check flights
 

A friend of mine had her club check flight curtailed because of a vacum pump failure and her instructer could not verify that she achieved a 60 degree banked turn - how stupid is that ? is it me ? I was taught to fly without reference to instruments.

That is for a club check out??? :eek:

What club requires a steep turn of exactly 60 degrees bank? The requirements for PPL are for 45 degrees or more. As far as I'm concerned, if someone can accurately maintain altitude and speed with something which looks to me like at least 45 degrees, that's fine. And if they can't, it's not the highest thing on my list of priorities - so long as they can recognise and recover from the spiral dive which will most likely result, they're not going to break my aeroplane or kill themselves because they lost 100' or their turn had 5 degrees less AoB than I asked for. I did the whole of my 170A for my CPL with no vacuum pump after discovering it had failed half way through the navigation leg.

On the plus side, if the instructor is so bothered by a minor upset like a failed vacuum pump, at least that suggests that the club has high maintenance standards!!!

FFF
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Based on the information you have given, I would say that it was the instructor who had failed. Did this really happen? If so, I think the least you can do is tell us where.

I certainly hope she was not charged for the curtailed flight.

Check Flight
 

To the best of my knowledge this really happened at a well known FTO near Milton Keynes. Aparently the instructor was very new, however I still find the whole episode bizarre!

Be nice to have a vacuum pump fitted in the first place, eh GAXAN?

Just a luxury for some of us.

A load of nonsense if this is the case. A checkout is about working out if someone is generally competent overall.
As you say, why the hell was the FI needing the AH to work out the AoB?

Let me know who it was and I'll happily ring up and tell them what is really important in a checkout. Numpty!

I do hope the average FI has a bit more common sense than this. Luckily I'm certain they do.

Often do turns banked up to 90 degrees in a Pawnee. Taint got no vac pump. Saw a Pitts doing all sorts of things the otherday, didn't have a vac pump either...

Gods AoB indicator (the horizon) works fine without.

PF

Of course there may have been another (and valid) reason for the FI's actions to which we are not party.

Hope it WAS just a newly-qualified instructor.....................?
Otherwise we can do without this nonsense.

Sleeve.