lol, yeah, that's about right! all of what you said brian!
rumor has it that the faa might give him a re-evaluation checkride, and they should.

I hope they include engine out procedures. Mine did.

Old bastard. I'll never forget how I was on short final and he reaches over and takes out the key and says, "You've lost your engine. What do you do?" "Other than crap my pants you mean?" I asked. And he just LAUGHS! No wonder everyone was afraid of him. I got it down safely though.

I always thought I should have said "I'd shove my examiner out the door to lighten the plans and extend my glide distance!" But it didn't occur to me until it was too late.

Brian

whoa! wait a minute! he took the keys out of the ignition?!?! :mg: well at least you were on short final and had the field made (i assume) was he a DE or with the FAA?

brian, i may have asked you before, how far into your ratings have you gone?

I made it to SE land, signed off on retracts and hi-perf. 120 hours.

Yes, I had the 'numbers' made before he took out the key. I think he was just trying to rattle me. That was my FAA checkride. Now I know why everyone shuddered when they heard who was doing mine.

BTW, I went through four instructors before I finished. LOL

Brian

that's not uncommon. lemmeseehere i went through 3 for my private, and at least 18 for my instrument. had the last one on my instument train me for my commercial and my commercial multi add-on. 570 total give or take and 70 hrs multi-engine.
so he was an FAA examiner and not a designated examiner? FAA examiners are free, that's the only good thing about 'em.

But, three out of the four stopped flying after me. No lie. And I never did anything really bad. The worst thing I ever did was take a turn a little fast and chirp the wheels a bit.

My excuse? It was darn DARK when the lights went out on me after I touched down and went to turn off the runway. I didn't brake enough to make the mid-point turnoff and my first warning of this was the tiny little sign appearing to my left. And I never ground looped or left my instructor somewhere or took of from a taxiway like SOME students did.

I never understood that. How the heck do you NOT notice the instructor is no longer next to you?

Brian

now THAT is a case of "rectal cranial disorder" good lord. what were the students thinking? were they signed off to solo?

How nice, they named a meter after me...:biggrin:

My current dealings with cockpit instrumentation involves MFDs, DEDs, and HUDs. I'm not familiar with the term Hobbs, what is it? Picture pls??

it's an hour meter. it starts when you fire the plane up. leemesee for a pick.....ah, here we go. sorry about the resolution. i don't have PS here at work.

DEDs Hobbs? what's that and who do you work for to have experience with those?

In the 1960s a good sailplane glide ratio was 22 feet horizontally for every foot downwards. Nowadays, it's what? -- 30:1 and better? Where do you look if you're not in glider country like central California with all the ridgeline wave?

from what i understand, in this area, glider pilots look for thermals and use them to soar upto the desired altitude......

There are many many clues, both on the ground (darker ground heats air better), in the air (birds, bugs and trash can all be swept up in a thermal), and in the sky (clouds can be read for clues as to their relationship to a rising column of air). This is a three part article (part 1, part 2, part 3) that offers a very good holistic introduction to identifying thermals and techniques for riding them upward. Enjoy.

I work for a contractor who teaches the boys in green how to fly those F-16s.

DED = digital entry display. Used to give the pilot useful nav/uhf/vhf information. It also gives displays fault warnings for things such as avionics/engine/electrial.