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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1064.PDF
APRIL 23, 1936. FLIGHT. 445 FOR THE NEWCOMER Some Facts and Figures for the Uninitiated : How and Where to Learn to Fly : Ownership Costs By INDICATOR ONE of the most surprising things about this flying business is the comparative ignorance of the person who is known, for some entirely inadequate reason, as the "man in the street." Despite the fact that there are, in this country alone, some thirty-five subsidised clubs and a great many other unsupported organisations, the interested person who has not previously taken any notice of the movement appears to be quite unable to discover where, in his own immediate district, he or she may take a trial lesson or a complete course of flying. In the same way the person who wishes to travel by air line, as an experiment, never seems to know where to turn for information. The trouble, of course, is that these people have not yet reached the stage in their interest when they automatically read the aeronautical Press week by week, and it is diffi cult to know how they can be reached in the ordinary way. However, for the benefit of the newcomers, the addresses of the different clubs and schools, whose notes appear every week on the second page of the section devoted to private flying, will be given in this week's issue. One of the most common questions, and one which, nt the same time, is most difficult to answer in a satisfactory manner, concerns the actual cost of learning to fly. There are three obvious reasons why this question can never e answered in an accurate sum of pounds," shillings and Pence. the first, of course, is that the hourly rates vary, for very good reasons, at the different clubs. However, these an be taken as varying between 35s. and 45s. for instruc- !°" an<1 between 25s. and 45s. for solo flying. There are lubs and schools which charge both higher and lower scalar and the Proactive pupil must himself balance the s s '^'tween convenience and cost. con ecoildly. a pupil's aptitude will always be a matter lor trai UFe Until he has reacned trie landing stage in his able t ^ ^ ^at Pomt the instructor will probably be .... '-i I'cSS TAXF* nil m Kfit- /"if Jnc+rnrfinni! V»/MIT*C 117 V> \rY* a ro still lik ess the number of instructional hours which are e'y to be necessary before his pupil is ready to "solo," though learners often, after starting quite well, deteriorate badly and develop a number of original vices. A good pupil may take as few as five hours, while a poor one may take anything from fifteen to twenty-five. It would be fair to say that the average pre-solo time is in the region of ten hours. Another four or five must be added to cover the period between the first solo flight and the completion of the "A" licence tests, so that the average cost of learning to fly may be taken as being about ^30. The third reason concerns the unfortunate fact that a pupil who has obtained his licence is really only just beginning to learn something about the flying business. It would be true to say that the most experienced pilot is still very busy learning, but at the conclusion of some fifty hours of variegated flying a pilot possessed of normal common sense can usually be " taken off the lead " as far as familiar machines are concerned. Here, again, no defi nite figure can possibly be given, and there are quite a few pilots with hundreds of hours to their credit who are still incapable of pulling off a safe forced landing or of deciding whether to go on or to turn back when the weather closes in. The "A" Licence Tests In order to obtain his licence the pupil carries out two quite simple flying tests in the presence of an official Royal Aero Club observer and while carrying a sealed barograph, and must answer various questions concerning the general rules of air traffic and the like. About sixty questions must be expected, and eighty per cent, of the answers should be correct. The practical tests involve a fairly accurately placed landing after a glide from 2,000ft. without using the engine, followed by a series of five figure-of-eight turns at a steady height and another "spot landing." In actual fact, a good deal of latitude is permitted, since the instructor has already satisfied him self of the pupil's ability, and knows that he will be given real forced landing "dual " before being permitted to push off on any sort of cross-country flight. The whole responsi-
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