Problem Punters?

[long final]

Dear All,

Having too much (read too little) time between ATPL study, I was wondering if any of you esteemed instructors out there have any tales of problematic punters/students/pleasure flight-ers.

In problematic, I am leaning more towards, say, violent reversal of previously splendid idea of having a bash at flying in a small airplane or sudden revival of lunch or get me back down on the ground NOW type situations??

One of my instructors came back from a pleasure flight; conducted with a man and his wife, telling how the LHS punter suddenly decided it would be good fun to try and shove the thing vertically landward, just to see how much his wife, who was in the back, enjoyed the feeling. I believe she enjoyed it VERY loudly.

Regards,

LF

[BigEndBob]

If you are doing a tl and punter is about to throw up (usually at 200ft on final) always open the sicky bag up for them and show them where to deposit their contents.

Unfortunately i gave a chap my neatly folded bag, he placed it against his mouth and gave a good impression of a muck spreader!

[mad_jock]

I had a 82 year old lady once on a trial flight who refused to leave go of the controls.

She had an iron grip on the yoke and after the TO and 10mins the option of her doing the landing was out.

Just as we entered the circuit I gave the "I have control" and she wouldn't let go. After repeating 2-3 times i peeled her fingers off the yoke. She never said a thing. Then as I turned finals her hands went on again like iron. Missed app then had to decide what to do. First idea was hit her round the back of the head with the fire exingisher vetoed due to cleaning the blood up afterwards. Next idea which i used was peel her hands off again then pitch up into a 15deg climb while pulling the seat release on her side. She went sliding back and couldn't reach the controls. Then did a very abbreviated approach before she could get the seat forward again.


Lesson learnt is don't go by apperances with trial flights the hardest drug dealing manicas will cry like babys with only 10degs of bank and the old grannys will have you spinning and stressing the wings.

Not even going to recount the vomiting on finals storys, luckly i had only 2 but they were trumatic enough. There is nothing like atomised vomit all down your back with another 4 hours of flying to do.

MJ

[FlyingForFun]

An ex-instructor told me once about a trial lesson he did at a previous flying school before he started instructing at the club I fly from:

Lady turned up, introductions were made, and they did the usual ground briefing before the trial lesson. Went out to the aircraft, started up, taxied out to the runway and took off. Shortly after they rotated, new student pressed the push-to-talk button and began reciting the Lord's Prayer over and over again :eek:

The lesson was cut short, student's hand was prised away from the controls, and they came straight back again. Once safely on the ground, he asked her why she did that (although the way he related the story to me, he phrased the question slightly less politely than that!) "I just want to fly so that I can be closer to God" she told him.

FFF
-------------

[B2N2]

- Ppl student blowing a fuse and getting violent in the cockpit.
Guns for airline pilots?How about teargas for flightinstructors..
-A time builder working on his fATPL, according to his books the runup in a C172 had to be done at 1200rpm (?):rolleyes:
-A PPl for nightcurrency, hadn't flown night in 2 years figured 3 landings solo would make him current for night xc.Technically yes, any other way NO.Convinced him he should do a dual night xc proceded to get us in night IMC 'cause "you have an IR":}
-Not bother to tell me they're on medication turn blue and start hyperventilating.
-A bodybuilder on all kinds of muscle enhancers and stimulants
with the attention span of a 2 year old.
But a lot of very good people and a lot of good friends make it all worth it..

[Tinstaafl]

1. Big, burly bloke's first spin lesson after the usual stalls etc. Sod froze on the controls with pro-spin input. Took a good few elbows into his ribs tomake him let go after I had tried talking & overpowering him on the controls.

2. Student at pre-solo stage, doing circuits. Just after landing he wrong-footed the rudder pedals, sending us off the runway & pointing at a *very* near cone marker. Too fast to stop, not fast enough to fly over it. Used full power, & max back pressure to raise the nosewheel & prop as high as I could and sort of 'hop' over the top of the cone then steered us back to the runway after it passed under the mainwheels.

[Spikeee]

Did anyone watch Some mothers do 'ave 'em last night?


The guy was having flying lessons, was hilarious!


Spike

[dwnunderblunderer]

I had a chap who had done a CPL 15 years previous come in to "get back into it". It was a bit of a grumpy day wx wise but it was definately flyable just a little bumpy. I thought that seeing he had done so much flying in the past he would be ok. Off we go into the blue yonder and the chap put on the most pitiful display I have ever had. Even first time trial flighters would have put him to shame. To cap it off he hurled on finals, which actually nearly made me laugh becuase of the funny sounds he was making as he tried to hold it down. Hehe, i am wicked.

[Holdposition]

Spikeee

had taped it and was just enjoying the bit where he knocked FI out and was in control!, bloody tape finished early so guess must have missed the best part, ie, APP into cranfield!, even Mrs HP was enjoying it:)

[topper2]

Great episode

I was shocked when I realised that I actually flew that same plane (G-BFRV) during my PPL training in Edinburgh in 1997! It would be interesting to know who owns it now

[muppet]

Doing the usual 4i effects of controls and had just finished turning so I gave the a/c to the student and suggested we did a "nice gentle 360", after the the obligatory "look-out" the student promptly pulled the stick fully aft.

He thought I meant 360 in the vertical plane.

Do you find that nervous punters "pedal" the a/c down finals?

Had a librarian once who was coming along fine and then on finals on a perfect flying day suddenly wraped his arms around his head and screamed "I can't do this".

[pilotbear]

regarding the 'some mothers' episode, Michael Crawford has a PPL and did all his flying himself. He used to live round the corner from me near Cranfield where it was filmed. :ok:

[MasterCaution]

regarding the 'some mothers' episode, Michael Crawford has a PPL and did all his flying himself

I hope he wasn't paid for that day's shooting then :). I wonder if royalty payments break the PPL not getting paid for flying rule?

MC.

[hashdef]

I was shocked when I realised that I actually flew that same plane (G-BFRV) during my PPL training in Edinburgh in 1997! It would be interesting to know who owns it now

SOLO SERVICES LTD
68 SHIP STREET
BRIGHTON
BN1 1AE
UNITED KINGDOM

regarding the 'some mothers' episode, Michael Crawford has a PPL and did all his flying himself

A well-informed source tells me that the late R.D. Campbell (of 'Flight Instructors Manual' fame) did the stunt flying. If you watch closely, there were actually two different aircraft used. A 150 was used for the exterior shots and some close-up bits using cameras fixed on brackets (either in the back or on the strut). A 172 was used for some of the interior stuff so that the cameraman could get in the back.