PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Flying together - do we criticise too much?
Old 13th Jun 2003, 16:48
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FlyingForFun

Why do it if it's not fun?
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Bournemouth
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Personally, I love flying with other pilots.

Having someone sat next to you to map-read gives you more time to enjoy the view, or vice versa if I'm doing the map-reading. I love trying out other peoples' aircraft, and I love giving people a chance to try out my aircraft. Looking out for traffic is much easier if there are two of you. And if you become slightly unsure of your position it's nice to have someone confirm that they also think you are where you think you are.

It's also rare that I fly with other people and don't learn something. Sometimes it's a new aircraft that I get to learn about. Sometimes I learn more about my own aircraft. Sometimes it's just a case of a bit of a technique problem. I once flew with another member of my Europa group as a passenger. My landings over the last few weeks had been even less consistent than normal, and my passenger happened to remark that he usually spent longer rounding out than me. My landing problems were solved. (Ok, not permanently solved, but I did a few pretty good landings, by holding off for longer, before they deteriorated to their usual bouncy style again!)

Then there's that infernal GPS, which I hate. It's far too complicated to use properly, you can spend longer setting it up for a flight than the length of the flight itself. But take with a passenger, and you can play with it as your passenger flies - or vice versa if he's familiar with the GPS unit. Suddenly that over-complex box of unnecessary gadgets starts to become more appealing (to me, anyway - I know other pilots would never dream of flying without programming their GPS first, but we're all different).

The list of benefits goes on - but I only have a limited amount of time, so I'll have to stop there. I hope that other pilots who I've flown with have enjoyed, and benefited from, flying with me as much as I have with them.

FFF
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