wickedpilot
Grasshoppin'
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2003
- Posts
- 300
These are two stories/myths I have heard. Can anyone put fact to fiction or know of any place this is officially written?
Tradition of the Shirt Tail
Back in the ‘hay-day’ of aviation, most training aircraft had front seating for the student pilot and rear seating for the flight instructor. Some even had throw-over flight controls so that the only way for the instructor to enforce his “authority” was to yank on the students’ shirttail. After a students first solo, the instructor rewards the student by cutting their shirt tail off so the instructor can no longer pull on it. Today, modern trainers provide side-by side seating and dual flight controls, however the tradition of cutting the shirttail still remains.
Another common story told for cutting the shirttail is that after soloing, a student pilot has officially grown his or her wings. The shirttail is cut off, and their wings can stretch out.
I wrote both of these blurbs simply on info. passed down to me from instructors. Any thoughts or additions?
Tradition of the Shirt Tail
Back in the ‘hay-day’ of aviation, most training aircraft had front seating for the student pilot and rear seating for the flight instructor. Some even had throw-over flight controls so that the only way for the instructor to enforce his “authority” was to yank on the students’ shirttail. After a students first solo, the instructor rewards the student by cutting their shirt tail off so the instructor can no longer pull on it. Today, modern trainers provide side-by side seating and dual flight controls, however the tradition of cutting the shirttail still remains.
Another common story told for cutting the shirttail is that after soloing, a student pilot has officially grown his or her wings. The shirttail is cut off, and their wings can stretch out.
I wrote both of these blurbs simply on info. passed down to me from instructors. Any thoughts or additions?
