Scary pilots... slack training? Slack checkrides?

[sonofaeagle]

I work for Duats, and I'm a low hours pilot. I've seen some pretty scary pilots in the air but you would be surprised by some of the things I see an hear at Duats. I get phone calls from people looking for advice on what info they need for preflight. I give the "all available info pertaining to your flight" answer. They then push it and say, "Ya but I don't want all that crap that comes up on the screen... thats too much info. Can't I just pick what I want?"

Of course you can but thats just dumb. Granted you don't have to print everything out but at least look at it. I think the real gist of it is that some of these guys don't understand what they are reading. Even when it is in plain language. I just find that odd.

How do these guys become private pilots?

Are check airmen harder on people who plan on going commercial then they are on people who are just going to fly for pleasure?

Any thoughts guys?

 

[mar]

Slack attitudes

When I was a CFI I enjoyed training the young kid who wanted to spend the rest of his life in aviation because he was usually hungry for knowledge and wanted to learn everything he could.

I really disliked training the so called weekend warrior because he couldn't see the point (usually) of learning anything beyond what was needed to go take the plane out on a nice Sunday afternoon for the proverbial $100 hamburger.

It's just a matter of personal attitude.

I was the same CFI but I suppose I was guilty of producing two different types of pilots. CFIs do provide a service and if your customer ain't happy you ain't gonna make the money.

I do remember one very wealty lawyer who owned a C340 though and he was the complete opposite of the stereotypical rich lawyer that goes out and kills himself in bad weather.

This guy went to Flight Safety every six months for a full blown instrument checkride. He flew his 340 by the numbers and totally professional. I went and shot some approaches at Camarillo, CA with him on a pretty marginal day and he was just out there for the practice (and for the fun).

 

[Ty Webb]

I used DUATS for hundreds of flights over a period of three years. It's a pretty good product overall, but I would agree that it could really use some added filters.

When you're flying a jet, you don't need sequence reports from every backwater airport from TEB to MIA, nor do I need the Local NOTAMS for airports I am not landing at. Likewise, when you're a private pilot flying locally in VFR weather, you don;t need to know that the back course for the ILS at some nearby airport is OTS for 5 hours next monday for MX, or that the TACAN Azimuth is OTS.

Overall, though, it was pretty good.

 

[sonofaeagle]

Easy to get what you want

Just select Abbreviated Briefing, by (location). Put in the locations you want. There you go.

 

[sonofaeagle]

Try Golden Eagle

Its free software that lets you access the duats database. Its a desktop flight planner. A little quirky but hey, its free. Its about 100MB so if you don't have highspeed internet you'll probably just want to email duats@duats.com with your mailing address to get the cd.

There's a pretty cool function if you are connected to the internet you can click on airports and get their current metars and tafs by click on info.

Try it out.

Any questions I'll answer em.

Download at www.flightprep.com

 

[Wang Chung]

Its free software that lets you access the duats database. Its a desktop flight planner. A little quirky but hey, its free.

I just put Golden Eagle on my laptop and I've been using it on the road for the last week. It kicks ass over Cirrus, and it has some great features - congratulations on a nice free DUATS access product. It's got some bugs and quirks that need to be worked out, though...

I agree with Ty Webb that it would be nice to call up specific sets of information instead of the cumbersome task of sorting thru unnecessary info. But usually the abbreviated briefing does the job - not a big deal.

 

[Ty Webb]

Just select Abbreviated Briefing, by (location). Put in the locations you want. There you go.

I used the "abbreviated briefing feature".

Like I said- I used it for hundreds of flights. I had all the performance info stored for the jet I was using, too. The Performance Planning part was pretty good, it's just the weather that it provided in my case was about 6-8 pages too long, IMHO.

Now I fly for a 121 carrier, and the info we get is about half of the number of paes that DUATS used to run, for the same type of trip.

 

[2000flyer]

I remember the good ole days (ok...showing my age here) when you walked over to your local FSS, grabbed a free cup of coffee and asked "Joe" for a briefing. He sat at a computer terminal whose operating "system" filled a 10'x10' room, punched in a bunch of foreign characters (much like todays reservation computers) and spit out the SA/FT/UA, etc. If Joe was worth his salt, he then walked over to a massive printer, pulled off red colored paper with a myriad of flags, numbers, symbols indicating fronts, temp/DP, wind, etc and gave your the "forecast."

Sadly, todays students (and a lot of pilots) couldn't read one of those maps if their lives depended on it. They sit at a computer, get what I consider a very minimal briefing for a given flight and blast off. Case in point, a friends relative, a newly certificated instrument pilot, flew into town the other day for lunch. He commented about the concern for the thunderstorms in the area and the possibility of getting home. Turns out young aviator's briefing was off the weather channel nearly 18 hours earlier. Scary isn't strong enough!

I've always wondered what the NTSB/FAA considers a "legal" briefing. Today you can pop into an FBO, pull up the weather without entering a password and blast off. Used to be, your FSS phone briefing was recorded for purposes of indentification in case of an accident/incident.

Sadly, the days of the FSS briefer are nearly gone. I've called FSS at 5AM and gotten the recording "all briefers are currently busy, your call has been placed in que. Please hold for the next available briefer." It's not due to the rush of flights at that hour, but more the lack of staff for a regional FSS covering hundreds of airports.

Here's to you, Joe, wherever you may be!

2000Flyer

 

[shamrock]

.....or that the TACAN Azimuth is OTS.

It's kind of funny that this is the example you use. You're definitely based in ATL.

"Notices to airmen: The Atlanta Tacan azimuth is out of sevice. Advise on initial contact you have......"

I hear it in my sleep!

 

[DesertFalcon]

When I was a CFI I enjoyed training the young kid who wanted to spend the rest of his life in aviation because he was usually hungry for knowledge and wanted to learn everything he could.

I really disliked training the so called weekend warrior because he couldn't see the point (usually) of learning anything beyond what was needed to go take the plane out on a nice Sunday afternoon for the proverbial $100 hamburger.

It's just a matter of personal attitude.

I was the same CFI but I suppose I was guilty of producing two different types of pilots. CFIs do provide a service and if your customer ain't happy you ain't gonna make the money.

I do remember one very wealty lawyer who owned a C340 though and he was the complete opposite of the stereotypical rich lawyer that goes out and kills himself in bad weather.

This guy went to Flight Safety every six months for a full blown instrument checkride. He flew his 340 by the numbers and totally professional. I went and shot some approaches at Camarillo, CA with him on a pretty marginal day and he was just out there for the practice (and for the fun).

Was the Lawyer you flew with named "Larry"? Las Vegas right? If so, he's flying for NetJets now.

 

[mar]

I don't think so

This guy was older (and loaded) I don't think he would give up his practice to fly for NetJets (no offense intended).

The flight was out of Van Nuys, CA.

Best.