My Dad the Aviator!

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20 Jun 2006
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29
On Monday my dad and I (at his request) had a half hour trial flight in a light aircraft at our local airport.

We went up in a small 4 seater (Pipper) airplane and in truth I had never been in any plane as small as that and nor had my Dad. My Dad is in his mid Seventies and isn't really in the greatest of health.

Now here is the thing. Last year my Dad was given Microsoft Flight Sim and although he is not very computer orientated he was quite taken with the thing spending hours 'playing' it and he would often tell me how he had taken off from various airports around the world in various planes etc.

Now what was trully amazing was that after the instructor had taxid us to the correct runway, my dad proceeded to take the plane off, fly along the coast and then out to sea for a while, back to the coast and eventually back to the airstrip where he landed the plane solo. The whole time the instructor was at hand giving info but actually sat there without his hands on the controls.

My dad has hardly been on a plane before let alone in a cockpit, I couldn't believe it!
 
Heh nice one, that must've been a real buzz. :)

My old man was convinced that, given the chance, he could pilot an Airbus A320. That game nearly destroyed my family in the 1990's. :p
 
The actual handling of the aircraft isn't hard to get the hang of, especially in a PA28. Pretty much anyone who understands the physics of how the aircraft flies would be able to handle the normal manoeuvres, especially if they've played around on flightsim. Well done to your dad for taking all that on though, a lot of people are too nervous to take up the challenge :)

The hard parts are the more complex manouevres such as stalling, steep turns, the various types of approach (flapless, glide etc.), PFL's, EFATO's and of course trying to get a greaser of a landing on the aircrafts maximum demonstrated crosswind limit (or higher ;) ).

Is your dad planning to take up flying as a hobby?

Tru said:
My old man was convinced that, given the chance, he could pilot an Airbus A320.

If he has the dexterity in his fingers to twist a couple of knobs and push a couple of buttons he probably could! ;)
 
Scuzi said:
Is your dad planning to take up flying as a hobby?

Well, I think its the cost that is prohibitive really. I think he will just go back to the flight sim. But it did fire up some interest in me. I had a demo flight in a MycroLight a year or so back. I really enjoyed that and it seems to be a lot more affordable. So who knows.

Maybe I will get a the Sim first :)
 
Scuzi said:
If he has the dexterity in his fingers to twist a couple of knobs and push a couple of buttons he probably could! ;)

Haha, sounds like he could even take a few tinnies for the journey. :D
 
LOMAC is impossible, looks like i have no chance flying a jet! "left engine fire, right engine fire, eos failure, electronics failure....."
 
The actual flying isn't the problem, it's knowing what to do when things go wrong.

I've got just over 1000 hours experience flying an old DOS 744 simulator (clicky) where the emphasis is on aeroplane management, ie it's a full and incredibly accurate instrument and systems training simulator. I've flown a BS 744 simulator a couple of times now and the first time I got in it, I knew more than the instructor about the actual operation of the 744!

It was my knowledge of the aircraft through this simulator that's got me the jump seat for landing a couple of times when I've flown to and from the USA :D

However, no matter how much I knew about system failures and what to do with them, flying a PC based sim has nothing on doing it in the real plane or in a proper full motion simulator. It's all very well being able to land in a crosswind when sitting at home but doing with the full motion and sitting in a real (sim) flight deck is a lot more daunting and I only went slightly off the runway :D

Flying is great fun. I've not done anything for a few years and I really miss it and I'm sure your dad had a great time :)

K.
 
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