Flight Planning basic level

[Colonel]

I was lucky enough to grow up in an aviation family.

When I was young, I sure as fuck knew that I didn't know anything,
compared to my father and his friends, whom had survived. Really
scary shit that they had gone through. Many of their peers did not
make it. We had a powerful magnet from an F-104 radar that a friend
of my father's crashed and died in. Was handy for finding ferrous metal
in the grass. I think his name was Moose?

See, that's the thing. Whenever you're talking to an old pilot, you're
talking to a survivor that knows things you don't about staying alive.

Even if you don't like someone, you can sure learn a lot from them.

And that's the thing that's changed about kids today. All that matters
is whether you "like" someone or not, and how closely aligned your views
are to theirs. There is no room for dissension or learning, today, and
zero regard for potentially life-saving knowledge. All the young kids
know everything, so they don't need to learn anything.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Another difference between todays pilots and those who flew for a living decades ago is the paint by numbers method of training for airline flying,
how they operate airline category airplanes is generally speaking they are " one trick ponies " because they generally do not fly a lot of different aircraft.

When I was flying for a living we flew anything they wanted us to fly and switched between aircraft as needed, including flying fixed wing and rotary wing day after day.

Mind you we were programmed to think before doing it.

[Colonel]

I fly more types than almost anyone I know, and I don't use
checklists in any of them.

I ride many different motorcycles too, and I don't use checklists
on any of them, either.

Either you understand what you are doing, or you don't.

[anofly]

I am also getting old.(er?)
the field with the silo is Chatham ontario. They eventually got to an agreement and demolished it. The silo was not even at a barn, it was built after a pissing match about height restrictions and or selling land to expand the airport or similar. a rather expensive F U.
If you are going to do a long flight, make sure you are the one that fills the tanks. Line folks are notorious, in my experience, of not filling my tanks as much as I would.
Often my comanche is only filled to the bottom of the neck, and that leaves almost 10 gallons behind.
It is MY bad if I have not had a chat with them about what "full" or "topped" is.

[Colonel]

If the aircraft is not perfectly level - Cessnas are notorious for this -
the tanks may not be full. The 300/400 series will not make you popular
with line guys - you may have to ask them a couple times to top off.

In addition, many people have no idea what their burn rate is. What is
their RPM, really? How have they leaned the mixture? In a light single
you could burn 6 GPH or 12 GPH and not notice much difference.

The combination of starting low on fuel and then having no precise idea
of what your burn rate is, can lead to these problems.


I know exactly how much fuel I take off with, and I know exactly what
my fuel burn is, and after I level off, I know what my minimum ground
speed on the GPS is in cruise, to arrive with what I consider acceptable
reserve. If the headwinds are strong, and I don't make my minimum
groundspeed, time to divert to a closer alternate for the fuel stop.

Leading a formation of aircraft, this is not always a popular decision. I
might add that you need to confirm the fuel burn of the wing aircraft and
hope that their fuel totalizers are reasonably well calibrated.

[Liquid_Charlie]

First, I want to say that I have come across guys and girls from the "new" generation that get it, are good sticks and listen. It gives one a warm and fuzzy feeling when this happens.
I can remember back when Seneca college first started and almost all employers stayed away from grads like the plague. It was their "know it all" attitude and arrogance which turned people off. There were still a lot of small schools at the time turning out a good "product". Fast forward to present day and colleges are the majority now. When I first heard of a flight instructor being refereed to as a professor. The coffee stains are still on the wall

I can remember when I first started flying for a living, being a super cub driver, the ass kicking I would get from the mentors when they saw stupid. They also showed me a lot just to give me the proper skills to survive and it was all about surviving. I was like a sponge and I listened. Likely saved my ass on more than one occasion. We also learn from our mistakes and the ability to admit when we fuck up. This to me is where the present day of "it's not my fault" attitude that hamstrings a lot of people. Dependence on social media today says it all. We are losing our individualism and the ability to make a decision and stand by it.

[Colonel]

Knowledge is king. Anyone who thinks otherwise is roadkill.

Ran across this oldie but goodie which should make you nostalgic:

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I've started a DC3 that way using a skidoo.