Pilot DAR
I am not interseted in a 'willie waving' competition, if you think that you know all about this stuff and that I would benefit from a trip in a tail wheeler with you, OK, you win, you must know more about all this stuff than I do,
BUT The one thing that I have NOT done is to offer advice and encouragement for ANY -BLOODY- ONE to go out and give it a go by themselves. The points for consideration that I raised were to illustrate the exact opposite, that if there is a mandate for such operations that it should be learned in a proper environment, with proper qualified, certified, experienced senior flight instructor, perhaps yourself, who is well aware that the performance charts in the AFM (depending upon the certification basis of the aircraft) will usually include factors for downwind component, as well as for uphill gradient. simple reference to these items will surely illustrate the the TODR/LDR as you so rightly indicate to @viater, however I take issue that this is all you need to know, as there is no reference in any way to the effects of reverse wind shear, which you will most definately encounter, in a possibly very uncomfortable way, if you launch in these conditions. The AFM/POH does not cover this aspect of of the descent/climb wind gradient effects, so the encouragement by you for said neophyte to consult the book of numbers and thou shalt endure to an old age is actually more likely to shorten his days of recoicing than a serious sit down briefing and real world demonstration by an expert in these matters.
As a DAR you must be well aware that the AFM/POH these days is an imortant engineering certification compliance document and not really a how to manual for pilots. I have parrticipated heavily in the composition of one for a fully certified part 23 (amdmt 54/55) aircraft and I was constantly frustrated by engineering who insisted upon deleting what I considered, in some cases, to be highly useful information, on the basis that such info was 'superfluous to the intended nature of the document' or 'not specified as being mandated for inclusion' ( for example; specifying Vx).
I had to fight to include guidance and advice that I would consider vital for a pilot faced with critical and/or emergency situations, but which the boffins just insisted should be covered by the sum total advice of 'land immediately' but who then write a multi page supplement on how to turn the radio on, despite all relevant info being available in the vendors operator's manual. The more information that a pilot can absorb specific to a certain aircraft typre's systems and procedures prior to flight the better as far as I am concerned, reference to check list when the waste products impact the ventilation device is well and good (and vital) but an understanding of systems, procedures and principles is invaluable. Much of this stuff is not included in manuals but is learned as 'tribal knowledge' provided the punter lasts that long. Having said that I don't believe that downwind operations procedures should be included in the POH, they are largely generic and are best coverd in a flight school ops manual, however any type specific stuff should be.
As AFM/POH's become ever thicker they are in fact less relevant to the pilot of a part 23 aircraft than they ever have been.
This thread is also on the wrong forum I would suspect as well, despite my best effort of including some FT content cunningly disguised as thread drift.
Back to the real world of the GA driver,,
HD