AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2012 - 24

LETTERS

Affordable Aerobat

just want to say thank you. As a generally not-so-rich pilot who has never owned an airplane, it’s nice for once to see an article about a great airplane that
As a fellow S–1S owner for 13 years (and a Pitts snob) I appreciate you getting the word out on a fabulous little airplane. Today, so many pilots only think about airplanes with TV sets in the panel, it’s refreshing to remind them about stick-and-rudder flying. It’s true that landings are the price you pay to fly a Pitts. Here is what I do: On the 45-entry leg, I move the mic boom and slap my face with both hands—a reminder to wake up and have my game face on for the landing. Slate Erickson, AOPA 6844184 Edgewood, Washington “Don’t do any more landings in a Pitts than you absolutely have to,” the veteran Pitts pilot said. “No one ever completely masters them, so touch and goes only tempt fate.” Are you kidding?! The Pitts is the funnest airplane I’ve ever landed. It does everything any other taildragger will do— if you know how to fly it. It wheel lands on two wheels. Touch and goes are simple, whether you put the tailwheel down or not. I even do touch and goes on only one main and ride it down the runway on just that main before pulling back up. Why would you want to scare people by saying not to tempt fate? How about giving the advice of “learn how to fly your airplane” instead? Christy Lichtenstein, AOPA 6992639 Sherman Oaks, California The perfect trainer Now you’ve done it. You just couldn’t leave it alone. This is like a discussion on Darwin’s theory and creationism or politics or, worse yet, college football! (“Dogfight: The Perfect Trainer,” January 2012 AOPA Pilot.) I learned to fly in a Cessna 150 and took my checkride in a 172 several years later. I built a tailwheel, low-horsepower, wood-and-fabric airplane, and relearned to fly in a Taylorcraft L–2. Wow, did I find out the hard way those things under the instrument panel were not footrests. Since then I have flown several types of tailwheel airplanes, in crosswinds that made my knuckles white; owned an Aeronca Chief (which does ground loop, by the way); but now I own a trainingwheeled PA–28, and I fear no crosswinds, rather, I totally respect the wind. Always use the rudder to land in the direction I am heading. I think tailwheel training should be mandatory for every flight school. Ric Petit, AOPA 2007149 Marshall, Texas I am a 68-year-old pilot retired from the Air Force and American Airlines. I learned to fly in a Champ, from a World War II instructor whose attitude was, “I will teach you to fly and you can go elsewhere to get

doesn’t cost more than $100K (“Budget Buy: Affordable Aerobat,” January 2012 AOPA Pilot). Only a few of the many pilots I know can afford to own an airplane and I think the people who live aviation—as in AOPA and magazine writers—have forgotten that. I can’t tell you how disappointed I’ve been in the LSA market, when everything it offers newer than 40 years old is way more than $80,000 to $100,000 before it ever leaves the ground. I’m not sure I have the skills to handle a Pitts, but I do appreciate at least seeing an airplane that I might want to fly. If we think we’re going to promote aviation, then we can’t put it all out of the reach of the general public and expect it to grow. Bruce Mathew, AOPA 3572436 Onalaska, Wisconsin

AOPA PILOT •

24 • MARCH 2012

AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2012