Scudrunners

Those who want to better themselves are volks to talk about there (i.e. for "better pilot"), certainly not if broken by the experience or no inclination to get back on the horse ...

As the Colonel has indicated the TC guys for the most part don't get it. I remember for some reason the company I was working for opened their doors to a TC run "safety" seminar. About 5 minutes into the presentation it became obvious this was a private pilot thing. Here is a guy preaching in front of a group of airline pilots at a private pilot level. It was just plain stupid and he didn't get it at all, although when he made a reference that a B72 captain was incapable of flipping between that and a beaver on floates I had him. I put up my hand and told him I just happened to do it all the time. It went down hill from there and it was cut short and we all had bad attitudes. Unbelievable

To an original question:
[quote author=Strega link=topic=3184.msg8969#msg8969 date=1464394819]Does joining the bent metal club make you a "better" pilot?[/quote]
Once IN the club it's also a new perspective on aviation, since no turning back / resetting the clock. A person quitting smoking still interacts with friends that do despite being a student of a new smoke-free club; similarly joining "bent metal" brings av discussion not considered before, or maybe never engaged-in by mere personal preference.

e.g. An engine quits over my house off 06 and returns hard onto grass just inside the airport perimeter fence. One short article and photo in the paper and a neutral cadors yet never a cause nor update given despite minor injury. In WX history that date/time shows ultimate bullseye for carb ice. IMO admitting/owning-up is the "better pilot", the good opportunity to mentor newbies / pilots (which was us once) esp if already in the view of a training center.

Somebody should lend me an airplane. Get some go-pro cameras. I'll go flying and film it.

Then we get pdw to critique the flights while drawing the wx and stuff on a white board.

It would be epic.

Any pilot should be able to jump from one type to another. It might not be pretty initially but the basics are all the same. Guys fly heavy metal for a job and maybe that's all that interests them so why would they want to fly a 172 but I have met my share of "aeroplane geeks" that fly for a living and own a small aircraft. I think the TC attitude and for anyone else for that matter who believes that joe airline pilot can't walk out and climb into a small aircraft is very mistaken. Unless the guy had no skills in the first place and relies on automatics(which is a direction that has a few concerned) flying a 74 or a J3 is still using the same basic skills.

[quote]Any [b]good[/b] pilot should be able to jump from one type to another[/quote]

I would honestly rate that percentage amongst
today's pilots as perhaps 5%.

Back in the day, pilots flew lots of different types -
but not any more.  It's a skill that's fading fast
from the pilot pool, like tailwheel ability.

I might opine the two are related, in that both
have a strong correlation with an "anti-authority"
attitude.  You know, a pilot that thinks instead
of just blindly doing what he is told.

[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=3184.msg9570#msg9570 date=1466561815]
I would honestly rate that percentage amongst today's pilots as perhaps 5%.[/quote]
Sweet, I'm finally a minority!  I wonder if I can parlay that into some kind of tax break or grant...

[quote author=David MacRay link=topic=3184.msg9560#msg9560 date=1466533257]
Somebody should lend me an airplane. Get some go-pro cameras. I'll go flying and film it.

Then we get pdw to critique the flights while drawing the wx and stuff on a white board.

It would be epic.
[/quote]


Yeah it would be except that wx profile already exists, and wouldn't be easy to anticipate the day/hour on that strip where the same wx applies which is almost never. Not impossible though ...