How Many Lockheed 12s were Airworthy Last Week?

[Slick Goodlin]

Call me optimist. Things can be learned.

[Colonel]

Not everything is taught in a week-long ground school and sim class, where knowledge is lovingly spoon fed like pureed baby food. People who check themselves out on new types are hated, envied, attacked and despised. They have precisely the anachronistic skills required to quickly learn to fly a challenging single-seat experimental aircraft before it kills them.

I have only been flying ornery airplanes for over half a century, so my lack of experience must be taken into account when reviewing my opinion on this subject.

I laugh at 21st century pilots, that think they (and by extension, everyone else) need lengthy ground school and dual flight instruction to fly a docile, certified aircraft. You could always just read the POH, as required by the CARs, then go fly it. See your CAR 405.22:

https://lois-laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/reg ... l#s-405.22

Aircraft Familiarization

405.22 No person shall conduct flight training in an aircraft unless the person is familiar with the flight characteristics, operating limitations and operational performance data specified in the aircraft flight manual or equivalent document.

I did that for decades. Read the POH/AFM of a type I had never flown, teach myself what I need to know about the systems, then jump into it and immediately give dual. Nobody else would, so I had to. Like tailwheel, Pitts, L39 and instrument instruction. It was either unavailable or abominably bad, so I had to do it.

I remember a 1000TT class 3 flight instructor that worked for me - flies for Air Canada now, of course - that wouldn't instruct on a Piper Cherokee after a fucking thousand hours in 172's. I am not making this up. Piper Cherokee was of course designed by Fred Weick as the easiest airplane in the sky to fly, but it was beyond the capabilites of a future four bar. I am not making this up.

You want to put that four bar into a Gee Bee?! He couldn't fly a fucking Piper Cherokee after 1000TT!

Want me to talk about the Pride of Air Canada™, Peter Martin, and the aircraft he wrecked after retiring? You want to put him into a Gee Bee Racer?!

[Slick Goodlin]

Not once did I say “week long course” or “just throw a four bar in and they’ll be okay.”

I said things can be learned. If it takes ten years and ten thousand hours, fine. If someone doesn’t want to put that effort in and instead does something else, also fine.

[Colonel]

Work ethic - character - is what gets stuff done. Genius is a dime a dozen.

Instant gratification is the name of the game today. Buy a Cirrus, push a button. Barf.

I have told people for many years that if you want to be a superb pilot, buy a $25,000 Pitts S1 and fly 100 hours of aerobatics (that's 300 surface acro flights a year, of 0.3 each) a year for 10 years. After 1000 hours of Pitts acro and ten years of hard work you are going to find everything else pretty easy to fly.

Above describes Delmar and very few others. Sean Tucker, Rob Holland, Skip Stewart are in that very exclusive group.



How many Canadian four bars are up for that, after a lifetime in the cockpit? Zero.

Choices. We all make them, and they have consequences. And it's not about the money, which is the excuse people like to trot out. It's about the laziness. People who have the work ethic of an Alaskan sled dog rarely whine about how unfair their life is.

[Slick Goodlin]

How many Canadian four bars are up for that, after a lifetime in the cockpit? Zero.

I know a few who are now long retired but lived that life. I would but my dream S1 is a little more sedate.

[David MacRay]

Settle down. You both make good points. As most likely the weakest pilot that hangs around here, after some significant flying to work my way up to it, I could probably survive flying a Gee Bee replica. Yet almost certainly won’t do it.

[Slick Goodlin]

after some significant flying to work my way up to it, I could probably survive flying a Gee Bee replica.

That’s the spirit!

Yet almost certainly won’t do it.

Booooooooo!

[Colonel]

I could probably survive flying a Gee Bee replica

Please don't try. It gets tiring, watching people around me die.

Get yourself a Pitts S1 and fly the snot out of it for 10 years. Make an offer on Neil's. I used to see 3300 RPM on the downlines, sounds great, your neighbors are gonna love you.

Peter Martin, The Pride Of Air Canada™ after a lifetime of four bar glory in the cockpit tried to land a M4-220C. Once. Destroyed it. Never flew again. Good job, Air Canada!

Do recall that a Maule is much easier to land than a Pitts which is much easier to land than a Gee Bee Racer.

Then two other Air Canada retired Gods tried to fly a C421. In less than 100 hours, they had spun the bearings so bad in the GTSIO-520's that the clamshells were trashed. Good job, four bars!

The finest pilots in Canada can't fly a taildragger or a piston twin. Hm.

Dan Gryder was a four bar at Delta and doesn't think that locking the tailwheel before landing is important in a multi-engine piston taildragger (12A, Beech 18, etc) with obviously GREAT results.

The weakest pilot I ever issued an L39 type rating to, was a retired AC four bar.

[Slick Goodlin]

The weakest pilot I ever issued an L39 type rating to, was a retired AC four bar.

…but hedid get his type rating signed off.

[David MacRay]

Don’t worry. At the risk of getting booed,

…again.

I will have to admit it is extremely likely I won’t even fly a Pitts S1. I definitely would never try a plane built to the original specifications of the old GeeBee racers.

I would like to fly a Scout or possibly a Husky.

Most likely I would return to flying a mighty C-172. I don’t like yokes but they are the easiest planes for me to get access to since there are still a couple of FTUs here with them.