What pilot/aircraft combo would you rather fly with?

[pwendell]

Would you rather fly with:

1. A very good Pilot in an unstable Gyro.
2. A mediocre Pilot in a stable Gyro.

[Victor Duarte]

all is said in my signature ;) but i d trust a stable machine
victor

[Gyro Guy]

How about a well trained, responsible pilot, in a very stable gyro? That is the best combination, one that ensures safty and long enjoyable lives.

[Aussie_Paul]

I cannot believe that anyone would want to fly in an unstable gyro, regardless of the ability of the pilots. If the pilot has a heart attack whick one would you rather be in? LOL

Aussie Paul.:)

[Harry_S.]

If I were a non-pilot on a demo ride, I would most definitely want the most experienced pilot. What would I know about stability?

[pwendell]

Paul,

One thing that good pilots have is good judgement. A quality that is necessary for safety on every flight no matter what you are flying in. A stable gyro will certainly reduce the effects of (certain types of) bad judgment, but can't really protect us from all the consequences of poor decision making. That being said, flying an unstable aircraft when you have choice doesn't seem like good judgment to me.

[mceagle]

A leading question - already caught a few.
How do you define a good pilot and a mediocre pilot?

A mediocre pilot should never be carrying two people!

And so far as an unstable Gyro and a stable gyro are concerned, the parameters need to be more accurately defined because it is quite conceivable that a good pilot in any machine can be safer than a mediocre pilot in a "stable" machine. In other words, the pilot is the biggest factor in the aircraft safety.

[Bill Clem]

To paraphrase a comment posted here a few weeks ago:

It takes a skilled pilot to fly an unstable aircraft...
It takes an intelligent pilot not to.

This is probably the best bit of wisdom to come out of this site or Norm's site in years. And for me, it summarizes very well all of the debates including: CLT vs HLT, horizontal stabs, unreliable engines, AN bolts vs recycled Chinese sewer pipe bolts, etc. How difficult is it to understand that safe, well built machines will bring you home and unstable, poorly built machines often end up as lawn darts?

[Chopper Reid]

Being intelligent doesnt necessarily lead that the same person is a good pilot.
If stabilty was the answer to all our woes, then no accidents should ever happen in single engined FW aircraft.
I would be very carefull who I flew with and would need to know the experience level of the pilot and how many hours they had in the gyro we would be flying in.I would insist on a pre flight inspection and watch the person conducting the inspection.

[mcbirdman]

And being a good pilot doesnt mean you are intelligent since we can't even define what a good pilot is. Is a good pilot one that can fly what he flies with little or minor concern even though there are things about it that can happen with the model that are beyond a "good" pilots control but does not occur with better designs?

Is this a good pilot when they don't appear intelligent enough to make important decisions that may affect not only themselves but others? What do you think the most important concern is to a passenger? Does it matter to the pilot that the passenger wants to be as safe as possible while flying? Is it okay to say you are aware of problems but they didn't deserve the best you could offer? People who are going for a ride assume that if you are flying it it must be okay. They do not know the questions to ask and assume you have them all figured out when they trust you to fly them.

If something happens and assuming it is survived to be discussed - Don't you think a survivor will learn about the problem and discover a few interesting things to ask you - such as - How come it is ok for you to fly a machine that is known to be unstable....a machine that can bite you if certain weather conditions occur. A pilot making a mistake flying piloting is a little more forgiving situation to me than saying you just looked the other way making intelligent decisions. Your intelligence as a pilot starts with decisions including if something is safe to fly. It is hard to say you are acting as an intelligent pilot while leaving the ground in a known flawed design with passengers. It is very irrisponsible to take other unsuspecting clients for a ride.

I agree a mediocre pilot would do well to just take care of himself until he masters the aircraft. An unstable machine should not be used to risk others. jtm

[Chopper Reid]

One thing I forgot to add that on no account would I ever get in or recommend to someone else to be a passenger in a gyro that had a 2 stroke engine powering it.

[Whirlydog]

The way I looked at the "Level" of pilot in the above poll is as follows

Good pilot--- one with over 1000 hrs flying on that type of aircraft. He should Know the full capabilities of his aircraft, and himself, in every condition possible.

mediocre pilot--- someone with 150+ hrs of flying in type of aircraft.


If I was to fly in an unknown quality of machine or ones with questions of stability I would only fly it with a pilot with over a 1000 hrs on it.

If the aircraft has a proven saftey record and shown to be very stable, Then I would not be to afraid to fly with someone who has only a few hundred hours of flight time with the machine.

I don't know if I would except a ride with any pilot with less that 100hr of flight time.