Who started it?

[Eglsfootball]

I was just looking at my piece of shirt with a picture on it from my first solo and was wondering what it meant and how or who started it. Anyone know?

 

[FL000]

What your shirt meant or what your solo meant? How started it? I don't know.

 

[pilotyip]

back in the 30's

While you were taking dual, your instructor was leading you around by the shirttails (back when we had shirt tails). when you were soloed, you were cut loose, so cutting off the shirttails was symbolic of being turned loose. Had it done to me in 1965, by a pilot who learned to fly in the 1930's. His instructor had a pilot's licencse signed by Orville Wright.

 

[Eglsfootball]

Thanks a lot pilotyip now i actually know why i had to cut up a perfectly good shirt.

 

[uwochris]

Here in Canada the tradition is to dump a bucket of water on you after your solo. If you solo in the middle of winter, you still get the bucket, but it is usually filled with warm water

 

[Eglsfootball]

hey uwochris how did that tradition start?

 

[minitour]

hey uwochris how did that tradition start?

When the first female Canadian said, "I want to be a pilot."

 

[GravityHater]

if the shirt tail thing is true, why does one of the local instructors have a room full of brassieres hanging from the wall along with men's shirttails?!

 

[JRSLim]

What it really means is ....

I was just looking at my piece of shirt with a picture on it from my first solo and was wondering what it meant and how or who started it. Anyone know?...

Welcome to the aviation world..prepare to lose your shirt!!!!

Kidding..I'm just working on my disgruntled attitude. The shirt tail story is what I heard, but the details were that it started in tandem planes when the instructor sat behind you and it was too noisy to hear - so he would yank your shirt tail to communicate. How times have changed .......My instructor used to slap me upside the head when I did something wrong....

 

[groundpointsix]

if the shirt tail thing is true, why does one of the local instructors have a room full of brassieres hanging from the wall along with men's shirttails?!

Because he's smarter than the rest of us

 

[avbug]

There are more stories that abound about how the shirt tail tradition got started than there are side to the arguement of pitch vs. power.

Which of them is true?

Over the years I've never found a difinitive source that can tell. Or that's truely difinitive.

Today there are so many traditions now, it's hard to say. Some places use ties. Others cut out the back of the shirt. Some just use certificates.

Personally, I use a small pocket knife and carve my initials in the student's left upper scapula.

 

[minitour]

....Personally, I use a small pocket knife and carve my initials in the student's left upper scapula.

...and when do I start training for that?

-mini

 

[avbug]

What are you doing next thursday, and how much time in a super cub do you have?