Originally Posted by
FleetFlyer
How many of you safety concious non-low flying people out there practise your PFLs regularly and to a degree of realism that lets you know if you would have been successful?
Since I work part time as a flying instructor I do a lot of PFL's all of which I stop at 300 to 500 feet as at that point it is obvious whether or not you are going to make the field, so I see absolutely no point in going down to 50 feet. If I want to demonstrate a PFL to touchdown I do it to a runway.
As for low flying....well my summer job is flying a firebomber,so low flying is a requirement of the job. However it is done after specific initial and recurrent training by highly experienced pilots and conducted in accordance with specific SOPs design to maximize the safety of the operation. What I saw was a lowtime pilot in a light single cranking and banking on the deck exposing himself and his passenger to needless risks for no good reason except for cheap thrills....hence my "stupid" comment on an earlier post.
BTW in my experience pilots who have experienced an actual engine failure in a single seldom seem to be very enthusiastic about low flying....go figure...