I remember a fatal accident report. The pilot had recently upgraded from a four-seat airplane to a six-seat airplane, and the accident had occurred during the first few hours in the new aircraft. It was enough to take me back to the days when I sold Piper airplanes.
Selling airplanes involves flying with a variety of customers who usually are not familiar with the airplane in question (one exception was when race car driver Bobby Allison bought an Aerostar. He had more than 10,000 hours in Aerostars, if I remember correctly, and that may have been more than any other pilot in the world).
I developed two theories on that job, and firmly believe them both to this day.
Theory number 1. No matter how vast the pilot’s experience, always watch closely when he or she is transitioning to a different airplane. Some pilots are highly experienced in their own airplane but they can scare you to death in an airplane that is different. The sales pilot should be ready to take over the controls quickly.
I learned this dramatically when demonstrating a Piper Arrow to a pilot who had been flying a Piper Comanche for years. I was fairly new on the job at the time. The Comanche was a faster, more powerful airplane than the Arrow, so I assumed that if he could handle a Comanche he could easily handle an Arrow. He was indeed an experienced and capable pilot, but when a crosswind tried to push the Arrow sideways, he reacted by applying the controls exactly as he would have in the Comanche.
We dang near landed astraddle the edge of the runway, and he just sort of sat there in amazement. I was shocked that it took longer than it should have before I firewalled the throttle and flew out of there. When I explained this to my boss, he gave me a serious talk, saying that I was always the PIC on a demo and my first job—even more important than company profit and my commission—was to operate safely. I never forgot it.
Theory number 2. Every transitioning pilot should receive a very complete checkout in the new aircraft, including ground school. Checkout and training should be included in the price of the airplane. This checkout should not be done by the person selling the airplane, but by a CFI who is not involved in the sale. This is partly a matter of liability, but primarily a matter of ethics. The salesperson is just too involved with the customer to give a good checkout.
Moving from a four-place to a six-place airplane requires particularly thorough training. A six-place airplane is really several different airplanes, depending on the amount of weight onboard and the positioning of that weight. I learned that with the Piper Cherokee Six, a great airplane. Like other six-seaters, it was a stud horse when lightly loaded; with a heavy load, however, it was not so sprightly and needed to be handled differently. With a light or heavy load near the aft CG, it became another airplane entirely. This was exactly why some insurers wanted the checkout to include operations at maximum gross weight.
Transition training is an interesting break from routine flight training, but very serious. Keep the standards high and complete. To the best of my knowledge, no one has been killed in an airplane I sold. That’s a great feeling.
Ralph Hood, an aviation speaker and writer, has been flying since 1971 and has more than 3,000 hours of flight time. He is a multiengine commercial pilot with an instrument rating. Visit his Web site.
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