stall warning

Steve took part of a memorial flight for a man that was his aviation mentor.  This man was a WWII  pilot who pretty much started the aviation program at the University Steve attended.  Steve got all his initial certifications from him.  Steve speaks of this man fondly.  The man died in the end of March and the University held his memorial flight on Friday.

In preparing for the flight, Steve had to break out these old things, and of course Ben had to play with them.  



The flyby had 15 University planes.  10 flew in a line, and then 5 were part of the "V" missing man formation.  It was very moving.


Steve flew in a University plane, a Cessna I believe, with a flight instructor and a student.  Jessica, the instructor, asked Steve if he wanted to fly.  His response, "sure, but I don't want to take off or land."

During take off and landing, the stall warning kept going off.  Apparently, this is very common in this plane.  The warning isn't really because the plane is in a stall, but rather because the plane hits a bit of a bump in the air and the vacuum sends off the warning.  Don't count on this as a true and accurate definition about this situation...this is simply what I remember from what Steve told me. Steve said that this happened when he was learning to fly on these types of planes...he just forgot about it.


Well, imagine Steve's reaction when this warning was going off...he was nervous!  Imagine that!  Now, you must realize that if a stall warning goes off in a B737 he must react...NOW!  Like, shit just hit the fan and you have to do something about it...now!  Steve has never had the stall warning go off in the 737, so this was a sound he hasn't heard in years.  Well, I suppose while in the sim he hears it... 

I asked if Jessica knew he was anxious.  He thought she probably got the sense. 

I told Steve that now he knows what it is like to be an anxious flier.  He NEVER had sympathy for me, but now he may actually have empathy.

Comments

  1. This blog is really cool, Joanna. I got a kick reading about Steve freaking out. Good stuff and glad you could make it to rays afterward!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Mike! I, too, got a kick out of Steve freaking out. Later in the day we were talking about our LAS trip this summer, and our flight options (1 or 2 legs)...I was telling him I would prefer 1 leg since it is just one take off and landing, and I think that he actually understood where i was coming from...instead of his usual "Joanna, you are silly to be scared of flying"

    Yes, it was good stuff Friday night! Steve always has so much fun around you guys and recounting old times.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment