Mil Pilot - Nature or Nurture?

[gums]

Good point, Pont

"feel" works with "touch". One day I had a chunk of ice come loose in my intake shortly after takeoff. As I moved the throttle for rejoin I felt a vibration, and this was a few seconds after the thump of the large icecube, heh heh. So back to original throttle position, call flight for the abort and to see if engine gauges were showing weird things ( think Sully). The vibration was the biggie, and many folks I flew with would not have noticed. But having felt the "thump" 10 or 15 seconds before that, I was maybe more sensitive than normal. My original thot was a bird strike, but I could not see feathers on the leading edges and gear was already up.

I came around heavy weight using speed brakes for whatever they would do with my speed and left throttle where it was until on the runway. You know, "thanks God, I'll take over now."

Between 60 to 70 compressor/fan blades destroyed, missing or bent!!!!

So my view is "feel" is a player, and maybe the "touch" and muscular aspects LOM points out enable "execution" and the proper "response".

The absence of direct connections to the flight control surfaces since the 50's is/was a big thing for we fast movers. Until 90's, and even afterwards except for a few transport planes, no cables or pushrods. Nada. So our butt and "feel" of the airframe and the motor had to be decent.

The FBW sportscar I flew for almost 5 years was really a challenge, as not only was there no feedback, but the stick didn't move more than 1/16th inch and in the family model you could not "feel" or see what the nugget in the front seat was inputting. My salvation was having chased newbies about for 600 hours or so in the A-7D, where I was camped out on his wing close as I dared. I could only watch and experience with my own butt and such to offer advice. Made it lots easier for me later in the Viper.

Gums opines...