{"id":3897,"date":"2016-06-17T19:16:03","date_gmt":"2016-06-18T02:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=3897"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:55","slug":"whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/whats-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"#157 What’s the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This may be the most important article I ever write, considering that it deals with the difference between \u201cThe Tailwheel Town Way\u201d and \u201cThe Acme Way\u201d.<\/h3>\n

I believe that at least 90 % of all flight training is done the \u201cAcme\u201d way.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s probably true that \u00a0almost all flight schools are \u201cAcme\u201d.\u00a0 Occasionally, you\u2019ll find an individual flight instructor who is not, but you\u2019ll rarely find an entire school that is not Acme.<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve long derided the \u201cAcme\u201d way of flight instruction.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always claimed that \u201cAcme\u201d flight instruction techniques are vastly inferior to Tailwheel Town methods.\u00a0 It\u2019s only fair for me to say why we differ.<\/h3>\n

It has to do with fundamentals.\u00a0 Acme tends to ignore fundamentals in favor of instrument training and hi tech panels. The Acme grad may be a flier who can make an instrument approach but is incapable of a coordinated turn and may end up spinning in for lack of knowledge and proper reflexes.<\/h3>\n

You will probably not find a teacher of flying who is under fifty years old if you search for a non-Acme flight instructor<\/strong>.\u00a0 Virtually EVERYONE is aware of this situation.\u00a0 It\u2019s kinda like the situation of the Whuffo who buys a house next to an airport and then proceeds to complain about the airplane noise.\u00a0 We all know about the situation, but we continue to fuss about it.\u00a0 Flight training is similar.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the few pursuits where most teachers are far less experienced than most who make a living flying.\u00a0 That\u2019s because only Acme will hire instructors with relatively low time.\u00a0 It\u2019s also the reason that so many student pilots are abandoned by their teacher.\u00a0 Most flight instructors are building time while they lust after that airline job.\u00a0 When it is finally in their grasp, they haul ass, leaving all their students to find another flight instructor, who is also lusting after that airline job!\u00a0 Older guys who have been around, whether or not they ever flew for the airlines, will sometimes turn to flight instruction, mainly because they can\u2019t stand to see the process being botched.\u00a0 And, although women tend to be in the minority, they too tend to be older and more experienced if they are non-Acme.\u00a0 Amelia Reid comes to mind, along with Edna Gardner Whyte and quite a few others.<\/h3>\n

A. \u00a0The understanding of basic aerodynamics and energy management.\u00a0 Acme tends to rely on \u00a0\u201cintegrated instruction\u201d.\u00a0 That implies a dependence on instruments.\u00a0 I\u2019d just as soon throw a blanket over the whole instrument panel for those starting out.\u00a0 Does Acme deal with adverse yaw and ever cover the turn coordinator?\u00a0 Probably not. They never deal with \u201cG\u201d force and they all think that a standing start with brakes set (and lots of runway foolishly left behind them) results in a \u201cShort Field\u201d takeoff.\u00a0 \u00a0So much for an understanding of basic aerodynamics and energy management.<\/h3>\n

B. \u00a0The control of the airplane when in proximity to the ground<\/strong>.\u00a0 Acme<\/h3>\n
\"Amal
Amal Ajmi blasts around the irrigation pivot in Jay Haldeman’s J-5. (photo by Debbie Volle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

encourages fear of proximity with mother earth.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how many Acme trained pilots, when in the Tailwheel Town airplane have expressed a fear of hitting terrain that was a mile away.\u00a0 Our use of an irrigation pivot in order to familiarize a flyer with terrain flying is something that Acme would never do.<\/h3>\n

C. \u00a0The pattern<\/strong>.\u00a0 Acme uses a huge pattern and Tailwheel Town uses a tiny one.\u00a0 Not only does that radically increase the number of takeoffs and landings per hour that the Tailwheel Town flyer gets to do, it also increases their confidence through practice of \u201cwhipping it up\u201d, so that it\u2019s not necessary to make a long, drawn out approach in order to have a decent landing.\u00a0 I believe that if you ever hear, \u201cThe key to a good landing is a good approach,\u201d you should run, screaming.<\/h3>\n

D. \u00a0Emergency techniques<\/strong>.\u00a0 Did you ever hear of those things that you can\u2019t prove, but that you just are SURE are correct?\u00a0 Well, this might be one of them.\u00a0 I think that Acme instills much more confidence in engines than<\/h3>\n
\"DSCN4617\"
Inside every airplane there beats the heart of a glider, each with a different level of performance. At 7,000 MSL over Central Oregon with the prop stopped.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

we do at Tailwheel Town.\u00a0 That\u2019s just one reason that every Tailwheeler gets to do at least one Dead Stick landing.\u00a0 Most Acme flyers don\u2019t even know what that means!\u00a0 I had one Acme flyer claim that most of their landings were Dead Stick.\u00a0 That flyer thought that \u201cDead Stick\u201d meant closed throttle.\u00a0 I had to explain that it means engine off with propeller STOPPED.<\/h3>\n

E. \u00a0Acme rarely spins<\/strong>.\u00a0 Acme flyers rarely receive any spin training or practice, so they remain fearful of cross controlled maneuvers and can hardly remain coordinated.<\/h3>\n

That\u2019s just a partial list.\u00a0 It hits the high points but I believe it discloses the basic differences between Acme and Tailwheel Town.\u00a0 Tailwheel Town tends to focus on fundamentals.\u00a0 Acme tries to make its students airline pilots.\u00a0 Personally, I think that\u2019s skipping a tremendously important stage in flight training.\u00a0 Acme wants to fill the heads of its students with knowledge of instrument flying, Crew Resource Management and generally how to think.\u00a0 Tailwheel Town assumes that we all know how to think and that fundamentals of aviation come first, followed by all those other sides of aviation, with which Acme begins.<\/h3>\n

Having ranted against Acme for a long time, let me repeat what one of my early mentors taught me.\u00a0 Student pilots often need altitudes, power settings and other conditions to \u201chang their hat on.\u00a0 Acme does that.\u00a0 They give their students speeds, RPMs, flap settings, etc. to give them a structure upon which to build their skills.\u00a0 That\u2019s often necessary but, like a pacifier in a toddler\u2019s mouth, should be abandoned eventually.\u00a0 At Tailwheel Town, the answer to many questions is \u201cIt all depends\u201d.\u00a0 That may be a bit vague for some flyers, but it is true.<\/h3>\n

But of course, that\u2019s just my opinion.\u00a0 Since I\u2019ve recently decided not to try to change the world of Flight Training, it\u2019s doubtful that many will be exposed to my opinion, let alone adopt it.<\/h3>\n

Happy Swooping.<\/h3>\n

Brian<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This may be the most important article I ever write, considering that it deals with the difference between \u201cThe Tailwheel Town Way\u201d and \u201cThe Acme Way\u201d. I believe that at least 90 % of all flight training is done the \u201cAcme\u201d way.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s probably true that \u00a0almost all flight schools are \u201cAcme\u201d.\u00a0 Occasionally, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3896,"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":[35,38,60,67,165,178],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897"}],"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=3897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}