hey hey cmon now. I can assure you calcapt is a fine captain who knows how to take care of his passengers. There aren't many pilots who go the extra mile and take their jobs as seriously as he does. He's always been a great inspiration and a role model. If anyone is cut out for flying it sure is calcapt.
Uncontrolled Field with no ASOS
- Thread starter BobDDuck
- Start date
hey hey cmon now. I can assure you calcapt is a fine captain who knows how to take care of his passengers. There aren't many pilots who go the extra mile and take their jobs as seriously as he does. He's always been a great inspiration and a role model. If anyone is cut out for flying it sure is calcapt.
I thought it was a little humorous as well that someone with the handle "CFI" might suggest to my friend, not only a long time CAL capt, but a Navy Top Gun aviator as well, that perhaps he isn't cut out to fly.
CaptBill
Well-Known Member
I respect your desire to "accomplish the task" for your employer. I also clearly understand that some Ops Specs give guidance and permission to do certain things, while others may be more restrictive. Do not confuse what you are allowed to do with what you should do. I proudly hang a plaque in my shop that says "Just because you can doesn't mean you should." My "conservative approach" that you refer to is nothing more than making a judgement call which is what a captain is paid to do. This thread is made up of hypothetical weather at a non existent airport. There would be obvious considerations given for shooting any actual IFR approach including crew qualifications, equipment capabilities, weather, PIREPS and and a host of other things. Once all this information is gathered, a captain can make a prudent and safe decision as to how the flight will proceed. If the decision is made to proceed to another airport, it doesn't make you any less of a pilot than the young inexperienced stud who delivered his freight by barely making it in. So many talented pilots (and their passengers) have been killed by allowing the pressure of "stranding their passengers or freight" to make the decision for them. If the approach is safe to make, then make it. If the approach is questionable then it is up to each individual pilot to make his or her decision as to how safe they want to be and how close to the edge they feel comfortable operating. It is not a right or wrong answer unless of course there is wreckage and carnage at the end of the runway.
I am in the customer service business and I take very seriously the expectations that my customers place on my employer to deliver them safely to their destinations. I very much want to get them home or where they are going. I promised myself early in my flying career that I would never allow anything, or anyone other than my common sense and judgement to decide when and how I would fly. After 358 carrier landings and 15,000 flight hours I can say that my promise has paid off. And I assure you that I get my passengers to their destinations 99.999 percent of the time in all kinds of weather conditions from mild to scary. The .001 percent that don't make it home with me can rest assured that the decision I made was mine alone, and not what some Ops Specs allowed or how I was influenced by someone who suggested once that I keep stranding passengers because I am not cut out to fly.
Hopefully at the end of the day we can all fall asleep feeling good about our performance and decisons for the day. To me, that is the mark of a great aviator.
Not to mention all of those night landings on a carrier that Calcapt has made! I had dinner last Saturday with an Admiral in the Navy who was also a Top Gun instructor at Miramar. After hearing his stories about landing an F-14 in 25 foot seas at night, I would say that Calcapt is more of a "stud" than someone making a stupid decision to get his boxes delivered on time! Not having to prove anything to anyone, and delivering your passengers safely to their destination makes a man a stud!
CaptBill
Well-Known Member
You're right, but after all it is a pretend approach at a pretend airport. Thanks for setting me straight
. I am sure you are a great pilot.
BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
Wow. Yeah. Maybe not in a light cessna or something, but you try landing an aircraft with a ref speed of 155 on a wet runway with a 15knot tailwind (that's 170knots across the ground). You touch down 1000 feet down (optimistically, although with the tail wind you will float a bit). That leaves you 5000 feet. With water on the runway, even with anti skid, if you put on heavy braking at anything over 100 you are going to be skidding all over the place. So you need to drop 70 knots by reverse thrust (which sucks on this airplane) and the spoilers. That eats up a whole lot of runway. So lets be nice about it and say only 2000 feet. That leaves you 3000 feet to slow from 100 to 0.
Have fun with that.
That's a very hazardous attitude to have. Especially when the winds are unknown.
Qgar
New Member
:yeahthat: :yup:
You can't make this stuff up! The free entertainment on this forum is unbeatable. :rotfl: :insane:
