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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0028.PDF
d FLIGHT. JANUARY 5, 1939 TOPICS of the DAY Mainly About Civil Flying—" Indicator's " Weekly Commentary Licences Again A FORTNIGHT ago I made the suggestion that either the "A" licence tests should be made rather more severe or that there should be two licences, one for the solo beginner and another for the thoroughly competent amateur. At the time when I was writing I had the American system at the back of my mind, but I did not realise that my ideas were almost exactly those of U.S. practice. Obviously, the subconscious was at work again in its awkward and annoying manner. Before an amateur pilot goes solo in the United States a certificate of competency must be handed in by his instructor to the local branch of the Bureau of Air Com merce (or C.A.A. nowadays, presumably) and this certifi cate states that the pilot has put in not less than eight hours of dual instruction and that he or she is familiar with the various air regulations and traffic rules. Further more, the pupil must, of course, in the opinion of the instructor, be entirely qualified to fly solo. This certificate simply permits solo flying and, later, what is known as a " solo pilot rating " (my " L " licence) is issued after a further five hours of solo flying, when the student has passed a written examination on the civil air regulations and satisfactorily demonstrated bis general flying abilities. For this initial flying test the requirements include the capacity to make three consecutive take-offs and landings as well as any normal and medium steep turns which may be demanded by the inspector. On the whole, therefore, this test is rather less stringent than that demanded for the British "A." American Requirements AFTER a minimum of thirty-five hours of dual and solo experience (of which not more than fifteen and not less than ten hours shall consist of dual or advanced dual) the pupil is ready to obtain his private pilot's licence, which, for comparative purposes, may be described as one lying somewhere between the British "A" and "B"— and a good deal nearer the former. The training course for this licence includes at least two hours solo on a type other than that on which the pilot has carried out his CENTRAL SKY- PORT : A Cessna on the sloping turntable at one of New York's seaplane bases. An article describ ing some experi ences with a lightweight sea plane in this country appears on pp. 4-7. initial training, and at least five hours of solo cross country flying. The practical tests for the licence in clude a 360-degree spiral descent from 1,500 ft., a 180- degree spiral from i,000 ft., and a 1,080-degree spiral from 2,000 ft., each followed by a landing within 300 ft. of a particular mark on the aero drome ; a series of three normal and three steep figures of eight; a 720-degree " power turn " in each direction which must be made without appreciable loss or gain of height; full turns both of right-hand and left-hand spins; and. finally, such items as climbing turns, stalled turns, side slips and "other manoeuvres deemed necessary by the inspector." These last may include cross-wind take-offs and landings, as well as forced landings. In addition to a thorough knowledge of air rules and regulations, the private pilot licensee is expected to know quite a lot about navigation (or avigation) and elementarv meteorology. The questions on the former include some quite difficult ones about the compass and its use, as weli as others about general D/R navigation and the various map projections. A sort of miniature 2nd N., in fact. I think that this kind of theoretical knowledge is entirelv essential. Possibly the new C.A.G. amateurs are being told something about such things; we certainly weren't, except when specially interested and when working with an instructor who took his job seriously. In Switzerland, too, there are a couple of amateur categories. The first of these involves the mere ability to fly with fair satisfaction to one's instructor and the popu lace around the home aerodrome, while the second is rather similar to the American licence. Needless to say, in a country like Switzerland the tests must be organised to suit its particular difficulties of terrain. Very few of the ordinarily competent "A" licensees in this country could be safely left to fly freely about a really mountainous country in which the weather changes are rapid and horror-striking—though quite easily forecast by pilots who have had long experience of the district. The practical tests for this Swiss licence include a really long cross country flight with a good deal of flying at high altitudes and landings at high-altitude aerodromes. A somewhat similar arrangement applies in France, but these two examples are sufficient to make it plain that the British amateur licence tests are far less stringent than they should be.. To those who ask, "And what about all the other countries?" one can only reply, "Wbere else, except in the British Empire, is there any private flvinp?" (CnnrUiAeA *». J. ... flying: Concluded on page 13)
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