DrBenny
New Member
\"The Scary Skies,\" or \"A Tale of Two Idiots\"
I really felt I had to post this. Hearing this story almost made me want to quit (or get a high-end TCAS). Recently I had the opportunity to hear an experience a friend of mine had with a couple of Instrument pilots. I was heartened and dismayed at the same time.
Apparently these two pilots both had around 500 hours, and had gotten their IRs a couple of years back at a well-known local flight school which generally had a very good reputation.
Now, recently I have been feeling a bit down because I am seeing my hours rise above the 100 mark, and I still don't have the Private. Yes, yes, I know--I'm a late bloomer with scheduling problems. And I am coming along quite nicely. But sometimes these reassurances just sound like "blah, blah, blah." This story made me feel a lot better about my progress, but also scared all sorts of fluids out of me.
Let's talk about safety. These guys didn't use checklists for ANY phase of the flight--not for preflight, not for the startup, not for prelanding--NOTHING. "We don't need them--they're memorized." Right. At 500 hours, they were still missing critical items such as forgetting to turn on the transponder.
Now let's talk about radio procedures. I train at a Class B, so I am reasonably professional with this aspect (and it probably cost me 10 hours right there!). Now remember that these guys are instrument rated, so they should at least be able to communicate. Coming into BWI, apparently their callups were hesitant and lacking in really important information. The controller had to keep asking them questions until he got what he needed. This is BWI, folks--Class B and surrounded by the ADIZ. Didja always wonder what those spiffy Air-Force jets look like in flight?
Now let's talk about judgement. First bad call, in my opinion, was the decision to launch into a snow squall . It took some convincing from my friend (who also has his IR) to get them to wait it out. Thank goodness BWI made them wait for a release. Even after the wait, there was a turbulent ride over to BWI.
Second bad call was the decision to fly at Vy all the way to cruise. Now I realize that it may be advisable to do so at times, but let me tell you there were two big fat reasons not to do so in this case: 1) There was very little in the way of a forward view, unless you like to examine the bug splats on your cowling in the climb, and 2) the engine temps were climbing to critically high levels.
It seemed, thank goodness, that the pilots were at least competent in handling the landings.
Let's see, now: no procedures, bad judgement, poor communications skills? How did these guys get the IRs? I lost a lot of respect I had for this flight school. Hopefully, these were just a couple of guys who squeezed through the cracks, and not representative of the general pilot population. For my friend it was a "never again." For me it was, "tell me their names so I can avoid flying with them."
I really felt I had to post this. Hearing this story almost made me want to quit (or get a high-end TCAS). Recently I had the opportunity to hear an experience a friend of mine had with a couple of Instrument pilots. I was heartened and dismayed at the same time.
Apparently these two pilots both had around 500 hours, and had gotten their IRs a couple of years back at a well-known local flight school which generally had a very good reputation.
Now, recently I have been feeling a bit down because I am seeing my hours rise above the 100 mark, and I still don't have the Private. Yes, yes, I know--I'm a late bloomer with scheduling problems. And I am coming along quite nicely. But sometimes these reassurances just sound like "blah, blah, blah." This story made me feel a lot better about my progress, but also scared all sorts of fluids out of me.
Let's talk about safety. These guys didn't use checklists for ANY phase of the flight--not for preflight, not for the startup, not for prelanding--NOTHING. "We don't need them--they're memorized." Right. At 500 hours, they were still missing critical items such as forgetting to turn on the transponder.
Now let's talk about radio procedures. I train at a Class B, so I am reasonably professional with this aspect (and it probably cost me 10 hours right there!). Now remember that these guys are instrument rated, so they should at least be able to communicate. Coming into BWI, apparently their callups were hesitant and lacking in really important information. The controller had to keep asking them questions until he got what he needed. This is BWI, folks--Class B and surrounded by the ADIZ. Didja always wonder what those spiffy Air-Force jets look like in flight?
Now let's talk about judgement. First bad call, in my opinion, was the decision to launch into a snow squall . It took some convincing from my friend (who also has his IR) to get them to wait it out. Thank goodness BWI made them wait for a release. Even after the wait, there was a turbulent ride over to BWI.
Second bad call was the decision to fly at Vy all the way to cruise. Now I realize that it may be advisable to do so at times, but let me tell you there were two big fat reasons not to do so in this case: 1) There was very little in the way of a forward view, unless you like to examine the bug splats on your cowling in the climb, and 2) the engine temps were climbing to critically high levels.
It seemed, thank goodness, that the pilots were at least competent in handling the landings.
Let's see, now: no procedures, bad judgement, poor communications skills? How did these guys get the IRs? I lost a lot of respect I had for this flight school. Hopefully, these were just a couple of guys who squeezed through the cracks, and not representative of the general pilot population. For my friend it was a "never again." For me it was, "tell me their names so I can avoid flying with them."