My two most common instructional situations caused me to have a horizontal more than vertical orientation: Teaching in very low powered airplanes at very high density altitude airports all day rather than just morning and teaching crop dusting.

I had to develop my own syllabus for these situations because FAA approved ones and the one most pilots and myself had been taught under had a vertical orientation. POH and takeoff criteria were mathematically established and neither takeoff near ceiling nor overloaded were considered. Takeoff near ceiling and/or overloaded require horizontal orientation.

Takeoff from a high MSL airport in the heat of the day requires at least a thorough map recon and hopefully more intimate knowledge of the terrain, especially how the snow melt and rain drains from the area. We need to be aware of any slope in our runway and wind speed and direction. We need to know where we might best expect orographic lift soonest down drainage. Downslope on the runway and down drainage are generally our best horizontal directional choice as we may not have sufficient engine thrust to takeoff upslope and climb up drainage to the nearest potential orographic lift. Zoom reserve in the form of airspeed developed in low ground effect may make clearance of obstructions possible, but rudder turns in ground effect may be more reliable and airspeed will bleed off in a zoom climb possibly requiring level or down hill flight beyond the obstruction.

Having done the math, we may determine that the horizontal considerations of the last paragraph are not necessary, but once we leave ground effect, climb, and turn up drainage we are committed to a vertical orientation until a hole can be found for a descending turn back down drainage.

As a crop duster, the load is all that can be reasonably carried. If we can make it horizontally to the field, however, we know we can lose some weight in the first pass or two. We are concerned with enroute obstructions we can neither rudder turn around nor go under. You guys that fed the villages up north and hauled the natives had no way to lighten the load part way through the mission. Also, you had low ceiling much of the time. Yours, I would think, was a horizontal orientation much of the time.

Contact, thank you for having the ability and energy to put those kinds of experiences into words and terms that address reality. The kind of stuff you're talking about, and your unique way of wrapping your head around it, are very much needed. Not because conditions are always exactly like the situations you describe, but because the conditions that are described and taught officially by others do not ever fully address the entire range of realities out in the real world.

In the strange type of flying that I cut my teeth on (gliders), I started to realize that there was a transition from flying based on the terrain (thermal currents triggering off of hilltops, flying the winds flowing over and around hills and ridges)... to flying based on the sky (lift will be under the clouds, strongest lift often right next to the rain, etc.). Although not exactly the same as your manner of teaching, I believe many of the concepts are very much related (having a way out, downhill or away from the mountain, always rings true to a glider guy!)

The big point is that the stuff you teach and share your experience/techniques with is a big piece of the puzzle that is largely missing from today's flying. I'm sure that new sprayer pilots and pipeline patrol guys learn this stuff from the older guys, but all the stuff you are talking about is completely missing from a "regular " flight school these days.

I want to make a very sincere suggestion that has huge potential. In addition to your book(s) and/or forum post descriptions of the stuff you know, I believe it would be a very valuable resource for you to get with some of the people on this forum who are doing high quality video, and make a series of instructional videos on these techniques. BCP is very "wealthy" in terms of video talent, we have several truly world-class people who have given us incredible quality content. The forum owner has specifically created a knowledge base to serve as a home for things exactly like this.

If one or more of these talented people would work with you to capture on video the techniques and explanations that you have, I'm certain that it will be recognized as a valuable asset. More importantly, this knowledge of yours (and other knowledge from other highly experienced people here) should be saved, to be able to educate better and safer pilots 50 years from now.

Whether those videos are presented as a free public resource, sold on DVD, rented, or licensed by King Schools is up to you and the film makers to decide. Either way I think it would be a great legacy that makes a difference in the safety and capability of a lot of pilots.

EZFlap,

Thanks for those comments. I would be very pleased to make a video with anyone willing to do the filming. The video would then be theirs but my suggestion would be to donate it to BCP to use however Zane thinks best. Other than my input, my contribution to the project would be to get myself to whoever would do the filming and put myself up until completion and buy the gas. If we need to travel to the nearest mountains, I will cover the cost to billet and feed the pilot and buy the gas.

Contact

Maybe Mr. Swingle and some of the other really talented video folks will take you up on this offer. I really hope so, seems to me like there's a very worthwhile result to be had.

Come see us in the Sierra's Contact!
Your crazy posts have me so intrigued I would love to help.

Crazy in a good way because most of the time I'm just trying to wrap my head around what your actually saying.

We could have some fun!

...And I'm a few weeks from my CFI completion. Your insight would be interesting


AKT

Oh yeah! That would be proactive and dynamic if you came out here, I would love to fly with you..I will help any way I can. Have the perfect airplane here to demonstrate your techniques...maybe we could fly it over to Kevins side of the hill?

I would love to contribute to this endeavor! Please do this! Mr. Renna!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AKT, CFOT, Prosaria, and others,

We need to get together on this either while there is still decent heat mid day for thermal and orographic lift. That could be later this season or in the spring. Planning has never been my strong point, but what I would cover is in "Safe Maneuvering Flight Techniques."

The best presentation would be with you guys driving and me talking. Can we get both video and audio? I like the inside the cockpit camera mount because viewers can see both pitch and bank attitude accurately. I have covered everything briefly in one day clinics but two would be better, especially with several pilots. Also, I don't know how much time is consumed with camera setup and editing.

AKT, it would be in your best interest to finish the CFI first. The oral and flight test are much about standardization in teaching method and compliance with top down theory and procedure. Neither of these are my strong points. We don't want to muddy the water. I know three open minded DPEs around the country, but after you finish the POH and TOLD card yours may not want to hear that the five hundred feet per minute rate of climb predicted for six AM could be three thousand feet per minute in a good thermal or ridge lift at noon.

Everybody PM me with phone numbers and we will talk. Even though I mumble, I do better when I talk.

Contact

This could be really cool....hope it comes to fruition.

I'm so happy that this idea seemed to resonate with other BCP participants. Contactflying is not the only grizzly old pilot on this forum whose flying experience will likely be of great value to others. His recent post is only what sparked the idea. We apparently have some very very highly experienced people here, seaplane ops instructors, glacier pilots, pipeline patrollers, freight dogs, bad weather experts, etc.

The big overall point I was trying to make is that Contact's experience, and a lot of others like him should not become some "lost art" like Scrimshaw after these pilots quit flying or instructing. Here's a way to prevent that from happening.

THANK YOU to the BCP participants who support this idea.

Please keep updating this thread with any new developments. I will support any way I can.

A video production is not a trifling undertaking but the results would be invaluable. I think it would really add to the vault of great material available here.

If you need to train a low-skill, low-time, ham-fisted pilot with unbridled enthusiasm, I'm your guy.

Allan

Thanks Allan,

Hopefully we can get together sometime. It looks like some of us might get together around Reno or across the mountains in California. I'll keep you posted.

Jim

Allan etal,

CFOT is working on putting something together in Lincoln near Sacramento.

Contact