ENGINEER: I don’t quite know what to say about your aircraft Sir. Let’s just put it this way…. If it was a horse, you would have to shoot it…
Should you use different flight instructors or the same one?
A would-be pilot named Sue has recently posted a great question on Ask a Flight Instructor about whether or not it’s a good idea to have multiple flight instructors while learning how to fly or whether its better to try and have the same one for the duration of her flight training. Specifically, Sue wrote:
Is it advisable to have more than one flight instructor especially when one has covered the basics of flight and maneuvers if one is under time constraints
Matthew Waugh responded by writing that the use of more than one flight instructor will have its share of issues but if both are coordinating with each other and a detailed syllabus is being used, its possible. However, Matthew reminded Sue that only one flight instructor can sign off on a student to do a solo and that flight instructor will have to be satisfied that he or she has met all of the important requirements to reach that point. The same goes for a cross country or for the checkride but if time is more important than money, using more than one flight instructor can be done.
Abdel Shabazz also agreed with Matthew that it could be done but he cautioned that “despite regulations, accepted practices and standardization, aviation is a world of differing opinions.” In other words, using more than one flight instructor can lead to confusion that will ultimately make learning how to fly more expensive. Nevertheless and if a student pilot has the personality and ability to be flexible when learning, it should not be a problem.
Finally and something not mentioned by either Matthew or Abdel would be to make sure before you start any flight training with a flight school (or individual flight instructor) is that the CFI teaching you will be available to train you from start to finish. After all and if time is not a consideration or if you found it difficult in school to adapt to teachers with different teaching methods, you will want to make sure you have the same flight instructor for the duration of your flight training.
MUSTARD: Britain’s forgotten Space Shuttle idea
If you thought that Britain had contributed little to the space race or the exploration of outer space, think again because long before anyone across the Atlantic had dreamed up the Enterprise, Columbia or Challenger Space Shuttles, the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) had come up with detailed plans for something very similar: The Multi-Unit Space Transport And 
Recovery Device (MUSTARD). In fact, Tom Smith, who led the team of BAC engineers that came up with the idea for MUSTARD, has recently passed away at age 85 according to his obituary in the Telegraph – bringing renewed attention to a forgotten chapter of British aviation and the race into outer space.
Apparently, the idea for MUSTARD came from the Air Ministry which gave a contract to BAC to study hypersonic speed with a team being formed under Smith’s leadership at BAC’s Warton airbase, near Preston, Lancashire. That team began to look at ideas he described in a latter interview that were “Concorde-ish in nature” with the design for MUSTARD being completed in 1964 and 1965.
The MUSTARD design concept called for a three-stage reusable aircraft launched as a single unit with two of the units acting as boosters to launch the third into space before separating and returning to earth as normal aircraft. Likewise and after any payload was sent into orbit, the third unit would also return to earth in the same manner.
At the time, it was hoped that the work could lead to a recoverable multi-stage aerospace vehicle that would have Europe in outer space within 10 to 15 years at a cost that was 20 to 30 times cheaper than the rocket technology being used at the time. However, the idea was way ahead of its time and as with many innovative British ideas at the time, there was no political will to move it forward. Hence, outer space was largely left to the Americans and the Soviets while it was the Americans who became interested in the idea of a reusable aircraft that ultimately became the Space Shuttle.
If you want to learn more about Britain’s contribution to the race to explore outer space, there is a great website at http://www.britain-in-space.co.uk which goes into considerably more detail about those efforts.
Aircraft like the Cub: When simple is simply better
John Zimmerman has written a great essay for the Air Facts Journal about how much there is to love about the simplicity of the Piper J-3 Cub where he began by writing:
The Cub seemed old fashioned, small, slow, drafty and hard to fly. What’s to love?
Plenty as John then wrote about how his father (also a pilot) had taken him to a grass strip before he had soloed for an introduction to “real flying.” However, it wasn’t just any grass strip as John’s father took him to Red 
Stewart Field in Waynesville, Ohio – an airport founded right after World War II by a barnstormer with the same name. He built the airport using a box of dynamite and a bulldozer after he quit his job at Frigidaire when the plant manager told him to stop landing his airplane in the parking lot. Later, Red bought a new Cub and his most famous trick was to throw the control stick out the window and land with just power and trim.
Ironically, flying a Cub is not much different than Red’s barnstorming trick as John mentioned the uncomfortable feeling of approaching the aircraft with empty hands (as in no flight bag, headset or charts) and the fact that its instrument panel had only four gauges. Nevertheless, the next 45 minutes were the best in John’s logbook as he learned how to hand-prop an aircraft, 
communicate without a fancy headset and taxi when you can’t see anything. And once he was airborne, he discovered “runways” that he never knew existed where a Cessna would never be able to safely land. In other words, flying a Cub is flying at its best.
That’s probably why the Cub remains one of the most popular and best selling light sport aircraft today and no doubt will remain so for a long time to come. So the next time you want to do some “real flying,” leave the expensive pair of headsets, the GPS device and the iPad electronic flight bag at home and take a spin up in a Cub as no doubt you will enjoy the simplicity of it all!
Should pilots get an iPad or an iPad Mini?
The iPad Mini is scheduled to ship on November 2 and should provide pilots with a whole new level of information and apps to use in the cockpit but if you don’t yet have an iPad to use in the cockpit, might now be the time to start thinking about getting one? Moreover, should pilots go for an iPad or an iPad Mini?
To begin with, AVweb’s Paul Bertorelli recently conducted a podcast interview with Foreflight’s Tyson Weihs about the iPad Mini and it was noted that everything will scale automatically downward in the new device with the pixels being the same. Hence, Weihs said that there is nothing extra that Foreflight needs to do to get their app to work on the iPad Mini and that’s probably true with all the other iPad aviation apps out there. That means it also sounds like the only real difference between an iPad and an iPad Mini for pilots will be its size (plus any performance issues that become apparent after the latter’s release).
In addition, Sporty’s Pilot Shop’s Vice President John Zimmerman recently gave a seminar entitled “iPad 101” at the AOPA Aviation Summit a few weeks ago and there is a summary of his talk posted here. Some of John’s key points included buying what you use and that budget conscious buyers who don’t need all of the “bells and whistles” offered by the iPad 3 should find the iPad 2 to be sufficient.
John then noted some of the iPad’s limitations in the cockpit, namely glare and the fact that the device can overheat. However, tilting the iPad screen can usually solve the glare problem while not leaving the device in direct sunlight will help prevent it from overheating. John also added that you should make sure everything is up-to-date, downloaded and the battery is fully charged before a flight so that you don’t find yourself stuck in the air lacking important flight information or worst – no flight information at all because your battery is dead. Likewise, John gave some very specific instructions for how to avoid GPS interference (usually by turning on “Airplane Mode”) that are a must read for any pilot who has an iPad but has concerns about using one in the cockpit.
If you still aren’t convinced about the whole iPad as an electronic flight bag idea, you might want to just borrow one and go flying. John also added that most flight apps are either free or come with a 30 day free trial for you to test them out before committing to buy.
Finally, it should be mentioned that Sporty’s Pilot Shop recently hosted an hour long webinar on Advanced iPad Flying that’s well worth listening too as its full of useful tips for using the iPad in the cockpit.
Why are there always two pilots…?
