Letters

Once I was flying to a jobsite. I always wear a pair of leather flat-soled shoes for flying and change into my Vibram Soled steel-toed Lineman Boots once I land. For some reason on the way home I did not change. I was flying a Beech Duchess while landing at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio. Everything seemed normal. I made a darn good landing hitting the numbers exactly on the centerline.

The heels on the boots are close to an inch higher than my street shoes, and I inadvertently put pressure on the lower rudder pedals engaging the brakes prior to landing. I had a little more pressure on the right brake as evidenced by the solid black line from touchdown to the point where the tire blew about 1,000 feet down runway. The Beech Duchess can’t be towed with a flat tire, the landing gear will fold up; I landed at 5:15 p.m. all the mechanics had left at 5 and I had shut down the main runway.

I got quite a few comments on my “straight line” by landing pilots on the alternate strip. By 6:30 p.m. we had a spare tire on the airplane and moved off the runway.
Douglas L. Sayre
Cincinnati, Ohio

I’ve worn Skechers Citywalk shoes for years flying my taildragger. They are sturdy but fit like gloves for tight cockpits.
Mike Moore
Liberty Lake, Washington

I can tell none of you have been bush pilots. Never wear any footwear you can’t walk out of the mountains in. Flip flops indeed.
Chuck Leathers
Silverthorne, Colorado

VFR is not always VFR

Thanks for JP Dice’s article highlighting smoke hazards and the forecast tools available to predict where and when those hazards will occur (“VFR is not always VFR,” November 2023 AOPA Pilot).

I think it’s important for people to recognize the limitations of these tools. The models are able to detect the current distribution of particulates in the atmosphere and project where they will be at some time in the future. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe they do not forecast the generation of
new particulates.

In the case of controlled burns he experienced in Georgia, they can tell you where that smoke is going and when it will dissipate. But they cannot account for the further generation of smoke. There is no way for the models to know if the burns are going to continue or not. They assume they are not, and only
project what will happen to the smoke already in the air.

This limitation became particularly significant while flying in the western United States during a recent spate of forest fires. The models kept showing the smoke dissipating in a couple days, but it continued to get worse and worse for several weeks.
Mike Koerner
Palos Verdes, California

Airspeed Myths

I really enjoyed Catherine Cavagnaro’s article “Airspeed Myths” (November 2023 AOPA Pilot). In the course of my 30 years of private general aviation flying I have heard, read, and regurgitated those airspeed definitions countless times, but her contextual examples of their application were far more thought provoking and useful than anything else I’ve encountered on the subject.

One of the things I find influential in my own decision-making is knowing what the best professionals in a particular field do for themselves. So, for example, when a majority of leading cardiac surgeons personally chose to take statins or an aviation professional reveals the techniques, airspeeds, and altitudes they chose to fly their own aircraft and why, I take notice. Please keep the applied experience instruction and the insight into personal flying habits/decisions (and the math) coming!
Demetri Capetanopoulos
Upper Arlington, Ohio

The service Mike got in Sioux Falls, South Dakota ("Miracle in Sioux Falls") by Mike Busch, October 2023 AOPA Pilot) is simple South Dakota hospitality. Most people in South Dakota will be helpful to almost anyone in crisis. We are a state of friendly people. Land here again some time!
Rolf Kraft, Martin, South Dakota

Risk Management

Barry Schiff’s article “Risk Management” (November 2023 AOPA Pilot) was an excellent analysis of how we do and how we should evaluate risk in our aviation and personal life.

One way to mitigate risk is simply through “backup.” Children in day camps are told to do everything with a partner. In scuba diving we have a secondary regulator on our buoyancy control device and dive under the “buddy system.” In aviation we have dual radios and navigation systems, and even handheld radios.

But it is impossible to alleviate all risk. Once the wheels leave the runway, the only way we survive is through the skills we’ve acquired.

And once we’ve landed, we can’t wait to get “backup.” One exception: My wife tells me it is not acceptable to have a “backup” in marriage!
Bob Paszczyk
Tinley Park, Illinois

What Makes a Good PIC

I liked Natalie Bingham Hoover’s article “What Makes A Good PIC” (November 2023 AOPA Pilot). She made some very good points. However, I feel differently about techniques and advice. I’ve been an instructor or evaluator since 1979 in the U.S. Air Force, the airlines, in warbirds, and now in business jets.

My chief pilot is also very experienced with airline and simulator experience. There are sometimes more than one way to perform a particular maneuver and usually there’s a best way. As an example, stabilized approaches are enhanced by minimizing throttle movement. I teach to use a particular throttle position and configure at specific points during the approach prior to the glidepath or final descent. It works very well. My SIC is free to do what he/she wants but at least they get to see an effective technique when I’m flying. My other issue is about giving advice. Many times an SIC doesn’t know what they don’t know. As I deal with changing situations, i.e., weather, services, malfunctions, et cetera, I try to verbalize my decision-making process so they can learn what factors need to be considered. We’ve sent a few SICs to the airlines and each of them has communicated back to us that what we taught them made the transition easier.
Richard Hess
Cartersville, Georgia

Test Pilot

The Convair F2Y Sea Dart was also equipped with water skis, perhaps the only supersonic seaplane (“Test Pilot,” November 2023 AOPA Pilot). One sits (or at least, used to sit) in front of the San Diego Aviation Museum. My father told me about hearing its testing in San Diego Bay in the early 1950s while he was assigned to Marine Corps Recruit Depot.
Matt Person
Denton, Nebraska

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