Date Recognition Endorsement?

Ok, has anyone read their Aviation Insurance Policy lately? Well, I had a few moments to read through the "red tape" to make sure that I am getting everything that I paid for. Specifically, I noticed that on the cover letter it didn't say anything about my liability insurance as an instructor, so before even taking another breath, I made sure that it was, in fact, in there.

Funny thing, these insurance policies. I found the usual - ... insurance company is not liable for terrorism, nuclear explosions, and someone blowing up the world. The interesting one was the "Date Recognition Endorsement". I don't see that one in my previous policy and thought I should read through it.

Believe it or not, the Y2K issue is not dead, and I guess may never be! My insurance will not cover me if operating an aircraft that I make a claim on where the claim is a result of some piece of hardware not recognizing the change of year 1999 to 2000 and properly sequencing the subsequent years.

It is an interesting endorsement nonetheless and its in there for a reason, so something must have happened. I just cant imagine what - like my autopilot pitched down 60 degrees and we crashed because the date wasn't set right? I HAVE been looking at my fuel totalizer a little closer lately - heck, its 2009, it might not be calculating fuel burn correctly!
I should go check my ADF while I'm at it - That sucker is OLD!

I think I'm safe, and believe that most people are. Just one of those fun insurance things where they can't cover their butts enough.

In Flight Distractions

Today my wife and I flew out to see my grandmother. She fell and broke her hip, so we went to see her before she started therapy on Monday.

On the way home, my door popped open at some point after take off. At the time, I didn't know it and my co-pilot wife made a remark about how she felt cool air blowing around the cabin. I cranked up the heater, but could still feel some cool air. She then pointed to my door being open about 2 inches.

Yikes!

What a good example of a real live distraction. At the time, I was climbing out and picking up my IFR clearance in the air from South Bend Approach Control. I got so distracted by trying to close the door in the air, that I missed the whole clearance and needed them to read back the hole thing to me. At this point, I thought "what am I doing??" - Just fly the airplane - and that's exactly what I did the rest of the flight home. I left the door alone - the plane was just fine and it wasn't even that much louder in the plane.

My wife had some valid concerns about me falling out of the airplane, but I wasn't worried. I was belted in, and it would have required one hell of a push on the door to open it even a couple more inches (as I experienced as I tried to open it a little more so I could close it).

This is kind of funny, because one of the distractions that I like to give to my students is to sneak my arm around behind them and pop the window open on take off roll. Payback time, I guess. :)

Are you a good flight instructor?

That is the question that was posed to me the other day when I was meeting with a potential new student. Wow, what a question.

So, do I answer that with a resounding YES and sound like a pretentious jerk, or do I say no and risk losing credibility with the guy and loose a client?

How about the middle of the road - "I think I'm an 'OK' flight instructor". Well, most people don't want mediocre, right? Especially when it comes to learning to fly a big, scary airplane in to the wild blue yonder!?! (Ok, the airplane is hardly big - its actually "micro" compared to some people's impressions of aircraft).

For what seemed like about a 5 minute stare in to space, I started to quickly think - "What is a GOOD flight instructor?"

Some might think that the best flight instructors know it all, exude an air of ultra-confidence, and have the demeanor of a military Sargent. I don't think that any of these are the case and I don't think that an instructor even NEEDS to know EVERYTHING. The best instructor knows how to tailor the information in such a manner that the student is able to learn it and find the answers to tough questions when the answers aren't already known. In the airplane, a demonstration of a maneuver, with cool, concise explanations, providing a safe environment (looking for traffic) is what you want.

So, what did I say? I said just what I wrote above and that I treat every student with respect. A round about way of saying "yes"?? You betcha!