Pilots Unite! - Page 3

Triggar · 2004-09-26, 03:44 PM

Also sounds a little weird to me - why did you take off when the wind was gusting to 35knots anyway? What kind of airplane were you flying, I know a Cessna 172 can only handle 15knots of crosswind.

Navaron · 2004-09-26, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by -Hezzy-

I'm thinking about becoming a pilot. Is there any kind of medical examinations you have to go through? Apparently I'm slightly colourblind. Would this affect my chances of becoming a pilot?

I'm going to become a commercial pilot if all goes well. Perhaps maybe police at the most. (Helicopter that is)

Yes there are annual physicals (frequency depends on the certificate you have).

Being colorblind will affect your chances to get a job, but does not bar you from flying professionally. You will also have restrictions on under what conditions you can fly, which will not make your career more difficult.

I'm not sure if the FAA adopted (I think they did) the recommendations from the NTSB's report on FedEx flight 1478, but if they did, you'll want to find another career depending on how bad your color blindness actually is. Your local FAA approved physician should be able to tell you.

Navaron · 2004-09-26, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Triggar

Also sounds a little weird to me - why did you take off when the wind was gusting to 35knots anyway? What kind of airplane were you flying, I know a Cessna 172 can only handle 15knots of crosswind.

I was going to call bullshit but I wanted to be nice.

Aww fuckit. Bullshit.

I'm also placing bets he was actually in a Cessna 152. I guess it depends where he lives.

Triggar · 2004-09-26, 03:49 PM

I don't think you'd be allowed to fly colorblind - things like light gun signals, other aircraft's position lighting, airport signage, the color of fuel when you're testing it, etc.

Peacemaker · 2004-09-26, 11:47 PM

It was a 152.... I was flying directly into a head wind in a vally. Not really that hard. Match speed with winds. And it wasnt gusting... I was getting a venturi style result from the vally. It was a constant 35-40 mph wind. Just give it a little gas to make some progress and climb out of the vally to get out. Its really not that hard and from what my instructor said people do it out west all the time... they will just hover over the field for minutes on end waiting for ATC to give them the go ahead to land... then they just cut power a little and the plane slowly drops.... basicly landing like a heli. The problem is if the wind cuts out during a crazy landing like that you die. Only one person has landed like that he saw.