Real pilots don't autopilot

id rather spend the money flying…

Remember it’s possible to be paid, quite handsomely too, to fly airplanes. No need to spend your own money. 🙂

No family for me, id rather spend the money flying but point taken, im sure it’s what you live for. Myslef im a c150 man, low and slow wanting to teach students, and well let’s just make sure I do it all just after my 18th. (16, at Mo, solo student; on NAV.)
Regards

R.weaver

Safe legal flying

Great post WD. 😉

I remember when I was flying around in a C152, no money in the bank, crap car in the car park, living with the parents and no holidays.

Now flying the 747-400…Company have bought me a 3 story brand new house, sports car in the car park, nice pay check every month, 5 holidays a year, live in maid, stocks and shares and the list can go on and on…..

R Weaver, you sir can keep you microlight and C152 flying mate. 😉 but as WD has written, both are fun and both can get boring. But there will come a time when you want a house, a car and a family etc and you have to provide for them.

There must be a few pilots out there who are rather envious .

This brief thread reminds me of a story I’ve heard told a few times over the years:

A young man walking pass a small airport looks up and sees a bright yellow J-3 Cub struggling with the gusting winds on approach and thinks to himself, “Now that’s some real flying there, I wish I was doing that.”

He works hard and puts aside some money and starts taking lessons in that very same J-3 Cub he saw the previous summer. Soon he’s a licensed pilot flying regularly out of that small airport. Everytime he’s at that airport though he sees the small band of flight instructors as they tell stories of flying and are continually flying new/different airplanes. “Now that’s some real flying, there, I wish I was doing that. Someone would be paying me to fly!”

After a year or two that same man was fully rated and found himself as a flight instructor at the same small airport. Now he was the one sharing the stories of bad students and great flights with others. He was the one flying a multitude of different GA airplanes. The money was enough to live but that was about it. One day a small twin engine airplane arrived carrying cargo. The pilot of that airplane unloaded his packages and was quickly on his way. “Now that’s some real flying, I wish I was doing that. No more awful students or getting bounced around in the afternoon thermals, plus the pay would be better!”

After logging a few hundred more hours he found himself the pilot of a twin engine aircraft flying boxes and people across the region. It was long days and even longer nights of fighting winds and weather. The pay was a bit better but what extra money he had he wasn’t home to either spend it or enjoy it. One day he was sitting at an airport far from home waiting for his passengers to show up when a large turboprop airliner taxied past. He watched as the bags were unloaded by the rampers and gate agents aided in the deplaning and embarking of the passengers. The co-pilot made a quick walk around of the airplane and they were back on their way. “Now there’s some real flying, I wish I was doing that. No more waiting for passengers for hours on end. No more working at all hours for days on end. No more getting bounced around in the weather, you could climb above it, plus the pay would be better.”

Years later that same man, a bit older now, found himself as a captain of a similar turboprop airliner. Sure he could get higher than he could before but the tops of the weather always seemed to be a bit out of reach. The schedule was better but he was sleeping in hotels in small rural towns. The pay was better but it didn’t seem worth the amount of work it took or the time away from home. Manuveuring his airplane around an airport took him near a large jet airliner. “Now there’s some real flying! No more of these small towns or low altitudes. It would be only be state of the art equipment and distant, exotic destinations. Man the pay would be outstanding. I wish I was doing that!”

After years of hard work that same man, quite a bit older now, found himself as a captain of that same large jet airliner he had seen so many years ago. Sure enough, he had the most state of the art equipment at his figure tips, the overnights were in exotic locations and the pay wasn’t bad either. He was at the acme of his profession and his career, all the hard work had paid off. One day while while waiting on the taxiway for traffic to clear he noticed a strange visitor to this airport making it’s way towards landing. Ahead he saw a small yellow J-3 Cub fighting the winds as it approached the runway. Quickly that senior jet captain tapped his co-pilot on the shoulder and pointed out the J-3 Cub on approach. “You see that there? Now there’s some real flying! None of this fancy equipment, just a simple machine to navigate by sight across the land. I wish I was doing that!”

I probably didn’t do the story justice but you get the idea.

I always auto-pilot… (~besides t/o and landings/ and taxiing)

does that make me a fake?

Shaun

@R.Weaver:

Judging from your other posts it would seem that you have never, ever been at the controls of an airliner and that you only have very limited practical flying experience. So what in your opinion entitles you to judge what is real flying and what is not?

EXCELLENT PIECE OF WRITING!!!

Well Done!

five gold stars from me also. Things like that really encourage me to do well at school so I can become an airline piot like you!

Nice post WD , very eloquent 😉 . There must be a few pilots out there who are rather envious . I’ve flown Micros ( weightshifts ) since 1990 and I would swap you any day !!!

Each have their pluses and minuses but what your seeing as a negative in airline flying (hours at cruise) is no different in smaller aircraft. I’ve done 3.5 hours in a C172 and 3.5 hours in a jet. It gets just as boring after a while no matter what altitude or speed you are at. I have to agree that the simplicity of flying a small airplane from point A to B is fun. Heck its fun just flying from Point A back to Point A. But that same thrill is there at all levels of aviation.

Even more real flying….

Through 12,000′ MSL, 320 knots the airplane is decending at 2000 fpm to eventually level off at 10,000′ MSL. ATC gives a futher decent clearance to 7000′ and asks to call the field in sight. You’re now 70 knots too fast to decend below 10,000′ so off goes the autopilot and out come the spoilers while keeping an eye outside looking for the airport. You find it at 2:00 and only a few miles ahead. Your co-pilot lets ATC know that you’ve spotted the airport and you’re then cleared to land.

IAS is finally below 250 knots so the spoilers are stowed and the decent continues. You call for the approapriate decent checklists and your co-pilot is busy getting the airplane and crew ready. Now slowed to 220 knots you’ve already passed the airport but there is still 5000′ left to lose. At over 3 miles a minute you don’t have much time to decide how to set up. The call for flaps goes out and the co-pilot selects them. ATC asks if you can keep it in “tight” to allow for another aircraft to join the final behind you. “Sure thing.”

Down goes the gear and the turn to base is started. The decent is increased to 2500 fpm but the airspeed is still at 210 knots. That works for now but as you roll out on final on glideslope you’re carrying too much speed. You pitch up to bleed off the airspeed because the sleek lines of a jet don’t give much drag. As the airspeed starts to fall you can bring down more flaps but you still have another 40 knots to lose to get the final flaps down. Descending at 500 fpm now through 1500 AGL the speed is just about there. As you pass through 145 knots you call for the last flaps to be lowered and landing checklists to be run. You lower the nose to get back on the visual glideslope and settle at a final approach speed of 130 knots.

Over the fence you slow those last few knots. As you get into the flare the thrust levers are brought to idle and attempt to settle the aircraft down smoothly. Oops, not today. Out come the thrust reversers and you start applying the brakes to slow the aircraft down to a taxi speed.

In about 5 minutes you’ve taken 10’s if not 100’s of tons of aircraft from 2 miles up, traveling at 6 miles a minute to safely sitting on the ground moving at slower speeds than cars on the road. Not only is it fun but it’s very rewarding. There is a lot of fun and rewarding aspects to GA flying as well.

Man,…. brilliant post! 5 gold stars for that one!

That is why I’m burning to get a pilots licence!

Each have their pluses and minuses but what your seeing as a negative in airline flying (hours at cruise) is no different in smaller aircraft. I’ve done 3.5 hours in a C172 and 3.5 hours in a jet. It gets just as boring after a while no matter what altitude or speed you are at. I have to agree that the simplicity of flying a small airplane from point A to B is fun. Heck its fun just flying from Point A back to Point A. But that same thrill is there at all levels of aviation.

Even more real flying….

Through 12,000′ MSL, 320 knots the airplane is decending at 2000 fpm to eventually level off at 10,000′ MSL. ATC gives a futher decent clearance to 7000′ and asks to call the field in sight. You’re now 70 knots too fast to decend below 10,000′ so off goes the autopilot and out come the spoilers while keeping an eye outside looking for the airport. You find it at 2:00 and only a few miles ahead. Your co-pilot lets ATC know that you’ve spotted the airport and you’re then cleared to land.

IAS is finally below 250 knots so the spoilers are stowed and the decent continues. You call for the approapriate decent checklists and your co-pilot is busy getting the airplane and crew ready. Now slowed to 220 knots you’ve already passed the airport but there is still 5000′ left to lose. At over 3 miles a minute you don’t have much time to decide how to set up. The call for flaps goes out and the co-pilot selects them. ATC asks if you can keep it in “tight” to allow for another aircraft to join the final behind you. “Sure thing.”

Down goes the gear and the turn to base is started. The decent is increased to 2500 fpm but the airspeed is still at 210 knots. That works for now but as you roll out on final on glideslope you’re carrying too much speed. You pitch up to bleed off the airspeed because the sleek lines of a jet don’t give much drag. As the airspeed starts to fall you can bring down more flaps but you still have another 40 knots to lose to get the final flaps down. Descending at 500 fpm now through 1500 AGL the speed is just about there. As you pass through 145 knots you call for the last flaps to be lowered and landing checklists to be run. You lower the nose to get back on the visual glideslope and settle at a final approach speed of 130 knots.

Over the fence you slow those last few knots. As you get into the flare the thrust levers are brought to idle and attempt to settle the aircraft down smoothly. Oops, not today. Out come the thrust reversers and you start applying the brakes to slow the aircraft down to a taxi speed.

In about 5 minutes you’ve taken 10’s if not 100’s of tons of aircraft from 2 miles up, traveling at 6 miles a minute to safely sitting on the ground moving at slower speeds than cars on the road. Not only is it fun but it’s very rewarding. There is a lot of fun and rewarding aspects to GA flying as well.