A TRIBUTE TO JFK JR.... from one pilot to another

No this isn't a gambling column, we can do without one less gambling column this month. As a licensed private pilot for 15 years, when one of your own eats terra firma unwillingly and especially when one's body parts assumes water temperature within seconds, only another pilot can understand.

We don't mourn for JFK jr. He died doing something he wanted (had) to do, flying is something your soul makes you do. It's the passengers we mourn as they put their lives in the hands of a practicing pilot who decided to launch on a day other VFR pilots turned and went home because of the poor visibility conditions. Flying isn't something one does just to say they did it, if it was, most pilots wouldn't make it through the introductory flight.

On the introductory flight, any CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) will try, (out of a moral code of conduct amongst CFI's) to scare just enough of the crap out of you just to let you know this isn't an amusement ride, it's not something you do because you're rich, or white, or single or bored. It's not a guy thing or an ego thing, it's a calling of the nature inside you that reminds you since you were a kid, you wondered what the world looks like from the eyes of a bird. What it would be like to soar on the wind to be in complete control of your own destiny and of your own soul.

Most pilots, if they make it through the first flight, are totally hooked, yet most pilots don't make it through their first 10 hours because of the time and dedication involved, much less the cost and the time and studying and of course of the possible outcome if there's an accident. (You're constantly reminded during training that when a car screws up, you just pull it over and call AAA, when a plane screws up, you call GOD.) The first time you practice power off emergency landing procedures will be enough to cure you of ever flying in ANYTHING EVER AGAIN; let alone a single engine airlpane. If that doesn't cure you, the power on and power off stalls will turn your knuckles a permanent bleach white and if that doesn't stop you, the spin training will bring you to a close and personal relationship with GOD and instill the REAL meaning of the "pucker factor" (the sound a certain body part makes when you're REALLY scared).

Still haven't had enough? Try 10 hours minimum (what I had to have in California and what would have likely saved JFK Jr.) of "under the hood" training, which is instrument training with a hood (large visor) over your head so you can't see out the windows, (no visual horizon) than with the hood on, the CFI will put the plane in a stall, then a spin, a steep left and right turn, than put the plane practically inverted and tell you to straighten out the plane. This is what happened to JFK and to 95% of all VFR (Visual Flight Rules) pilots with no instrument training, the first thing they do is pull back on the stick and turn to the right, stall one or both wings, or put it in a worse spin and loose control. The CFI steps in and pulls the power off, kicks the rudder and rights the wings according to what the instruments tell him, not what his body is telling him and the lesson goes on. Than one day the CFI opens the door on the taxi-way and tells you it's time to solo, "take it around once, do a touch and go (land and take right off) and land the second time around" which causes your heart to skip a beat, a reality check of your soul and gives your left "cheek" just enough time to kiss your right "cheek" goodbye.

Although most pilots can't wait for their solo, it's also understood "you can never go home again" in other words, the CFI has done his job, now all that's left is to get you your ticket (license) and on to the next introductory flight. This is where the problem starts. This is where JFK started his countdown to the crash. Any pilot with an ounce of brains will tell you, you MUST get your instrument rating (IFR, Instrument Flight Rule) this is the ONLY thing that will save you (short of an engine or structural failure) if anything goes wrong, that your body can lie to you, but the instruments don't. You can't always trust yourself, but you can trust Sperry-Rand. With over 1,000 accidents this year, NONE have been due to an instrument error and 999 were pilot error and 998 of those were due to VFR pilots flying into IFR conditions. (ie: clouds or haze)

How could this have saved JFK? First things first, he would have never left his assigned altitude or route. If the plane had started to get away from him, he would have looked in the cockpit at the instruments and righted the plane immediately according to what the instruments were telling him, not what your body is saying. A simple demonstration is to close your eyes, spin around quickly 5 times than open your eyes and stand on one foot without falling in the direction of your spin. Without getting too technical, every instrument backs up another instrument and a quick glance at only 2 of them will tell you what's wrong, at worst, you could take your hands off the controls, power back and the plane will right itself in most conditions. In instrument training not only do they put you "under the hood" but they cover up some of the instruments with rubber suction cups (round soap holders) so you learn to cross reference everything you do and if an instrument breaks, there's always a back-up, since some instruments rely on power and some just work on air measurements and don't need battery power to work.

I've flown the Saratoga, it was my first high-powered retractable gear I ever flew and it's a very forgiving airplane, but it's fast and a bit nose heavy because of the large engine and triple props and takes alot of training before any CFI will sign you off to fly solo in one. But wave $375,000 in front of the owner and see how long it takes him to get the keys out of his pocket. You don't need a license to buy a plane, but you do need a special rating to fly THAT plane. It takes a special high performance, retractable gear, constant-speed propeller rating and that takes hours of TRAINING and passing written tests as well. How much training is up to the CFI and if it's the CFI that's doing the selling as well as the training is like someone showing you how to kick-start their Harley, then selling you the bike and leaving you to deal with the size and weight and the problems they bring on your own. When you park the bike on the side of a brick wall or assume the consistancy of strawberry yogurt, along with a passenger, who's to blame? Do we feel sorry for the driver who screwed up, or the passenger who had to pay along with the driver? (when 200 die in a plane crash, was it all of their times, or just one guys time and the rest were just along for the ride?)

Most of us, like myself, still have the vision of JFK Jr. pulling away from Jackie, taking two steps forward and saluting his father and although we all knew he was told and shown how to do that, it doesn't stop the tear, or detract from the memory of that scene. So we all mourn his passing, but only a pilot knows when a pilot has passed. "Oh,I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth, and danced the skies on laughter's silvered wings. Sunward I have climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things. Wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence. Hovering there, I've chased the shouting wind alone and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air. Up, up the long, delirious burning blue, I've topped the windswept heights with ease and grace, where only Eagles dare to fly. And while, with silent lifting mind, put out my hand and touched the face of GOD.

God be with you and your father....

Kenny P