OMG! Have you read this?

weezbad · Post by **weezbad** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:35 am

jims just picking on my comments.

i think.

but the thing is one 1 in 1000 probaly could, but he wouldnt know until he was dead that he couldnt..

i did teach myself how crash remote control planes.

svanarts · Post by **svanarts** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:07 pm

I taught myself how to crash two cars and one airplane. Only one of which required any hospitalization. To quote Mel Gibson's character from Air America "I crash better than anyone I know."

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:31 pm

No I actually wasn't picking on any comments by any particular person.......much. I've been giving this subject some passing thought in the last 24 hours or so. Initially I was thinking "well the Wright Bros. taught themselves to fly" but after giving some thought to that they really didn't. At least not in the hop in and go for it sense. Those guys had so much tethered and free glider time that they really did have a clue about what to expect. Those two had dissected flight pretty well, right down to understanding the need to rotate to lift off rather than just flying off level. The design of the flyer proves that they knew that, that's why it's a canard.?. So yes, I think a person could learn to fly by reading books and, NO, I don't think there are many people out there that could learn to fly by only reading books and especially not someone seeking "permission on the internet". I stand by my statement that it would be better if he had left everyone else out of his stupidity.

weezbad · Post by **weezbad** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:26 pm

there are people that teach themselves all kinds of things. flying could be one of them. i beleive you are dead on (no pun intended) when you say he should not have involved the forum viewing public of his intentions. he was probally trolling anyway. i do beleive i could have took off flew around and landed. most of what my instructor told me was pitch for 80 on t/o and pitch for 70 on landing.dont steepen my bank angle on landing if i was overshooting. she never took the controls, not once while i was landing. if i would have crashed it would have been a result of not trimming away control pressures and fighting it causing PIO and a resulting stall at 20 ft agl.
a judge i know in columbia s.c. tells me he soloed at two hours. he said he trusted the cfi and took off. once airborne he was terrified. he flew around for about 1.5 and finally got the nerve to land. this was in the mid 70's. he never got his ppl.

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:00 am

Well, initial flight training isn't really teaching you how to fly. It is more like teaching you how NOT to kill yourself!

After you are past the "hazardous to your health" stage, you learn the finer points of flying.

Being a life long learner as well as a teacher, I have discovered a few things about the learning process.

Yah, I guess I am professional in this area.

Basically, you don't know what you don't know. If the consequence of a failing grade is grave (ie. DEATH) there are no second lessons!

There is then no way of discovering the things you don't know in a safe manner on your own!

THIS is what makes teaching yourself to fly totally absurd.

CJ

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:10 pm

OK this is a funny story. It happened to my Dad way back when, back in the mid 30's. This is what he told me, So he used to hang out at an airport a lot when he was in college and one day he was admiring a plane that happened to be there. The owner approached and they started talking. After awhile the guy asked him if he'd like to go up with him. Of course my Dad took him up on it and off they went. They taxied out to the runway and just sat there for a bit so thinking that he'd give the guy a hint that he was ready to go he nudged the throttle open; just a bit. As they began to move down the runway the other guy must have opened it up and soon they were off. The plane began to climb out and soon got rather steep so Dad pushed he stick forward to level and let go. Pretty soon it was back to climbing and once again getting pretty steep. After a few cycles of this the guy swings around in his seat (two place open cockpit) and yells “What the hell are you doing”. Well after a minute of shouting back and forth it's discovered that neither one has ever had a flying lesson. Once back on the ground my Dad found out that the guy had just bought the plane and was planning to take lessons in it. Obviously the guy thought my Dad was already pilot. True story.

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:20 pm

WOW!

He must be a famous man because I have heard that joke many times!

Jim, I think your dad was putting you on. Good one though!

BTW, there isn't really an Easter Bunny either.

CJ

ndoetsch · Post by **ndoetsch** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:00 pm

Well, must have been the script for this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jQTjPDPWlU

Submitted via email

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:09 pm

Linkie no werkie.

CJ

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:22 pm

I found the joke.

http://www.pilotfriend.com/humour/jokes/av_jokes.htm

It is the fifth one down from the top.

There are some good ones there!

CJ

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:28 pm

Well CJ I expected that and it's ok. You didn't know my Dad so you don't know that he didn't joke. It is a funny story though and it did happen in your neck of the woods so maybe he is a famous man.

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 11:01 pm

Where did he live when he was out here?

Did you once live out this way too?

CJ

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:49 pm

That would be when he was living in Cambridge Ma. No I've never lived there. My parents moved to the L.A. area just before WW2.