Coms

Long trip

I really enjoyed Dave Hirschman’s account of the ferry flight from eastern Washington state to Maryland (“Transcontinental Flight Training,” January/February Flight Training)—and the hopeful lesson that politics needn’t deter us from working together to achieve a common goal.

Marc Beauchamp
Redding, California

I think Dave Hirschman might bemistaken in being skeptical about the utility of the trip for the student pilot. As he acknowledged, the trip clearly energized the owner and opened his eyes to the potential uses of the airplane. That alone would have made the trip worthwhile. I am a CFI myself, and too much of the training that is given, and mandated by Part 61, does very little to either stoke the student’s enthusiasm for flying or prepare them for the real-world use of the ticket once they pass the checkride. Indeed, too much of the training is frustrating, sometimes humiliating, and often seemingly abstract enough to appear to be an exercise in pointless rote learning.

On the other hand, this trip did both of those things for the Cub’s owner. It opened his eyes to the real reason we fly airplanes as well as exposing him to the real-world decision making that applies so much of the seemingly abstract aspects of the training syllabus: weather, performance, weight and balance, fuel consumption and availability, field requirements, route selection, altitude choices, and airspace considerations, to name a few. I don’t know how much of that he might have actually done himself, but even if he merely heard Hirschman discuss the decision making, saw how another pilot used the planning tools, and implemented the decisions reached is utterly invaluable. The fact that he only had a handful of landings is, I would argue, secondary to the acquisition of that ultimately far more valuable and difficult to attain experience.

Pete Lehmann
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Zen lessons

I am an older 1,500-hour pilot always looking to improve my flying. I have to say Dave Forster’s article “Zen Lessons” should be required for all pilots. I found the article helpful in all respects, but especially where students were introduced to an accelerated stall and its potential application to a base-to-final turn stall. I believe these lessons will make every pilot a more aware and safer pilot.

Robert Sanborn
Auburn, New Hampshire

Technique

Permit me to correct a misstatement by Ian J. Twombly in the January/February 2021 issue, in the article “Technique: Autorotations.”

Under “Spin Free,” Twombly describes “a sprag clutch that automatically disengages the engine from the drive system any time rotor rpm drops below engine rpm.” You won’t ever see such a “drop,” because rotor rpm is always well below engine rpm whenever the engine is driving the rotor. For the R22 depicted, main rotor rpm should be about 530 when engine rpm is 2,650.

I believe what he meant to say was that if the speed at which the engine would be driving the rotor is slower than the rotor is already turning, a free-wheeling device (which could be a sprag clutch, but might be another structure) will permit the rotor to keep spinning at the higher rate. It’s like pedaling very slowly while a bicycle is coasting quickly, so that you’re not providing the driving force to the wheels, but the wheels continue to turn. Perhaps one could say, “when engine percent rpm is below rotor percent rpm the free-wheeling unit will permit the rotor to continue spinning at the higher rate.”

I appreciate the effort to put the idea in simple terms, which obviously isn’t easy, but it didn’t come out quite right this time.

Jon Stark
Castle Pines, Colorado

Chilling adventures

I read Jill W. Tallman’s article “Chilling Adventures” (January/February 2021 Flight Training) and it was spot on. But I also want to mention that this applies year round, not just in the winter. I tell all of the people I fly with that they should dress as if they may need to walk home from the site of the off-field landing or crash. I always cringe when I see people wearing flip-flops and shorts. This goes for passengers as well. It can be a long walk home through woods. How many military pilots do you see dressed casually? They do it for a reason. Survival!

Larry Randall
Ruckersville, Virginia

Last flight

Kudos to Dave Hirschman for his fine column “Unusual Attitude: Last Flight” (March/April 2021 Flight Training). It takes courage and respect to tell a senior pilot it’s time to hang up the headset (at least as pilot in command). It’s a topic that usually gets avoided. At 79 I find myself thinking about when it’s time for my last flight.

Thanks to Hirschman for breaking the silence on a tough decision, which we all have to make at the right time.

Bill Gerhard
Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Erratum

“IFR Tip: Get Ready to Go nowhere” (March/April 2021 Flight Training)incorrectly described flying the inbound leg of a hold on the 90-degree radial as tracking the 270-degree radial to the station. Although one selects a 270-degree course on the CDI, the airplane is tracking the 90-degree radial. Flight Training regrets the error.

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