Pinch-hitter spouses

[Gone]

Quote: FlyingAggie

 

[mooneygirl]

Jan Maxwell of Don Maxwell Aviation put on a pinch hitter introduction at Tahoe a year ago June.  It was very very good. She had some great points and a video, which I will try to locate as she gave me a copy.

Some points she made, in her beautiful southern drawl, were

* If he can do it, you can do it. Make him take you up to practice.

* If he is slumped over on the yoke, use the strap of your purse to hold him back [by the forehead].  Us women usually have a sizable purse!

* With most instruments if they are in the GREEN you are okay. Know your approach speeds.

* She had a video with a fly on the front window.  She taught us how to put that fly on the horizon to fly straight and level. Then as the time came to land to control the airplane to have the fly line up with the landing spot.  She of course talked about using the throttle to control descent.

* Know where you are.  GPS or situational awareness

 

Jan, a fellow 99, used to put on the full blown seminars in the past. Our 99s group is doing a companion seminar on May 8th.  I think the key is to practice... slow flight, straight and level, and practice talking on the radio.

[FlyingAggie]

Edgar,

By coincidence,  me and my siginifcant other have been married for 32 yrs as well.  She has activiely encouraged me to get back into flying after a 27 year hiatus,while we raised our daughters and now to buy this airplane. We decided we would rather have an airplane to tour the country in than a motorhome.  So this is a interesting subject to discuss and Jolie has already provided some great information in the preceding post.

Also like you mentioned in another post,  I am also willing put off retirement for a few more years in order to own this airplane for a few years.

My plan is for us to learn to fly as a team, with her working the Garmins for navigation and XM Wx. The ultimate would be her becoming a ppl too.  Does your wife act as your copilot?

Quote: edgargravel

Alan:

I have been wrestling with a similar dilemma in trying to make it easier for my girl (mother of my children, best friend, nearly 32 years married) to land us safely should I ever become incapacitated in the left seat.  When I got my licence in 1987, she could land the Cessna 172 and the Cherokee 140 that I had learned on at the Kingston Flying Club.  She took the "right seat" co-pilot course offered by the club and was reasonably proficient at landing those aircraft.

Here we are 23 years later and we own a Mooney.  Although I have a special checklist just for her, she has not really done any more.  She may not appreciate that toe-brakes on her side might be important, but I do (that is where this new thread gets its genesis).  But getting her sufficiently trained to save both our lives in an emergency is where I would like to be.  My problem these days is time to fly at all, forget about time to get her up and practicing too...

Oh, well....

[skyking]

I could not agree more.

Karen and i will be celebrating out 30th anniversary on July 26th and as long as we have been together i have made sure she can get the plane down if anything should ever happen to me.

I had her take the course put on at the local club here and have taught her how to use the GPS to find the nearest airport etc.

I dont care if she puts the gear down etc and remebers to do everything on the checklist as long as she can get down and walk away from it.

[FlyingAggie]

Quote: mooneygirl

* If he is slumped over on the yoke, use the strap of your purse to hold him back [by the forehead].  Us women usually have a sizable purse!