Another training question

[gordonf (Gordon Feingold)]

I think you are flying with a stunt pilot. I don’t think stunt pilots should fly their maneuvers with anyone else aboard. While they may be quite skilled, the maneuvers at the edge of the envelope (stall warning going off continuously close to the ground) are inherently dangerous. The fact they don’t result in fatalities with every attempt does not mean they are safe merely because they can often be completed without incident. They are dangerous because fatalities do result from such maneuvers even for the highly skilled. This guy may kill himself one day when a gust hits him, or if something distracts him, and when it does, nobody should be in the plane with him.

I agree with Wally, and furthermore it is idiocy to teach a student this maneuver because even if you could do it in a DA20, you certainly could not do it in a Cirrus or a Bonanza or the great majority of airplanes out there that you will be flying, and if your training causes you to instinctively try to do so at low altitude like you did in the DA20 (like this poor guy and his instructor did in a Cirrus.

[EdWatters]

Bill and Tom,

I would caution you trying to get primary flight training via COPA threads. The members here tend to be the best of the best with thousands of hours of flight experience but as a student it will be impossible for you to process their advice properly.

Keep your primary training simple and in a rational process. Do your night flying dual (100nm X-Country and 10 take offs and landings). Please do your attitude flying by instruments in the airplane and not in a simulator. Simulators are great for procedure training but cannot simulate a novice pilot’s nightmare- spatial disorientation in marginal VFR or on a dark VFR night.

Make sure your written exam is completed prior to your solo X-Country work. Its very unproductive if you have met most of your flight requirements but don’t have your written out of the way. Take your time and do things right, you will then have many hours of flying ahead for additional learning and to hone your skills.

If your instructor is more interested in teaching you the proper way to stall/spin turning back to your departure runway than following a training syllabus you may want to look for someone new.