Pilot Traditions

[Sven]

Many of us, when we soloed, got our shirt tails cut off or a bucket of water dumped on us. I have a friend about to get his private ticket and his wife is asking me what the next level of tradition is. I have no clue. And I'm not sure if I've heard or experienced any. So I lean on your collective wisdom. And, no making up crap. Because if I didn't know, that's what I would do.

[Capt_CrashN_Burn]

Where I come from, when someone gets their PPL, we perform the "Fish Slapping Dance". :-D

 

[HopePilot]

I don't know of any "official" traditions when you get your ticket, but before I soloed I visited the Portal of the Folded Wings and pondered those who had come before me.  I also carry a pack of Beemans gum, for good luck (i.e. a nod to Chuck Yeager), as the area around Edwards is part of my stomping/flying grounds.

I think anyone about to get their ticket should take a pilgrimage to an aviation museum, or memorial, and seriously consider the fact that they are not merely participating in a hobby, but the continuation of a way of life...a living history.

Now maybe that's "made up," but as a part of that living tradition myself, I hereby decree it "official."

If you need the patina of time for it to be official, here is where I started the tradition:

http://www.censorium.com/Living/0B9BA569-D0E5-47D3-8404-A0F9F2CA26E7.html

 

 

 

 

[MooneyMitch]

http://www.censorium.com/Living/0B9BA569-D0E5-47D3-8404-A0F9F2CA26E7.html

Am I missing something?  No new posts on Censorium?

[mooneygirl]

I think it is awesome, Fernando!

[HopePilot]

I let that website die a natural death a couple of years ago.  Simply, no time.

FYI:  That aviation shrine is what I want to do if there is ever a Mooney Ambassador fly-in to Burbank.

 

[N9937c]

Right after getting my PPL, I had a CFI Perform HIS RITUAL with me. We fired up the Mooney and flew to a small airport right west of OKC, taxied to the end of a taxiway and shut down close to a fenced in area. He said " I am going to make you a careful and cautious pilot today". Upon that We entered an aircraft wrecking yard and spent 2 hours wandering through pile after pile, some damaged and others beyond belief. I left with a new respect for the THIRD DEMINSION.

larry

[Jeff_S]

I invented a new tradition to help recognize my wife's gradual acceptance of flying and going longer distances. Last month we flew from Atlanta to Kansas City, and I made a big deal of crossing the Mississippi river. She was excited by it. Of course, someone who lives near there wouldn't think it a big deal, but it's nicely symbolic of doing longer cross-countries, sort of like a new Navy sailor crossing the equator.

[Hank]

A friend just took her PPL checkride last week. When she returned to the field [the DE isn't based there], her husband and friends were waiting for her with cake and champagne! Me, I just waited a while then took my wife on a ride. [she had a once-a-quarter Board Meeting that day . . . ]

[Piloto]

Quote: mooneygirl

I think it is awesome, Fernando!

[thinwing]

In my family my dad and uncle would fly with us and shoot softfield/short approaches with all the new pilots in the family...with cousins and nephews we had quite a few...It became a tradition right after getting our ticket.My uncle did it for me (basically imparting his wisdom on a sort of informal checkride)and I returned the favor for my nephew Dennis.sinc kp couch

[aerobat95]

For me when I recieved my wing from the USAF my class followed a time honored tradition of breaking your first set of wings.....I have one half and the other half I gave to my father. 

 

The Breaking of the Wings

Since man started flying, he has taken to the air a certain amount of risk. To counter that risk, a tradition was established years ago when the Army Air Corps first started issuing pilot wings to their young aviators. This tradition is called "BREAKING OF THE WINGS."

At every UPT graduation, the Air Force issues the pilots their pair of wings. As tradition has it, the pilot should never wear that first pair of wings. To bring good luck, the pilot should break the wing into two parts. The pilot should keep one half, the other half should be given to the pilot's best friend or relative. To preserve good luck, the halves should never be brought together while the pilot is alive. After death the two halves are once again united with the pilot for good luck in the next life.

[aerobat95]

For me when I recieved my wings from the USAF my class followed a time honored tradition of breaking your first set of wings (the ones issued to you from the Air Force).....I have one half and the other half I gave to my father. 

 

The Breaking of the Wings

Since man started flying, he has taken to the air a certain amount of risk. To counter that risk, a tradition was established years ago when the Army Air Corps first started issuing pilot wings to their young aviators. This tradition is called "BREAKING OF THE WINGS."

At every UPT graduation, the Air Force issues the pilots their pair of wings. As tradition has it, the pilot should never wear that first pair of wings. To bring good luck, the pilot should break the wing into two parts. The pilot should keep one half, the other half should be given to the pilot's best friend or relative. To preserve good luck, the halves should never be brought together while the pilot is alive. After death the two halves are once again united with the pilot for good luck in the next life.

[Capt_CrashN_Burn]

Holy Double Posting Batman!!! :-0

[aerobat95]

I dont know what happend there....I tried to edit it and blam!!!  A double post  :-)

[Sven]

Wow. I have to find and break those wings. I've had an engine-out over a big lake and a near ditching, a blown tire on touchdown and a complete electrical failure at 6,500 ft. That's good info aerobat95. Thanks.

[thinwing]

oh oh you have started a new trend for superstious pilots...I need to find some wings to break too...1 rudder cable break resulting in a/c on nose,1 water loop in seabee (I was not pilot in command and was thrown out of aircraft)1 retract mafunction resulting in a water landing,field repair and takeoff from a lonely county road,1 below minimums landing to a southeast alaskan runway with zero fuel,1 landing gear malfunction resulting in a totalled Baron,last weeks ice up....k

[Jeff_S]

If we're talking about superstitions, the only one I have is to never wear red clothing while flying. I wore a bright red shirt on the day I did my first solo x-country (feeling pretty cocky and powerful) and sure enough the ALT breaker popped without my noticing it, and I was 70 miles away from home base with no electrical power. I had just enough battery juice to reach a Continental Airlines pilot who relayed my situation back to PDK so the Tower was expecting me, and then I had to execute my first-ever no-flaps landing.

So I did gain confidence in my pilotage, and in knowing that an airplane will fly just fine with no electrical power. But I also swore never to wear red again in the cockpit, which I have upheld. (Not that this has actually helped prevent other things going wrong in flight!)

[Amelia]

When I went for my checkride a bunch of years ago, my CFI told me if I passed, I owed him a bottle of Scotch. (What the heck? Didn't I pay the man for every single hour?) But I passed the checkride, and on the way home, passed a liquor store. Turned around and brought the man his hooch. He seemed pleased, both to have his record remain unbesmirched, and to have a little something warm to keep him company that night. He didn't hold with silly traditions like shirt-tail cutting for first solos, but a man has to have his beliefs. He believed he'd have another drink.

[DaV8or]

The only tradition they had where I learned to fly was they took a picture of you with your instructor in front of the plane you soloed in with a Polaroid and then pinned it to the wall for a time. After a time you got the picture. I have it framed to this day on my desk.