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-   -   Getting The Chop (https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/611525-getting-chop.html)

rlsbutler 1st Aug 2018 00:47


... the school had rather a family atmosphere and (I think) a low chop rate. For all that, there was one student whom we all wanted to chop. The student in question was a bit of a BS merchant, did not seem to be listening to instruction (we most of us flew with him) and failed the odd check ride. He seemed to have natural ability. He was at least once trailled by an instructor because we suspected he was wasting or misusing his solo sorties. My own view was he was actually something of a psychopath. The nub of the problem was one of Personal Qualities. We agreed that we could not see him as a responsible aircraft captain; we saw him as bound to be the death of someone in due course and we feared that someone might not even be him.

With the doctrine at the time, we could not chop him from training.
Further to my post #36, by sheer coincidence an old pilot friend came to stay with us a day or two ago. Unasked he came out with virtually the same story.

It turns out he was the instructor of the student we wanted to chop. It was he who trailled the student on one of his solo sorties.

If we were sure the student was doomed, we were wrong in so far as that my friend believes he retired as a 747 captain. We still think he should have been chopped.

Maybe, as we finally recommended, his RAF career was always as a co-pilot. Otherwise his latent irresponsibility was an unnecessary risk to the Service.

brakedwell 1st Aug 2018 16:27

Ternhill 1956. Nobody on our Piston Provost course of 18 was scrubbed, but I do remember a very young student on a couple of courses after us going out with a bang! He lost his virginity to the very attractive daughter of a wing commander during a Saturday night party at her dad’s married quarter. Rumour has it he was walking round in a daze on Sunday and had not fully recovered before he set off on a solo aerobatics flight on Monday morning. Somewhere south of the Wirral he became “uncertain of his position” and called for a bearing from Ternhill, then set off 180 degrees in the wrong direction. He lost radio contact then ran out of fuel north of Liverpool and carried out a successful forced landing in a field surrounded by houses. Unfortunately he managed to hit the only telegraph pole in the field during the roll out. A fire engine on it’s way to the crash scene overturned while the intrepid aviator was guarding the wreckage from a local bobby, who had arrived on a bike. Young PD was chopped on his return to Ternhill and was remustered as an air trafficker.

Danny42C 1st Aug 2018 18:17

brakedwell (#63)

and called for a bearing from Ternhill, then set off 180 degrees in the wrong direction.
Put the QTE on his compass and flew it, I reckon. Happened before, it'll happen again.
Must have caused him a wry smile when he got into ATC and was in front of a CR/DF tube !


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