jrh
Well-Known Member
Had an interesting experience last week that I thought I'd share. I've been teaching for close to six years and never had anything quite this strange yet...
A gentleman called in to our office and asked to schedule a flight review with me. He's 72 years old, holds a private pilot certificate with instrument rating, owns a Cherokee 140 based at a nearby airport, has been flying since the mid-1980s, and said he has about 3500 hours.
When we met for the review, I opened by talking about what the regulation requires of a flight review and said that even though I needed to make sure he was a safe private pilot, the training was just as much for him as it was for me. If he wanted to work on anything in particular, I'd make sure to incorporate it in to the flight or ground training.
He didn't have anything in mind, so I started by suggesting we practice some simulated engine failures since he probably hadn't done those in a while. No problem.
Next, I suggested we do some crosswind landings. No problem.
Finally, I said, "While we're out in the practice area, let's do a few power off and power on stalls to make sure you're staying sharp with stall recovery procedures."
Immediately he informed me that he doesn't do stalls. Period. To clarify, he told me he would do an approach to a stall, followed by a recovery, but wouldn't do a full stall.
When I asked him why he felt so strongly about this, he emphatically told me that every other instructor he'd flown with had drilled in to him that he could fly 3 knots above a stall, but to never, ever, stall a plane.
I told him I agreed with him in principle, but what about for the sake of training? We'd be at a safe altitude, plenty of time to recover, etc.
He seemed to get more irritated and reiterated that he wouldn't do a stall. When I asked him why he wouldn't even do them for training, he said he didn't even want to be exposed to stalls, so that he wouldn't accidentally stall the plane if he was under pressure and his mind flashed to doing a stall during our flight, thus causing him to put the control inputs in that would cause a stall.
I asked him about the possibility of making a mistake and stalling the plane regardless of what he'd done in training.
He reminded me that he had 3500 hours and had lasted this long without stalling.
I reminded him that flight reviews aren't about how many hours a person has, but about demonstrating proficiency for the certificate they hold.
By this point I could see I wasn't getting anywhere and wasn't interested in having my signature on this pilot's review.
I explained that from my perspective as an instructor, my signing him off for a flight review was essentially the same as saying that if I sent him for a private pilot checkride, he'd have no trouble passing. If we don't do a full stall during the review, I'd have no way of verifying he could handle stalls safely. Then I asked him, if he were to take a private pilot checkride tomorrow, how he would explain to the examiner his policy of NEVER doing stalls? How would he complete the checkride without this maneuver?
There was a long, silent pause. Then he basically told me the same things he'd said all along up to this point.
I said, "Well, for me to be willing to sign a pilot off for a flight review, I'd only be able to say it's complete after doing at least one or two full stalls. If that's not going to work for you, and you'd rather use a different instructor, I understand. No hard feelings. I'm not saying you're a bad pilot or anything, I just wouldn't be able to sign off on a flight review."
He thought for a minute, said, "Ok, I guess we're done then," shook my hand, and walked out the door.
Made for a good story when I was training a CFI applicant later that afternoon.
A gentleman called in to our office and asked to schedule a flight review with me. He's 72 years old, holds a private pilot certificate with instrument rating, owns a Cherokee 140 based at a nearby airport, has been flying since the mid-1980s, and said he has about 3500 hours.
When we met for the review, I opened by talking about what the regulation requires of a flight review and said that even though I needed to make sure he was a safe private pilot, the training was just as much for him as it was for me. If he wanted to work on anything in particular, I'd make sure to incorporate it in to the flight or ground training.
He didn't have anything in mind, so I started by suggesting we practice some simulated engine failures since he probably hadn't done those in a while. No problem.
Next, I suggested we do some crosswind landings. No problem.
Finally, I said, "While we're out in the practice area, let's do a few power off and power on stalls to make sure you're staying sharp with stall recovery procedures."
Immediately he informed me that he doesn't do stalls. Period. To clarify, he told me he would do an approach to a stall, followed by a recovery, but wouldn't do a full stall.
When I asked him why he felt so strongly about this, he emphatically told me that every other instructor he'd flown with had drilled in to him that he could fly 3 knots above a stall, but to never, ever, stall a plane.
I told him I agreed with him in principle, but what about for the sake of training? We'd be at a safe altitude, plenty of time to recover, etc.
He seemed to get more irritated and reiterated that he wouldn't do a stall. When I asked him why he wouldn't even do them for training, he said he didn't even want to be exposed to stalls, so that he wouldn't accidentally stall the plane if he was under pressure and his mind flashed to doing a stall during our flight, thus causing him to put the control inputs in that would cause a stall.
I asked him about the possibility of making a mistake and stalling the plane regardless of what he'd done in training.
He reminded me that he had 3500 hours and had lasted this long without stalling.
I reminded him that flight reviews aren't about how many hours a person has, but about demonstrating proficiency for the certificate they hold.
By this point I could see I wasn't getting anywhere and wasn't interested in having my signature on this pilot's review.
I explained that from my perspective as an instructor, my signing him off for a flight review was essentially the same as saying that if I sent him for a private pilot checkride, he'd have no trouble passing. If we don't do a full stall during the review, I'd have no way of verifying he could handle stalls safely. Then I asked him, if he were to take a private pilot checkride tomorrow, how he would explain to the examiner his policy of NEVER doing stalls? How would he complete the checkride without this maneuver?
There was a long, silent pause. Then he basically told me the same things he'd said all along up to this point.
I said, "Well, for me to be willing to sign a pilot off for a flight review, I'd only be able to say it's complete after doing at least one or two full stalls. If that's not going to work for you, and you'd rather use a different instructor, I understand. No hard feelings. I'm not saying you're a bad pilot or anything, I just wouldn't be able to sign off on a flight review."
He thought for a minute, said, "Ok, I guess we're done then," shook my hand, and walked out the door.
Made for a good story when I was training a CFI applicant later that afternoon.
