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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!hao!noao!terak!doug
From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee)
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: landing in trees, control surface failure, etc. etc.
Message-ID: <216@terak.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Dec-84 11:17:10 EST
Article-I.D.: terak.216
Posted: Mon Dec 10 11:17:10 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Dec-84 04:49:36 EST
References: <1218@orca.UUCP>
Organization: Terak Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Lines: 29

> 	Ye gad! Here I am, thinking I might take the plunge and
> get my pilot's license like I always wanted, and all I hear
> about is how to land in trees, how to get your airplane into
> a flat spiral which can't be exited, and  what to do if
> your elevators and ailerons get stuck - both at once? Come
> on guys, give me a break!!!

Sorry, my friend, but when you start your pilot training you
will learn that learning to fly a plane takes only a few hours
to do.  The rest of your training is in how to prevent thorny
situations, and how to deal with them when they arise anyway.
Before you are allowed to solo, you will have to learn how to
keep from stalling, how to get out of a stall, and how to make
a forced landing.  And there's more after you solo.

Even so, the longer one flies, the more hopeless the situation
seems.  Too many of my acquaintances who fly have died over the
7 years I've been flying.  A couple of weeks ago, one died of
natural causes, in his sleep, at age 76.  This is the first one
who didn't die in his plane.  Same weekend, the most popular
free-lance flight instructor at my airport killed himself and
his wife by flying into the side of a mountain in bad weather.

Fact is, flying is dangerous.  The less dangerous you THINK it
is, the more dangerous it is to YOU.  Personally, I've nearly
killed myself twice (and the same mistake both times, you'd think
that I would learn).  Safety First, Second, Third, Fourth, etc.

Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug