Old n' bold
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Excellent ! I like the Velcro moustache idea I flew my PT 19 today on its 4th , and most successful flight so far. The weight added to the nose made all the difference, and I was able to do loops, rolls, and spun it, with it behaving perfectly. A flaps down greaser was most satisfactory at the end. It needs just a couple of tweaks and then I will be completely happy with it. See below what I did for my instrument panel. I wanted a ' 1930s ' look , so I viewed photos of vintage aircraft instruments for sale on ebay. A lot of the photos are full-face, so I down loaded those that looked right, reduced them in size, and created as near an authentic panel as I could. See the result in the attached photo below. Looking forward to the next outing with my PT 19. Cheers
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Ref Liam's query regarding solo pilots in front or rear seat : Generally bi-planes are flown from the rear seat solo to get the CG in the right area. Monoplanes do not seem to be so critical : I have seen photos of Miles Magisters being flown solo from the front, and the back. I have only seen web-pics of PT-19s being flown solo from the front.
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In reply to Malcolm, all our club rules state is that a solo pilot who has not attained his 'A' must be 'supervised ' by a pilot who has. Nothing else. In all the 6 years or so I have been instructing here, no-one has ever stipulated anything specific . Our Training Co-ordinator, and Safety Officer have never ever discussed anything as regards instructing previously. My fellow instructor and I were taken by surprise when were were told off by the SO for not being on the elbow of a solo novice who had some 20 solo flights already in the recent past. The SO had no idea of his experience thus far, and just upset what had been a pleasant afternoon. I did read the passage from the BMFA ' Guidance to Instructors ' on first solo supervision at the next committee meeting, but this was met by outrage from the SO, and the committee all backed him ! We two instructors are not going to teach under this regime, and we have done about 80% of the training in the past couple of years. It's a shame.
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Thanks everybody. What is clear from your posts is that there are many different ways to approach the issue of safely sending a person solo. To insist that there is only one way , " My way " , as is the case of our Safety Officer, is a very blinkered approach. He is backed up by our committee who seem to consider that whatever our SO utters must be safer simply because he is the SO. No discussion is therefore needed. I don't think my fellow instructor and I who were crticised by him will not bother to instruct in such a stifling atmosphere. What will he come up with next ? Cheers to all.....Old n' Bold
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May I say ' Thankyou ' for all your replies so far ,all are most appreciated. I take the point from the Moderator regarding the Safety Officer, but I am afraid I find our SO a very irksome individual, not because of his job but his manner. He does not invite discussion but just dictates. Our ' Training Co-ordinator ' has never co-ordinated anything, and in a well run club there would be discussion amongst the Trainers, and the SO, but this has never happened. If I took the initiative it would only end up in a row with the personalities involved. I come from a background as a one time CFI of a full size flying club, and have sent many a pilot off on their first soloes, day, and night, single and twin, so I think I have a reasonable appreciation of what is safe. I have also observed quite a few disasters where the late handing over of the transmitter after someone has lost control has achieved nothing but a lot of fumbling before the crash.To me solo is just that, you are on your own, and I would not be sending you off if I did not have full confidence in your ability to cope. Thanks for you comments.....Old n' Bold
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When it comes to sending a novice on a first solo off the buddy lead, I have always followed the BMFA ' Guidance to Instructors ' where it states : " It is sufficient to stand 6-10 feet behind the novice and remain silent, without narration or verbal encouragement " But I , and another Club Instructor, both of us with some years experience of r/c training were recently berated by our Safety Officer for sending a flyer on about his 20th solo with neither of us on his elbow. We were about 25 feet away from him watching. The SO insisted that this is how it is always to be done before they have achieved the 'A' Certificate, ie we must be right next to him, elbow to elbow. It has not been done this way at the club in my previous years of experience, there has never really been a fixed policy laid down by anyone. I have never seen the Safety Officer do any training, and I feel he does not understand the concept of what ' solo ' is all about. Comments from other club instructors please.
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I see from your photos that we do not have the same PT-19. Mine is below, and is the Seagull i/c 80" ARTF. The ridiculous pilot figures supplied went straight in the bin, the u/c fairings are paper thin and need beefing up, as does the exhaust moulding. The cockpit instrument panel suppled would be more at home in Space Shuttle , but all things considered it is pretty good for an ARTF . So far I've looped it , and rolled it, not yet spun it , but will next time out. Deploying the flaps at height , and slowed down, gave a slight nose down trim change which on trimming for ' hands-off ' did make it more unstable for and aft. I should have landed it flapless and added more nose-weight for the next outing, which I think will cure the porpoising at low speed. Hind-sight ! Happy landings !
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Glad to hear that ! Interesting that you say it's a bit prone to nosing over. I have flown my Seagull PT-19 three times from our smooth strip without that problem, but landing with about 60º flap I had a gentle porpoising in pitch which made me think my CG was a bit too far aft. Especially as it sagged into a lazy wing drop at a couple of feet , and crunched a wing tip. If your CG is a bit far forward, keep it there, and taxi slowly with the elevator full up !
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Is that a Seagull PT-19 ?
