Flight Forum

When I received the March issue of AOPA Flight Training, I immediately recognized the cover airport. The image brought me back to a warm summer day in northern California when my father and I were to fly a friend to Eureka. Our main concern was, as always, coastal fog. And, as usual, weather briefings hinted at the possibility of a noon reprieve.

Much to our dismay, fog rested thick along the coast, obscuring Eureka and neighboring communities. As I was detailing the unpleasant news to our passenger, my father suddenly remembered a quaint strip nestled atop a nearby hill. Sure enough, our charts revealed its identity as Kneeland. My father told me, "This is going to be a tough landing; it's a short one." This was an understatement - not only is it short, but it's also exposed to gusts of wind from every direction known to man.

Our decision was made. After checking a timid windsock I made a left downwind pattern entry for Runway 33. Looking down at the numbers from our vantage was interesting to say the least. Our landing took half of the strip, some sweat, and fear, but we got down safely.

Troy M. Bainbridge
Ashland, Oregon

Correcting Misconceptions

In the March edition of AOPA Flight Training, AOPA President Phil Boyer called upon us pilots to correct common misconceptions and reverse the stereotypes about GA. However, I was very dismayed to see that in the same issue Ralph Butcher is just as guilty as the nonflying public when it comes to holding stereotypical notions.

In "Insights: Problem Students," Butcher preaches to be "extremely cautious with foreign students" and suggests that foreigners are often not as mentally adept as Americans. He goes on to imply that foreigners may be more inclined to get into an accident due to sub-par levels of common sense, judgment, and awareness. Such ignorant and borderline xenophobic ideas are not becoming of Butcher or AOPA, the champion of the under-represented.

Students: Being American is not the secret ingredient that makes a human being into a superior flyer, nor does being a foreigner detract from common sense, the will to survive, and the ability to become a skilled pilot. Great pilots are made through the cooperation and hard work of the student and instructor. Instructors: Do not let the misconceptions as stated by Butcher destroy the global bond that aviation creates, and do not shy away from the properly documented foreigner eager to partake in the magic that we as pilots all share.

Christophe D. Matson
Essex, Connecticut

Butcher's comments about foreign students were in one paragraph of a page-long article on the larger subject of untrainable students. We regret that his opinions were misconstrued by some readers as applying to all foreign flight students. - Ed.

I have been a professional flight instructor for 12 years and an FAA designated pilot examiner for five. I have trained many people with various degrees of success, but in all that time I have met very few students who were incapable of learning to fly. If a motivated student only made marginal progress, we would discuss that and decide together whether the desire to fly warranted the extra money that the longer training time would cost.

I agree with Ralph Butcher's "Insights: Problem Students" except for this one very important issue: I don't think that it is ever appropriate for a new flight instructor to tell a student that he or she is not capable of learning to fly. The student should be referred to a more experienced instructor. An inexperienced instructor may not communicate equally well to all students. A different instructor's perspective or personality may make all the difference.

Carol Walker
Dallas, Texas

Taxiing Question

"Instructor Report: Does 'Cross' Mean 'Taxi On'?" (March AOPA Flight Training) questioned the practice of taxiing on an inactive runway when cleared to cross it. Inactive can only mean that there isn't currently a plane on a given runway. It doesn't say anything about someone choosing to land on it, intentionally or not.

I sometimes fly to Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which has intersecting runways. For some reason, quite often a pilot ends up landing on the wrong runway. I'd suggest that it's better to stay off runways as much as possible, just to avoid the possibility of a collision. After all, planes just taxi on taxiways, but they drive really fast on runways.

Shaun Breidbart
Pelham, New York

Erratum

"Final Exam" (March AOPA Flight Training) listed an in-correct answer to question 3. The correct answer is B.