91100 100 set
to the book
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2003
- Posts
- 694
A couple of years ago, during the beginining of my still fledgling career, I was working for a charter/corporate outfit, building some sketchy time in a variety of piston and turbine twins. Got a call from the boss one morning. He asked me if I had any time in any Piper singles. "Nope, not an hour, but I've walked past them a few times." His response, "Well, you're gonna get some today."
He needed me to fly the chief pilot up to East Hampton to rescue a Chieftan that was finally fixed after being broken for some time. My "ground school" on the airplane consisted of him telling me, over the phone, that "it's no different than any of the Cessnas you've ever flown, except you just have to remember to turn on the fuel pump", and "just like any other light plane, your approach and landing speed is gonna be about 3 o'clock on the airpspeed indicator". (I had never thought about that, but it's actually generally true, at least for all the light planes I've ever flown, and as long as the mains touch down first I guess you're gonna make it out in one piece).
Granted, the chief pilot was with me for the first leg and there were no surprises. And I was liscensed and technically qualified to fly the thing (an Arrow? Archer? whatever Piper calls it's low wing, normally aspirated, fixed pitch, fixed gear 4-seater), but I can only imagine the field day the powers-that-be would have had if something untoward had happened on the return flight when I was by myself. Zero dual received in the type, and about 20 minutes of time to preflight, locate all the switches, find the POH buried in the backseat pocket (nevermind actually look it over), figure out the seat adjustment and seatbelts, and we're off.
The things we do when we are trying to fill our logbooks.
He needed me to fly the chief pilot up to East Hampton to rescue a Chieftan that was finally fixed after being broken for some time. My "ground school" on the airplane consisted of him telling me, over the phone, that "it's no different than any of the Cessnas you've ever flown, except you just have to remember to turn on the fuel pump", and "just like any other light plane, your approach and landing speed is gonna be about 3 o'clock on the airpspeed indicator". (I had never thought about that, but it's actually generally true, at least for all the light planes I've ever flown, and as long as the mains touch down first I guess you're gonna make it out in one piece).
Granted, the chief pilot was with me for the first leg and there were no surprises. And I was liscensed and technically qualified to fly the thing (an Arrow? Archer? whatever Piper calls it's low wing, normally aspirated, fixed pitch, fixed gear 4-seater), but I can only imagine the field day the powers-that-be would have had if something untoward had happened on the return flight when I was by myself. Zero dual received in the type, and about 20 minutes of time to preflight, locate all the switches, find the POH buried in the backseat pocket (nevermind actually look it over), figure out the seat adjustment and seatbelts, and we're off.
The things we do when we are trying to fill our logbooks.
Last edited: