For you to make that comment, it's clear you don't have much time as a primary flight instructor. As a flight instructor, [Blah, blah, blah...]
This is the stuff you learn as a primary flight instructor. It balances well with CFII experience and is (IMO) part of the overall package that makes a good entry level pilot for 121/135.
You (and most CFIs, really) seem to be under the impression that instructing is the ONLY way to learn this stuff, and that's a pretty narrow viewpoint.
Just like we know all you traffic watch guys do is run up and down the same highway all day? Gimme a break...
I've only been flying traffic since October. Before that, I was chief pilot for one of the Pictometry aerial mapping vendors. And let me tell you about aerial mapping flying: it's the most precise flying I'll probably ever do. Having to maintain a ground
track within .022nm (do the math, that's about 130 feet) regardless of winds aloft, altitude within 100' and very narrow pitch, bank and crab limits, while operating the on-board camera system, communicating continuously with ATC and remaining vigilant for traffic in some of the country's busiest airspace requires not only solid stick & rudder skills, but every bit of mental concentration that flying an approach to minimums does. It's like flying an endless ILS for hours on end, every day.
Me too - it's going to be a good show. I mean, Jtrain hasn't flown in 6 months, so advantage aloft. Then again, Jtrain has experience in planes bigger than a Seneca. Advantage Jtrain. Jtrain has a few more hours than aloft, but both are around a thousand, so no advantage there. I think Jtrain is in better shape so he can probably handle g-forces and impact forces better than aloft. He's also younger, so his fine motor skills might be more precise. However, Aloft's recency of experience could easily trump that. Really, it's a toss-up.
Fixed. Still trying to figure out how experience flying a jet that's on autopilot most of the time is gonna help stick and rudder skills. Even when it's being hand-flown in the first 1000 and the last 500 ft or whatever, we're talking what, maybe four or five minutes of hand-flying per leg? Yeah, I'm sure that'll keep one nice and sharp. The big difference experiencewise between John and I is this: 99.9% of the 990 hrs in my logbook were
hand-flown by me. Not on autopilot (never flown with one), not as PNF, not monitoring a student, not acting as a safety pilot. I'd love to hear exactly how many of John's hours involved actually piloting an aircraft. I'm gonna venture a guess that it's around maybe 400-500 tops.
On top of that, I've got mountain flying training and mountain search & rescue experience. Remember the search for Steve Fossett? Yeah, I was part of that effort.
My intent isn't to toot my own horn here, but it's my opinion that the diversity of my flying experience blows that of the average CFI with comparable times out of the water. Of course, one's mileage may vary, and there may be some CFIs out there with high-quality experience too. Moreover, being a good stick doesn't make one a good pilot; developing sound aeronautical judgment is every bit as vital--moreso, in fact. And here, I concede, CFIs
may have an advantage.
I also recognize that not every non-CFI is gonna have the same sort of experience that I've had. The typical non-CFI timebuilding jobs like traffic watch, banner/glider towing, and dropping skydivers are all pretty narrow in terms of the experience they provide.
And just for the record, none of this is to suggest that I'm a better pilot than jtrain, or vice-versa. We're both solid pilots, I have no doubt of that. He's got his strengths just as I've got mine. Just making the case that instructing isn't the only path to becoming one.
