Coms

The best co-pilots

Our furry friends

I Was just reading Jill W. Tallman’s column in the latest edition of Flight Training (“Around the Patch: Take Me Flying”) at the table while eating lunch and apparently Murphy wanted to emphasize your point (see below)!

Thank you for an excellent magazine. I am a private pilot certificated two years ago today and the articles were instrumental in supplementing my training. I still devour Flight Training cover to cover every month!

Jim Sullivan
Groton, Massachusetts

Since you asked, I’m sharing my story of flying with my cat, Stormy. I had just gotten my pilot’s license and asked two fellow students to fly with me to Bimini, Bahamas, in my Cessna 172. My husband was already in Bimini and he asked me to bring our cat. While taxiing, Stormy got out of his crate and was walking around the airplane. I had visions of him getting stuck under the rudder, so I asked one of my passengers to please get the cat and put him back in his cage. He looked at me like I had a third eye, and froze. I repeated that someone had to get the cat before I would take off. They didn’t or couldn’t, so I turned around and put the airplane in our hangar, a bit shaken up. We did go the next day without Stormy and I had a clearer head. I was already somewhat nervous about flying over water, and as a perfectionist the cat roaming around was the topper.

Since then I got a small dog who loves to fly; she goes everywhere with us. We had to fly Stormy again this past year to evacuate for hurricane Irma. We had two cats competing for the loudest, longest meows during takeoff and landing. Our dog, Yoda, just laughed at them.

I enjoyed Jill W. Tallman’s article about flying with her dogs.

Juliet Michael
Pompano Beach, Florida

So good to hear about other pet-friendly flyers! For us, taking our “furry passengers” was not an afterthought, but one of the motivations for getting my license. Let me explain: We like to include our two dogs (a Scottie, and a Labrasomething) in all our vacations. But if we want to fly commercial, the Scottie can fly in-cabin, but the Lab is too big and must fly in cargo—something that frightens her for days. So the natural solution was to fly our own “dog friendly” airplane. Now we all fly together.

Malcolm Jack
Monterey, California

Always learning

I’d love to share my appreciation with the writers of Flight Training magazine for being so open to share their faults in the articles. As a low-hour pilot, it’s easy to believe that you are the only one who makes mistakes. Reading your magazine always leaves me believing that I am going in the right direction and that I should never stop learning. If high-hour pilots like your writers still make errors, then it’s paramount that I never, ever get complacent. Hence, I always read the short and powerful articles in Flight Training. It is exactly what I need. I even got my son to read them and he is close to his checkride! Many thanks to your writers for being open and honest!

Mark Ramsey
Charlotte, North Carolina

Taking wing

I am writing to you at aopa to express my enjoyment of Greg Brown’s column, in the March 2018 Flight Training magazine (“Flying Carpet: Cloud Wings”). As a pilot currently working toward my instrument rating, I found Greg’s article interesting, informative, and most important, pertinent. He managed to capture the evolution of IFR flying and the availability of navaids, or lack thereof, and presented this progress in a captivating, engaging style. It’s tough to describe technological advancements and still keep it engrossing!

I enjoyed Greg’s comparison of various navigational systems, some no longer in use, and—because of his concise descriptive style—I suddenly had a very clear mental image of some of these antiquated systems. Instrument training is tough, but after reading this article and learning just how far pilot resources have evolved—if earlier pilots could do it, well, so can I! Bravo AOPA!

Donna Wood
Levering, Michigan

Float basics

In the March 2018 Flight Training page 30, paragraph 5 in the article on water takeoffs it says “usually the left float” is lifted out of the water. With clockwise-turning-engine aircraft (Cessnas, Pipers, and the like) this is only true in a left crosswind condition. Normally in a no-wind, headwind, or right crosswind the right float is lifted to reduce drag. This is due to P factor helping to lift the right float.

Jeff Faught
Bismarck, North Dakota