my passion for aviation. And I
will enthusiastically support them
in all their endeavors, even if the
things they choose aren't nearly so
interesting.
* There's magic in a well-flown
aerobatic maneuver.

88 | AOPA PILOT October 2013

address: "Mechanics are brilliant people who can't tell
time (or read calendars)." I
take it Hirschman is implying
that mechanics can't or don't
know when the aircraft will
be repaired? There is only one
time when the aircraft will be
repaired and that is when it is
safe to fly. Period! It may take
an hour, it may take a month,
it may take a year. Whatever it
takes. Owners of aircraft need
to know this. Here is something that my father gave me
years ago that will aid the aviation community for years to
come. It is a hierarchy that anyone who has flown, is flying, or
is thinking about flying should
definitely understand:
Flying: The top-down reality
ladder
1. Maintenance
2. Planning
3. Physiology
4. Judgment
5. Physics/Philosophy
6. Judgment
7. Skill
8. Physics
9. Maintenance

"The point that
really hits home for
me (and will become
a Facebook quote on
my wall) is: There
are few earthly problems that flying can't
improve, even if getting off the ground
o n l y p ro v i d e s a
brief respite and a
welcome change in
Jim Mulligan 
perspective. This is
AOPA 1209836
Mesa, Arizona
absolutely brilliant
Towers
and it resonates with Dogfight: Haines, I also
Like Tom
me."
Jeremy Cooper
learned to fly at a nontowered
AOPA 1013763
New York, New York

airport in the late 1960s. I have
been at a towered airport for
the past 10 years. The tower
makes me lazy; they tell me
where to taxi, where to take
off from, and where to land. I
I just read "My $1 Million have talked to many pilots from
Education" and there is one all types of backgrounds. Many
statement that I would like to of them will not visit me at my

field because of the tower and
the FAA ordering controllers
to crack down on pilot deviations. We put on a pancake
breakfast every month during the flying season. It's the
best  breakfast anywhere-
you name it and we have it
on the table. Pilots as little as
40 miles away will not come
because of the tower. I have
talked to many pilots at a lot
of fly-ins and they all say the
same thing: Avoid a towered
field at all costs. Last month
we had a beautiful day and had
the lowest turnout ever. I wish
someone would have a very
candid survey of GA pilots of
all types and see what percentage avoid towered fields. Most
pilots express themselves in
private conversations; I wonder if they would in a survey.
Your article was right on. 
Vic Vicari
AOPA 440193
Goreville, Illinois

Come on, Tom Haines. Get real.
The question is not do you enjoy
flying into busy airfields? The
question is are control towers a
necessary evil? Like you, I prefer
to land at the local nontowered
field when I travel. It costs less,
it's a lot less stressful, and you
usually meet the nicest people.
But there are occasionally reasons for operating into busier
fields, and in that situation, I
welcome the control tower.
As Dave Hirschman says,
control towers have a purpose:
to improve the flow of traffic
at airfields that have sufficient
traffic density to justify their
use. I learned to fly at Northeast
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2013

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