{"id":3133,"date":"2014-11-28T09:18:56","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T17:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=3133"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:56","slug":"119-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/119-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"#119 Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h3>\n

I guess I was responsible for her first airplane ride.\u00a0 It was a doozy.\u00a0 She met me at the hangar at sunrise and we\u2019d headed for the nearby peaks of the Cascades.\u00a0 We\u2019d then flown alongside \u201cThree Fingered<\/h4>\n
\"Three<\/a>
“Three FIngered Jack” as seen from the Cessna 140<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jack\u201d, one of my favorite mountain peaks in the Cascade Range.\u00a0 The air was as smooth as a baby\u2019s bottom and we\u2019d been able to pass close to the rocky peak.\u00a0 The light was beautiful.\u00a0 You\u2019d have to be nuts not to get hooked on flying during that experience.\u00a0 Later that month, she\u2019d informed me that she had begun flying lessons in Marin County, California.\u00a0 Shortly after that, she\u2019d taken her written and passed it with flying colors.\u00a0 She was serious about flying.\u00a0 After a few months of flying both in Marin County and here at Tailwheel Town, I soloed her.\u00a0 What does this have to do with traditions, you ask. Here\u2019s why:<\/h4>\n

\u00a0When she taxied away from the FBO at Madras for her very first solo, I wandered out to the windsock in order to watch her more closely.\u00a0 Once out there in the middle of the infield, I decided to answer the call of nature.\u00a0 The windsock pole was a handy place to provide a modicum of protection so I took my relief against it.\u00a0 After she returned from her solo flight and we were celebrating in the FBO building, I happened to mention that I\u2019d taken advantage of the windsock\u2019s position.<\/h4>\n

\u201cYou peed on the windsock pole?\u201d she asked, somewhat surprised at that action.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWell, yes,\u201d I answered.\u00a0\u00a0 Then, thinking as quickly as I am capable of, I added, \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition, you know\u201d.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d she asked.<\/h4>\n

\"Too<\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s a tradition that the CFI pee on the windsock pole when the student first solos,\u201d I lied.\u00a0 Then, in order to make that statement a bit more believable, I added, \u201cEveryone knows that.\u201d The airport bums present for that dialogue nodded in agreement, even though they\u2019d never heard THAT one.<\/h4>\n

Being somewhat new to aviation and its culture, she accepted it.\u00a0 Until she reads this little story, she will believe that peeing on the windsock pole is a long-standing tradition among flight instructors.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s kinda like sending a new young aviator to fetch a can of relative bearing grease.<\/h4>\n
\"DSCN3784\"<\/a>
Where do you suppose the tradition of cutting a shirt tail ACTUALLY came from?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you suppose that some flight instructor long ago, decided that it would be a cool idea to clip the shirt tail off a new soloist?\u00a0 And, when questioned about that operation, he replied that it was a tradition, first started in order to get the student\u2019s attention, or maybe symbolic of tail feathers or some other equally believable explanation.\u00a0 His pals all nodded in agreement. A tradition was born.\u00a0 Do you suppose I\u2019ve started a new one? It\u2019s now up to you, fellow CFI\u2019s.<\/h4>\n

Happy Swooping!<\/h4>\n

Brian<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s a tradition that the CFI pee on the windsock pole when the student first solos,\u201d I lied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[64,157],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}