Sport Pilot Talk

" BUT - entry to and exit from that cockpit for a beat-up 65 year old was painful and difficult".

Shouldn't be. I'm 74 with torn rotator cuffs in both shoulders, and it takes less than 2 seconds from my flipping the prop to sitting in the back seat strapping in. About a second longer for front seat. No pain involved. My buddies call my entry technique the 'backward flying butt leap'. Been using it for over fifty years.

Most of the planes I fly are over 70 years old. Newest is a 1966 Piper Cherokee 150C. Much more difficult to enter and exit than a J3.

If I remember correctly, took me 7 hr 10 min to solo in a J3. Had my arm in a sling from wrecking a Harley, and my instructor wouldn't release me for solo till I got the sling off.

JimC wrote: If I remember correctly, took me 7 hr 10 min to solo in a J3.

These days, it takes my students about twice as long. Of course, there's now about twice as much to learn.

I've noticed that.
Modern pilots are far better than we were half a century ago.

Not only that, Jim, I like to believe I'm far better now than I was a half century ago.

I'm not.
I am more cautious though.

JimC wrote:I'm not.
I am more cautious though.

By definition, by being more cautious you are indeed being a better pilot!

I dunno. Take caution to the extreme, and you'll spend your life at home hiding under the bed.


More seriously though, I've noticed that there are a lot of things no longer taught.
For example (the following questions are rhetorical - I'm sure all you guys already know the answer).
When landing on riverine sandbars, do you always land into the wind?
If not, do you always land upriver?
If not, do you always land downriver?
What is the reason for the choice?
(an aside - it is acceptable to deviate from the choice if the bar has been recently walked prior to landing)

In the 60's, this was taught before solo. I'm not sure if it is taught at all anymore.