Be choosy who you fly with

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evangilder

"Shooter"
19,049
208
Sep 17, 2004
Moorpark, CA
www.vg-photo.com
I posted this to my FB this morning, and it illustrates why you should know the person you are flying with. It is easy to get caught in the moment of excitement to get a chance to fly. But getting into just any airplane with someone you don't know can be a fools errand. So be smart about it, it can save your life.

I have logged a couple of hundred hours flying as a shooter to get photos. I have actually turned away opportunities with some people because I knew they weren't safe. It's not always an easy thing to do, but it doesn't do me, or my family, any good if I am part of a smoking hole in the ground. If safety is not the number one priority of the person you choose to trust your life with, stay on the ground.

LiveLeak.com - Plane crashes into dragstrip at Akureyri, Iceland August 5 2013
 
We had one chap at our local airfield that tried landing on the wrong runway, had a close encounter with a hedge on the boundaries and almost forgot to put his undercarriage down on one occasion. I was amazed at how long it took the CAA to act, but after numerous complaints his licence was taken. My dad, who flies light aircraft, flew with him once and swore never to do it again.

Cannot believe that the co-pilot survived that crash with minor injuries? One lucky, lucky man!
 
Sound advice.

If something makes you uncomfortable, then follow your instinct (this could even be catching a ride in their car).

Crashes not only suck, they hurt.
 
Sorry to hear that. Wrecks are hard on all sorts of things, the body, the pocketbook and of course, the machine.

I tried talking the body shop into buffing the scratches out of my Scion's hood and they didn't think it could be done. But hey, a feller has gotta ask, right?
 

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