AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2014 - 14

LETTERS
ago? Would his love of flying
plus the BMI requirement kept
him healthy, alive, and still a
part of my life?
Although he wasn't a pilot,
my mind wanders through the
same thought process regarding my other late friend. If he
had been pressed into healthy
habits, would he and I still be
sharing laughs about the many
dubious accomplishments of
our youth?
Well-meaning suggestions
about lifestyle modifications
are often met defensively. But
after they 're gone you'll
wish you hadn't lost those
friends. And, I'll bet you'll
then think that if a little coercion could have kept those
people in your life for another
20 to 30 years, the coercion
wouldn't have really been that
oppressive.
Don Bogart
AOPA 659748
Long Beach, California

Hover like a hawk
This was a good article on slow
flight ("P&E: Technique").
Bush pilots of Alaska take slow
flight to another level. One
of the most important cardinal rules in bush flying is
landing your airplane at initial stall speed. This drains as
much kinetic energy (energy
in a moving aircraft) from
your airplane prior to landing
as possible. Landing this way
allows short landing areas and
light braking. Even for general
aviation pilots, this is the safest
way to land an airplane. Pilots
learning this technique will
be much improved pilots and
will reduce aircraft accidents
when landing. Pilots using this
technique must precisely learn
throttle control to prevent hard
stalls. This technique is not
difficult to learn. Learn to properly use the throttle and stalling
an aircraft will not happen.

HANGAR TALK

since I was 22, died of cardiovascular disease. He looked obese
to me but had claimed to be in
good health. The other, a wonderful friend for 20 years with a
physique I'd describe as at least
bordering on obesity, died of
complications from an episode
of sleep apnea. Losing those
two friends was traumatic for
me. It affected my psyche. Not
having them to laugh with,
drink with, talk with-I still
feel sorry for myself because
of what they meant to me.
The 20-year friend loved
flying. He flew his red, perfect
Cessna 170 practically every
day. He would have roiled at
any attempt of the government
to interfere with his ability to
see the world from the sky. But
I wonder, indeed selfishly,
would he and I still be flying
together had the FAA Body
Mass Index (BMI) requirements been enacted 30 years

Once a pilot learns to make initial stall landings, it will boost
stall proficiency knowledge to a
higher level. This will help prevent stall/spin accidents that
kill pilots and their passengers
every year.
William A. Quirk III
AOPA 5053580
Anchorage, Alaska

A bum rap
I really enjoyed reading Barry
Schiff 's article ("Proficient
Pilot"). There were several airplanes that I remember that did
get incorrectly attributed bad
reputations as in the DC-3 and
the J-3 comparison. One that
he did not mention that got a
really bad rap was the Twin
Comanche. It was (and still is)
a great-flying twin, but when
I was doing my training, and
before, people were doing dumb
things in the airplane-like single-engine full stalls-and it got
the rap of being a flat spinner. Of
course, it isn't, it just has a clean
wing and you don't do things
like that in that kind of airplane.

Alan C. Davis
AOPA 859246
Thornton, Colorado 

Errata
One of contributor BARRY
SCHIFF'S greatest joys in
aviation is to fly aircraft
that are new to him. "I am
especially excited about
sampling aircraft with
great historical significance," he says. The iconic
Huey helicopter ("A FLYING
SYMBOL," page 42) is one
such aircraft. Schiff says
that he makes every effort
when flying a warbird to
understand the mindset
of those who flew the aircraft during battle. "No
way to do that when flying a Huey," he says. "The
heroism and sacrifice displayed by Huey crews
during the Vietnam War
are almost beyond our
ability to conceive."

14 | AOPA PILOT March 2014

Troy Woodland, creator of
Just Aircraft's SuperSTOL,
is obsessed with the
low end of the speed
spectrum. "By allowing airplanes to fly more
slowly and use shorter
spaces and more rugged ground for takeoffs
and landings, Woodland
frees them entirely from
airports, and that's the
fascination with this airplane," says Senior
Editor DAVE HIRSCHMAN
("NO RUNWAY, NO
PROBLEM," page 58). "The
SuperSTOL changes the
way a pilot regards the
terrain below. Every clearing, pasture, or meadow
becomes a potential
landing area and the
possibilities for exploration are endless."

While we all tout the
convenience of having
5,000 public-use airports, not all airports
are suitable under all
conditions, says AOPA
Foundation President
BRUCE LANDSBERG. In
"SAFETY PILOT LANDMARK
ACCIDENT: KNOW THE
TERRITORY," page 66, a

low-time IFR pilot in a
high-performance
aircraft fails to follow a
departure procedure
and apparently gets
airborne before fully
configuring the avionics.
A TAWS warning
is heeded too late,
reminding us that
technology alone will
not always save the day.

Lincoln Beachey died at the
Panama-Pacific International
Exposition in San Francisco on
March 14, 1915. He did not live
to fly during the Barnstorming
era of the 1920s and 1930s
("P&E: Technique," January
2014 AOPA Pilot). The headline
for"Fly-Outs: Get the Haddock"
(Briefing," January 2014 AOPA
Pilot) was wrong. The author
had halibut. Haddock isn't
a menu choice. AOPA Pilot
regrets the errors.
We welcome your comments.
Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation
Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701
or email (pilot@aopa.org). Letters may be edited for length
and style before publication.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2014
