Why?

[Colonel]

I think it would do a world of good if a horse owned you!

[HiFlyChick]

By the way if I were to have the choice of one airplane for a fun toy it would be a Stearman with the six hundred H.P. P&W in it.

I got to fly in a Stearman once years ago in Vermont.  There was a little grass strip that my husband and I had flown into in a C172 and pitched a tent under the wing.  A guy was offering sight-seeing tours in a Stearman, to which  thought, "Sight-seeing - what a waste!"  So I made a booking to go up with him and requested we do aerobatics instead.  Sadly, that's where things went awry....

The weather was bad in the morning, and was forecast to stay bad all day so he cancelled the flight - "No flying today!".  Being as disappointed as I was, I decided to drown my sorrows in a bag of oreos (can you guess where this is heading?)

Suddenly, the weather cleared unexpectedly, stayed clear, and he suggested we go up after all.  He proceeded to do loops and rolls with me giggling like a lunatic - so awesome!!  Of course, when you eat most of a bag of oreos and little else all day, the time will come when you must pay the piper.  So I gave him the signal (no intercom, so I waved my barf bag over my head) and that was that.  Gives new meaning to the term "woof your cookies"

My husband felt bad for me, but I told him not to worry - it was so much fun I would've done it again in a heartbeat, barfing and all

[Chuck Ellsworth]

There is something really " airplane " about the Stearman H.FC. and few people who have seen and had a ride in one ever forget it.

And you are correct about me forming my opinions by remembering a long ago era of flying, for me crop dusting was the ultimate and the Stearman was the ultimate crop duster. The company I worked for had four of them.

I guess most if not all of the people who I worked with and flew with are gone now because it was fifty five years ago.

Same for helicopters, I still look back at the Hughes 300 as my favorite because it was my first crop spraying rotary wing machine...helicopters are like airplanes the bigger they are the easier they are to fly.

I found the big jets to be about as exciting as watching grass grow.

[Colonel]

[quote]the world just used to be more prone to killing pilots who were bad[/quote]

Ah, the "good old days"  :))

Personally, I despite nosewheel trainers.  While
they are excellent rental aircraft, they are horrible
ab initio trainers because they are so tolerant of
really awful aircraft handling.

And if that's the only aircraft the instructor has
ever flown, the cycle is complete - stick and
rudder skills are gone from the pilot population.

I have mentioned before that I strongly think
that everyone should do their first 10 hours
(and solo) in a little tailwheel aircraft, and
only then move to a nosewheel aircraft.

That's how I teach, anyways.

I do realize that I live in a very weird and
unrealistic corner of aviation.

[Eric Janson]

Civility aside - are the observations accurate?

Have stick & rudder skills deteriorated over
the decades?

From the perspective of the Airline world there is no question that this is the case. It's a known issue.

A quick review of all the recent accidents show a disturbing trend where Pilots are unable to correctly fly their aircraft.

Unfortunately the Airlines want the minimum amount of training. They also want more automation.

There are plenty of Airlines that won't allow a visual approach to be flown or auto thrust to be turned off.

I've worked for an Asian Airline where most Captains wouldn't let the F/O fly (autopilot had to be turned on at 100'). Since F/O's would fly for years without getting any real handling experience the failure rate on the Command course was over 50%.

Crosswind landings were another mystery - I don't blame the F/O's. Nobody had ever taught them.

I used to hear stories about Captains refusing to fly to Europe if "a single flake of snow falls". I thought this was just a story until I was at the the training department one day and the Captain standing in front of me said those exact words!

Depending on the operation currency is also a real problem in the Airline World.

I've done 3 landings in the actual aircraft so far this year. If I'm lucky I may get 6 landings total this year. I've even had to go the Simulator to do take-offs and landings to keep my 90 day currency.

[Colonel]

If I'm lucky I may get 6 landings total this year

My sympathies.  Mind-boggling.  I guess it's
amazing that people fly as well as they do,
in that kind of operation.

I hand-fly over a thousand landings a year,
and have done so for many years.  I can't
imagine doing otherwise.

A friend of mine, flies an A320 for AC, has
a Pitts S-2C.  Says it keeps him sharp.

Captains refusing to fly to Europe if "a single flake of snow falls"

I can't imagine not flying for half of the year!





No cabin heat!  My grandfather and his brother
flew open cockpit biplanes in the winter in WWI
in Europe, so flying with a canopy is a luxury.

During the winter every frozen lake is a potential
runway!  What we do on the weekend around here: