Student pilot horror story's

DBrown

Well-Known Member
I inherited a certificated sport pilot, older gentleman who bought a factory new plane and wanted me to ferry it with him giving him dual on the way home, I said ok, after 5 minutes of flying the way home he pulled out a 1 gal ziplock and started puking,(it was occasional light chop) he didn't want to stop so I flew and listened (and smelled) someone puke and heave for 5 hrs,
One stop for fuel and shortly after departing he decided to grab another Baggie out of his bigger bag and the whole time resting the bigger bag on the stick, where the electric trim is at, before I knew it it was full nose up trim and the breaker popped, it wouldn't reset either, I turned around landed with a forward stick flare and reset the breaker, a couple more hours of puking and we made it back,

I refused to sign him off for the ride because I flew the whole way,

Came back to complete the checkout and on landing three (the first two were fine) he levels off 10 ft over the runway power idle and yanked back so hard we almost went vertical. We stall, tailed in and bent his brand new plane.

Since this happened I learned that he looked outside of his home airport for a CFI because everyone there is scared of him, they think he might be suicidal or something because he has bent 2 other planes during his training And he keeps doing erratic stuff.
I called the FSDO and they said just don't teach him if your not comfortable.

I hate to give up a client especially one that pays extremely well, but no amount is worth letting him kill us.

told him that I'm not interested in flying with him anymore

What's your student nightmare story?
 
Yeesh. You'd think there would be some sort of program where if enough CFIs bail on a student and report him, that he is perma-banned from flying.
 
No idea how he passed his ride, it was a typical light sport C150 performance for the cost of a nice used Mooney
 
Money is good for alot of things but it can't buy Dignity... often the two are inversely related, actually.
 
I'm sorry, but how the light sport cert is marketed, it has got to be the biggest joke in GA.

Ya know, now that you mention it, I just realized that I never care to look at the Sport Pilot Subpart in Part 61. I guess I've only really thought of it as an inferior rating that's for wannabe's or something.
 
I find that when someone comes in talking about sport pilot there major concern is that they will be DONE in twenty hours. Safety and profisioncy are just obstacles to being done. If a student isn't willing to consider that it will take over twice the recommended time, I don't want to teach them.
 
I find that when someone comes in talking about sport pilot there major concern is that they will be DONE in twenty hours. Safety and profisioncy are just obstacles to being done. If a student isn't willing to consider that it will take over twice the recommended time, I don't want to teach them.


I had an older student who took a little over 20 hours to solo, I found out later he went and talked to a guy with a Cub around the 15-hour mark to see if he could switch to sport pilot and be done quicker. I know the guy with the Cub, he pretty much laughed at the student.
 
I'm sorry, but how the light sport cert is marketed, it has got to be the biggest joke in GA.
I teach both PPL and Sport and really don't market the two any differently...The biggest thing I market about the Sport is less overall time requirements (no instrument, no night, and very limited cross country), which result in a lower cost way for the fair weather, weekend guy to get into flying (my field has an LSA that is available for training and rental, so they'll have something to fly after they're checkride). Other than that, my standards of proficiency are the exact same for the two and I always emphasize that they get the sign off when they're ready/safe, not at some arbitrary amount of hours (I always hate those schools that advertise 40 hours for the private as the norm. Minimums don't always equal a safe pilot..)
 
I find that when someone comes in talking about sport pilot there major concern is that they will be DONE in twenty hours.

This, or it's the "I'm afraid to go a flight physical, because I might not pass...." That is one thing I can't understand, you can still have a passenger, you share the same airspace and your airplane is capable of doing the same amount damage as a comparable certified aircraft, but yet, you never need to initially get or maintain a medical, like a private pilot.

The thing is, a sport pilot can still take a passenger. The airplanes really aren't any safer. In fact, some are even harder to fly, are more fragile and have some pretty bad flying characteristics.
I teach both PPL and Sport and really don't market the two any differently...The biggest thing I market about the Sport is less overall time requirements (no instrument, no night, and very limited cross country), which result in a lower cost way for the fair weather, weekend guy to get into flying (my field has an LSA that is available for training and rental, so they'll have something to fly after they're checkride). Other than that, my standards of proficiency are the exact same for the two and I always emphasize that they get the sign off when they're ready/safe, not at some arbitrary amount of hours (I always hate those schools that advertise 40 hours for the private as the norm. Minimums don't always equal a safe pilot..)

From my experience, there was very little difference in over all cost between a private and sport cert. The flight school had an LSA, it rented for more than a C150 or 7ECA. But in reality, when the average student can take upwards of 20 hours to solo the value starts to diminish. The airmanship is still the same, in my area they would still need to learn how to talk on the radio and get the endorsements to operate in controlled airspace. The XCs are just shorter (don't even get me started on that...) and they still have to learn pretty much all the same areas of operation, and take a written and practical test. So if you're going to put all that time and effort into something, why not just go all the way and get the better experience?

I appreciate the concept of making flying more affordable but I really don't think this was a way to go about doing it. How does cutting corners make a safer pilot? Sport pilots are still using the same airspace, the same runways, and flying in airplanes that really only differ from similar certified aircraft because of paperwork.
 
After having a sport pilot tell me he cannot find anybody in the region to give him a flight review (FAA has confirmed you must do a FR only in an aircraft for with you are rated (LSA only for sport pilots)... I'm sure to add this caution to people now. Fine if you own a two-seat LSA, but if no rentals around and/or you own a single seat (like the guy in my example) good luck! If they can pass a medical at least once, have them get a Recreational. They have access to a lot more aircraft, can always "downgrade" to Sport privileges, and the training requirements are similar.
 
This, or it's the "I'm afraid to go a flight physical, because I might not pass...." That is one thing I can't understand, you can still have a passenger, you share the same airspace and your airplane is capable of doing the same amount damage as a comparable certified aircraft, but yet, you never need to initially get or maintain a medical, like a private pilot.


Glider pilots don't need medicals, not even commercial ones flying paying customers. Hasn't been a safety issue that I have seen.

Getting rid of the 3rd class medical seems like a better idea to me. If someone is really in such bad shape, they aren't likely to get a flight review signed off either.
 
Glider pilots don't need medicals, not even commercial ones flying paying customers. Hasn't been a safety issue that I have seen.

Getting rid of the 3rd class medical seems like a better idea to me. If someone is really in such bad shape, they aren't likely to get a flight review signed off either.
yeah, but anybody can fall.:)
 
Getting rid of the 3rd class medical seems like a better idea to me. If someone is really in such bad shape, they aren't likely to get a flight review signed off either.

I agree. There's some movement on this, supposedly the FAA is currently reviewing medically related accident data to see if there's much basis for it. This is probably the best thing that's come from the Sport Pilot thing. If they drop the 3rd class they can collapse the Sport/Rec/Private ratings into one as far as I'm concerned.
 
Glider pilots don't need medicals, not even commercial ones flying paying customers. Hasn't been a safety issue that I have seen.

Getting rid of the 3rd class medical seems like a better idea to me. If someone is really in such bad shape, they aren't likely to get a flight review signed off either.

From my experience with glider pilots, they tend to fall in a different category of aviator. I would't lump them together with sport pilots. The unfortunate experience I have had with most (not all) sport pilots have been them being cheap, and trying to get away with doing the minimum. Or trying to get around a medical because of an existing condition that would prevent them from obtaining a medical in the first place.

I some what agree on eliminating the medical for a private. I think Sport, Private or whatever if your certificate allows you to carry a passenger you should have to pass a flight physical to obtain a student pilot certificate. That medical should be valid for the life of the certificate. Once you pass your practical, if you can drive you can fly.
 
From my experience with glider pilots, they tend to fall in a different category of aviator. I would't lump them together with sport pilots. The unfortunate experience I have had with most (not all) sport pilots have been them being cheap, and trying to get away with doing the minimum. Or trying to get around a medical because of an existing condition that would prevent them from obtaining a medical in the first place.

I some what agree on eliminating the medical for a private. I think Sport, Private or whatever if your certificate allows you to carry a passenger you should have to pass a flight physical to obtain a student pilot certificate. That medical should be valid for the life of the certificate. Once you pass your practical, if you can drive you can fly.

I agree for the most part the only calls I ever get about sport pilot are people who know they won't get a medical (or a renew) . Had one yesterday said he couldn't go private because of anti psychotic meds for severe PTSD.

He started his training a few weeks ago with a sport CFI that just last week created a burning hole in the ground with a student. (2 fatal)
I told him that the regs state you can fly without a medical but you can't have any known condition that would prohibit you......he hung up.

IMHO the only way to make sport pilot certificates even make sense in aviation would be to include the Cessna 150/152 in the mix. Instead of all these $100k turds that are harder for students to fly.
 
From my experience with glider pilots, they tend to fall in a different category of aviator. I would't lump them together with sport pilots.


They tend to have a lot of aviation experience in general, agreed. Far more than the typical GA pilot. Even the glider-only pilots seem to benefit from osmosis being around that much experience.
 
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