Originally Posted by
Centaurus
I was reading the autobiography of an Air Commodore colleague who was in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1951 where he was learning to fly on Tiger Moths. He said: "I must have been unlucky to draw the worst two instructors for my first 20 hours . These were two of a group of wartime pilots being retained by the RAAF for a short time but who were not likely to be given posts in he Permanent Air Force
Obviously resenting this interim situation they relieved their bitterness by taking it out on the hapless student. During flight both used derogarory criticism and foul-mouthed abuse, the like of which I had never before heard. 'Fifty eight knots, fifty eight knots, not bloody fifty nine! Trim the f....g thing, you bloody moron! Didn't you hear me me say to trim it? Taking over, and I'll show you again, you dimwit, and if you don't f.....g get it right this time you can p...s off out of here!" I found this degrading treatment most humiliating but determined not to be humiliated particularly over the matter of trimming. Those early hours were almost a case of improving one's understanding and ability despite the instructors"
The words of my colleague struck a chord in my memory because when I learned to fly two courses after him, I had the misfortune to have the same instructor- an embittered man who was one of a trio of instructors known as the "screaming skulls." Many years later I met up with my old Commanding Officer who was in charge of these morons. It turned out he had absolutely no idea of the behaviour of these instuctors because in those days one had to take it with a stiff upper lip. It would be unheard of to report their behavior. One of those screaming skulls later even became a senior Department of Civil Aviation Examiner of Airmen. So much for the veracity of aptitude tests in those days
I just finished reading Flight Command by John Oddie, and it wasn't mentioned there, so which book was it, Centaurus?
Reading your post reminded me of an interesting experience with a senior ATO who did cadet pilot evaluations for QANTAS. I'd seen him around the school at Bankstown where I'd worked, and when I had to do an Aerostar endorsement, he was the ATO qualified to do it with me.
A bit of background first though. I'd always thought he was a gentle old soul with a bit of a mischievous grin, especially after I'd seen him land with a Qantas cadet hopeful at Hoxton Park with the brakes briefly locked as the nervous student touched down with his feet on the brakes. As they were taxying back past me and my student in the runup bay, he looked at me with a mock worried look and both his hands up to his mouth as if chewing his fingers! After that, he proved to have a great sense of humour, so I wasn't concerned about flying with him.
Another bit of background, he was nicknamed "Squat Switch", and I found out why after our flight.
All was well as we taxied out, ran up the engines, took off, and climbed out into the training area, but after running through the usual general handling exercises, it was time to run through emergencies, and that's when dear old gentle Bresso turned into a terror! He yelled and carried on as if I was intent on killing him, which made me think I'd need a whole lot more training before getting the endorsement, but despite that, I just focused on flying the aircraft and didn't let his remarks distract me from the job at hand as he pulled mixtures at random.
After landing and taxying back, he was quiet again, and I was sure I'd made a mess of it, so I prepared myself for the worst as we shut down and walked back for the debrief. Imagine my shock when he began with, "That was the best endorsement I've done for a long time!" and proceeded to fill out the paperwork!
That was when I realized why his nickname was squat switch, because he turns into a raving loony when the wheels retract!
However, afterwards I came to the conclusion that all he was doing was trying to simulate the pressure of a real emergency, and I'd have to admit, he did that better than anyone else I've flown with.