Disappointed for the Better

[dirtydog1006]

My group had been in CAP for awhile: had 5-6 stripes, qualified to wear the orange hat, starting to run the squadron. High-school graduation was just a glimmer on the mental horizon. This would be our Golden Time. Therefore we were delighted but not at all surprised to learn a Senior member transferring in was bringing a T-34A with him. I regarded a T-34 much as I regarded Miss September 1966, and I was not alone. We never saw this guy, but word was he had had two forced landings on the way to KBED. Much more important was the announcement that cadets helping out with the plane would get back-seat time, hour for hour. We were all over that! For awhile it was straight home from school, blast through the homework, inhale dinner, and off to the airport. She sat in a corner of the hanger, sand bags instead of engine and prop, looking mighty dingy. The cans of polish and cubic yard of rags were all the instructions we had, or needed. None of this wax-on-wax-off bs for 'our' T-34. We spit shined that airplane. When she was all back together and buttoned up she was a pretty sight indeed. We each had about 16 hours coming to us (and upper bodies like Arnold). Then she just vanished, with no sign-up sheet or flying schedule. I was kind of annoyed.
Within days, the newspaper said a small plane had gone down off Revere Beach, killing the sole occupant. This was sad enough, but I was truly aghast at the photo. In the surf with her tail sticking up like the hand of a drowning person was 'our' T-34A. Her shine and our adulation had not protected her from some failure of mind, or body, or airplane part.
I have wondered if things would have been different with one of us in the back. Not that a cadet would have saved the day: this is real life, not the movies. But with a kid in back maybe he would have flown more carefully. Or maybe there would be two dead. Who can say? I have come to suspect he was a low-time guy, whose enthusiasm exceeded his ability with that T-34. Maybe she was his 'doctor killer'. While I had thought it mean of him to fly without us, maybe he was looking out for us after all.

[Tom Goodrick]

It is a sad fact that just because a guy has a private Pilots License does not mean it is safe to fly with him. The NTSB records list an average of 25 fatalities a month in the US and mostly in private aircraft. In the CAP I flew in our J-3 for only a few months before a guy turned it into crap trying to fly out a short pasture. When i was taking flyong lessons (official, about 17 years after leaving the CAP. the doctor in the small town near the airport was our only certified FAA doctor. He was also considered an incompetant pilot. I was able to get a checkout and solo for 7 hours in an American AA-1A. I loved it. Then the doctor took it up and smashed it up on landing. It was fixed. Then a lady student took it up and smashed it up before I could fly it again. The school sold it and never put it back for rent by students.

The AA-1A had completely ineffective flaps and a very fast roll response. It handled exactly the opposite of the Cessnas we were trained in. Our airport had a built-in crosswind. People many people could not handle that AA-1A on landing. I was probably mainly lucky. By the way I heard the lady had a severe lien placed on her house for the repair bill. Just the radios cost $30,000 which was half the cost of a typical house back then (early 1970's).

Incidentally, it is virtually impossible for a student pilot to buy insurance. A flight school might say "yeah we're insured" but they mean THEY are insured, not you, the student.

Some trainers like the Cessna series (150, 152, 172) are fairly safe for students and low-time pilots to handle. But there are a lot of aircraft that are not very safe. Even the 182 is not very safe for a low-time pilot. People tend to landi it on its nose wheel. If they are lucky, they just bend the firewall.

Then there are the planes that can get into trouble doing stalls which turn into spins fromwhich recovery is dificult. The Beech A36 is famous for that, as is the Baron. The T-34 is probably similar. It works as a miltary trainer where pilots get a lot of practice and stay competant (or get washed out). In civilian hands it could be trouble.

I quit flying when I couldn't afford to fly more than once a month. I quickly lost the competance I had when I was flying cheaply and almost weekly as a student.

FS has one major flaw. It is too easy to recover from most problems before you crash if you fly the default planes. I have worked hard to fix that. Horse around with a plane I have worked on and you can get into a fatal crash without working too hard - especially if it is a twin, a prop jet or a jet. Even if it is a Bonanza.

[dirtydog1006]

Our Official L-16 went to airplane heaven in a way similar to your J-3. Someone needing to pee or something landed her in a farmer,s field and did not get her out. A hot day, a few thousand feet elevation, and two 'adult' guys. Word was he changed his mind, TWICE, on the takeoff roll. (Even I know better than that!) Since he could not get her up, he used her to rearrange a stone wall and tap some apple trees. We took a flatbed to bring her home, but did not have the tools to remove the wings. I guess it is a good thing that wings are tough to get off (at least on purpose). Even in rural New Hampshire a pack of vandals found her, and that was it.