Flight Training - August 2012 - 18

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Hand on the throttle
What if your nose itches?
Dear Rod: We have an instructor at our local airport who insists that the pilot flying have his hand on the throttle pretty much at all times and goes bonkers if you take it off during the takeoff or on final approach. No trim or flap adjustments may be made on final approach. He’s so insistent that he will not sign pilots off for a checkout if they drop their hand off the throttle. I always taught my students to have their hand on the throttle on takeoff, probably because that’s how I was taught. As I’ve thought more and more about this, it probably helped prevent overcontrolling more than anything. I’ve never seen a throttle move where I couldn’t adjust it in a flash. What say you? No Name Please

SINCE YOU ASKED

Greetings NNP: The basic idea of having student pilots keep their hand on the throttle during takeoff and landing is a reasonable one. On the other hand, there’s no good reason whatsoever that a student pilot (or any other pilot for that matter) shouldn’t take his hand off the throttle during takeoff or while on final approach to do his or her cockpit business. What if a bug landed on your nose? Are you supposed to sit there cross-eyed? That’s not how to debug your landings. To suggest that a student not be allowed to retrim the airplane either on takeoff or landing by moving the hand from the throttle to the trim wheel is completely unreasonable. Your local CFI should reconsider his position. Dear Rod: I’m a private pilot. I have a friend who is

a sport pilot instructor with a Light Sport tailwheel airplane. Can he give me a tailwheel endorsement in that airplane? Is it good for non-LSAs, too? Virgil Greetings Virgil: A tailwheel endorsement is a tailwheel endorsement, period. A sport pilot airplane instructor is good to give a tailwheel endorsement to any pilot rated for ASEL so long as the instruction is given in an LSA. That tailwheel endorsement is then good for any airplane the pilot wishes to fly. Dear Rod: I’m a student pilot and am getting close to solo. One thing confuses me. Before making a turn, I’m supposed to check for traffic by raising the wing on my Cessna

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Flight Training - August 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - August 2012