Recently, I’ve been tweeting a little nugget of semi-random goodness, sometimes thought-provoking, often funny, and never a David Allen original. I find this stuff on the internet and say to myself, “Ooh, I like that. I bet at least one of my followers will like it, too.” So I tweet it.

Most of the responses to these tweets have been positive, and there have been plenty of retweets. I love interacting with people, so of course it puts a smile on my face to see this kind of thing.

In honor of AirVenture Oshkosh, my tweets this week have all been aviation-related. Here is today’s tweet:

He who demands everything that his aircraft can give him is a pilot; he who demands one iota more is a fool.

August 1, 2010 10:05 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@DaveFlys

David Allen

The first (and so far only) response to this was one of my followers questioning the experience – as a licensed pilot – on which I could base such an observation. This was followed by a couple of back-and-forths regarding limits and how they are not necessarily “clear cut” when it comes to airplanes.

Frankly, this whole conversation has just been bothering me. No, I am not a licensed pilot. Those that know me also know that I am the first person to admit that I know relatively little when it comes to the operation of a flying machine. I am no expert.

First of all, this tweet was mine, but the comment was not created by me. That said, I did say it, so I am obviously behind the idea.

Now this may be a debate about aircraft limitations, but I guess my question is, why? Why would a pilot ever flirt with these limits? Don’t all airplanes have them? Yes. Is there such a thing as a limitless aircraft? Goodness, no. Every flying machine on this planet has an envelope within which it is designed to operate. The vast majority of pilots operate their aircraft in a small fraction of that envelope. They are still pilots, though and through. Many of my friends and I define a pilot as anyone who has sat all alone in an aircraft, firewalled the throttle, charged down the runway, and rotated.

Some pilots learn to use much more of that envelope. That is the guy I want to be.

But what I don’t understand is why it would ever, EVER be okay to exceed that envelope? Whether it be flying in excess of Vne, exceeding the maximum G-loading, or performing prohibited maneuvers, I cannot ever imagine a circumstance that would call for such action.

Is it possible to over G an airframe and have no damage occur? Maybe, I don’t know. I’m sure it depends on the plane and the circumstance.

Is it possible to perform aerobatic maneuvers on an aircraft that wasn’t designed or tested for such things? Maybe.

Buy why would you, as a pilot, ever want to find out? If you are wrong, it could kill you, and your passengers, and anyone on the ground that you end up cratering into. I call THAT sort of behavior foolish.

Sure there is the argument that if you get into a bad situation and need to do something outside if the airplane’s envelope to recover. But how did you get into that situation? Are you a VFR pilot who just flew into IMC and you are now in a descending dive? Do you need to pull-pull-pull to get the plane level again to save your skin? Will it work? Maybe, but the big picture here is this guy was a fool for flying into IMC in the first place. They are clouds. Stay out of them unless you are trained.

Perhaps I am closed-minded or prudish. But I feel like I have done enough flying to understand that each airplane has its strengths, its niche, its envelope. If I want to engage in a particular type of flight, I should use the correct aircraft and pursue the proper training. A good friend of mine put it this way: learn to use the full envelope of an aircraft, but only push one corner at a time.

This quote says it best:

Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.

— Captain A. G. Lamplugh

So now I need to know what you think. Am I ignorant or prudish? Am I missing the essence of being a pilot? Do I not “get” the fundamentals of commanding a flying machine? Is there ever, ever a good reason to demand more than your aircraft can give you?

Or do aircraft have limits that should never be toyed with, whether clear-cut or not?

I am extremely interested in your thoughts on this. If nothing else, I am teachable, and I am open to correction on this. But everything I know as an aviation enthusiast says that you just don’t try to make your aircraft do things that it cannot do.

What say you?

Another Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In is behind us. Most of my week was spent at Sun ‘n Fun Radio performing my duties as Editor-In-Chief. We really stepped things up at the radio station this year. Admittedly, we bit off more than we should have. The listeners were probably oblivious (at least I hope so), but those of us that were working behind the scenes to make it all happen were constantly busy. Too busy. It left many of us, myself included, overly stressed. In spite of that, we accomplished some pretty awesome stuff, like live internet streaming of the radio station thanks to our friends at LiveATC.net.

Near the end of the week, things really started to look up for me. On Thursday, I was host for Stephen Force on the “Not At Sun ‘n Fun” podcast. Stretching the capabilities of technology, the Internet, and our tiny little pipe to the outside world, we used Skype to bring Captain Force and all of his guests into the radio station, through the board, over the AM radio waves, and back out to the Internet to be streamed live for the listening audience. Crazy, but well worth it … and a whole lot of fun in the end.

Many of my friends began to arrive on Friday, some of whom met on the deck of Sun ‘n Fun Radio for the second annual Gathering of Aviation Podcasters. While there were not as many podcasts represented this year as there were last year, we did welcome some newcomers. Uncontrolled Airspace, CopterCast, and Flight Time Radio appeared on the show. Of course, I was there to represent The Pilot’s Flight PodLog.

As soon as the GAP was finished, it was time to head over to the Piper Aircraft tent for the myTransponder party. Piper provided the food. Ace and ForeFlight provided the beer. And there were a whole bunch of door prizes. I’m sure I’ll forget something, but here’s a list of the door prizes:

• Piper Aircraft: 1 Flip video camcorder, 1 box of golf balls, and 2 PiperJet books signed by the test crew.
• Cessna Aircraft: 1 model of a Cessna Citation Mustang with a display stand.
• ForeFlight: 3 one-year subscriptions to ForeFlight Mobile 3.
• Pilot Getaways: 2 one-year subscriptions to the magazine.
• Scheyden Precision Eyewear: 1 pair of Sonoma Classic Flip-ups and 1 pair of Jet-A Hybrids.

Look at all that suff! It’s nuts! I want to personaly thank each and every one of the companies that brought stuff to give away. That said, the real highlight for the party was the fellowship. Friends interacting and having a great time together with the sounds of the night airshow providing the background music. Eric from ForeFlight was busy all night giving demos of ForeFlight Mobile 3 HD on the iPad, and I’m here to tell you, it’s gorgeous. Our friends at Piper Aircraft were amazing hosts to the 65 guests guests who arrived.

On Friday, the USAF Thunderbirds did their first full show. Will and I decided to go find a place from which to just watch the airshow. Now, I’ve known Will a long time now, and we both love the Thunderbirds and airshows in gerenal. I mean, that should be obvious, right? Then how is it that we’ve never actually sat down and watched an airshow together? The two of us just watched as the ‘Birds tore open the very atmosphere that was supposed to be supporting them aloft. Okay, we didn’t just watch; we were pumping our fists in the air, hollaring and cheering like the two ten-year-olds seated in front of us. It was epic!

Near the end of the show, we headed back to the radio station to get ready to perform an episode of The Pilot’s Flight PodLog live on the air … and on the ‘net. Our guests included Mike Douglas of the Mile High Flyers Podcast, his wife, David Thurlow of CopterCast, Phil Clark of The Modern Day Nomad, Rod Rakic of myTransponder, and Roger Bishop of the Indy Transponder. Rico Sharqawi also made a cameo apperance … a hilarious little cameo at that. The show was fantastic. The shownotes and audio are available here.

As soon as the show wrapped up (and the final hits of Jeremiah Weed were downed), I headed out to get my family settled in. After having been without my wife and boys for a week, even Skype video just wasn’t enough. I drove them around the field in a golf cart for a bit to see the airplanes on the field. Then we headed over to the outdoor theater to see Will and Rico present “A Pilot’s Story“. Nick Spark, a previous guest on the podcast, was also there to present his film “The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club“.

The evening was wrapped up with a group excursion to Outback Steakhouse for some grub and good times. Yes, this is what Sun ‘n Fun is all about. It’s about the people, the friendships old and new, the stories, hangar-flying, and the ocassional tall tale about the time I flew the F-16 at mach 2.2 with my hair on fire.

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This week we welcome Monika Petrillo into the virtual hangar. Monika is a private pilot living in Los Angelas, CA. After getting her private pilot’s license, Monika ventured out on a trip to fly all the way around the continent of Australia. With her family in tow, including her father who had also just gotten his private ticket, Monika chronicled the entire adventure. Several years later, Monika released her self-produced documentary film Flyabout.

Monika talks about the motivation to get her private pilot’s license, how her father reacted to the news, and how they decided to take on such a wild adventure together. Will and David introduce a new segment into the show that they call the Dream Hangar, where we talk about which three airplanes we would want in our Dream Hangar. Finally, we wrap up with some ATC: The Aviation Trivia Challenge.

As always, we’d like to thank Steve Tupper and Scott Cannizzaro for providing the music for this podcast. If you’d like to reach any of us, please feel free to follow us on Twitter or drop us an email. All of our contact info, including Monika’s, is at the bottom of the show notes.

Shownotes:

• Low time pilot? – You can still take an adventure
• Getting started with flying
• Talking to the camera
• Making a documentary
• After the film

Dream Hangar:

• Will’s Dream Hangar:
  • Fast: Diamond DA42
  • Slow: Cessna 180
  • Upside down: Zivko Edge 540
• David’s Dream Hangar:
  • Fast: Cessna Citation Mustang
  • Slow: Breezy
  • Upside down: Anything that flies a USAF Heritage Flight (i.e. P-51, A-10, F-15, F-16, F-22)
• Monika’s Dream Hangar:
  • Fast: Space Shuttle
  • Slow: Piper Cub
  • Upside-down: Boeing PT-17 Steerman

• Question 1: What does VASI stand for?
  • Answer: Visual approach slope indicator
  • First correct answer: @danwebbage
• Question 2: A cloud that produces precipitation is called what?
  • Answer: Nimbus
  • First correct answers: @brianmichael
• Question 3: What aircraft held the record for being the fastest and highest flying manned jet aircraft throughout its entire career?
  • Answer: SR-71 Blackbird
  • First correct answer: @pilot2b

• Will on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pilotwill
• David on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DaveFlys
• Podcast email address: pilotsflightpodlog@gmail.com
• Monika on Twitter: http://twitter.com/flyabout
• Monika’s email address: info@flyaboutmovie.com

Direct download: PFP__54_Monika_Petrillo__Flyabout.mp3