Give ‘em the chair

A young man stopped by my house last week to chat about what he considered to be a serious problem. He’s a flight student enrolled in the Aerospace Program at a nearby college. He’s pre-solo, but was scheduled for his pre-solo stage check just prior to all the Covid-19 craziness locking us out of our classrooms, offices, and cockpits.

It’s probably worth noting that our conversation took place on a beautiful sunny late afternoon in my front yard. I was in a rocking chair on the porch. He reclined on a wicker couch placed intentionally in my front yard.

Three weeks ago I didn’t have furniture in my yard. I put that classic piece of Florida outdoor furniture on the lawn for a reason. For one thing, I have a certain amount of white trashiness in my family tree, so it feels somewhat natural. Secondarily, or maybe more accurately I should say primarily, social distancing doesn’t necessarily mean total isolation. I’m fortunate enough to have the space available to see people and chat without being all that close together.

Social distancing y’all. It isn’t that hard to do.  

In any case, the young college student was worried. He’s smart enough to know that he can’t fly right now. Not with an instructor because of the virus that’s got us all changing our daily routines. Not solo, because he’s a pre-solo student who isn’t allowed to possess the keys to an airplane without an instructor in tow. All of which is perfectly understandable and thoroughly frustrating.

So, what’s a poor flight student to do? What are any of us to do? Without access to aircraft our skills will most assuredly diminish. We’ll fall out of currency. Argh! The situation is maddening.

Well, maybe not so much as you might think. There is a training tool that’s available to any of us. I’m making use of it right now, in fact. This very instant. As I write this column, I am simultaneously using perhaps the most powerful training aid available to a pilot on a bang-for-the-buck basis. 

I refer, of course, to the humble chair. 

I’m not talking about a captain’s seat pulled from an airliner or a fighter jet. My reference isn’t to a seating arrangement that’s tied into a computerized simulator with full motion technology. I’m suggesting that the chair you’re sitting in right now is a perfectly good flight training device that you can use to maintain and even improve your skill level in the cockpit. The wicker couch on my lawn would work equally well. So would a stool, an empty crate, or a stump cut low enough to offer reasonably comfortable seating.

I’m not kidding. A simple chair is one of the most effective, inexpensive, and freely available training aids I’ve used over the course of my career. And I’ve used it often, with great success.

Let me explain.

For all its allure and aerodynamic potential, an airplane is not much more than a flying machine built around a pilot’s seat. When the pilot sits in that seat, everything he or she needs to conduct a safe, orderly flight is right there within reach. 

If you were to use a bit of imagination while sitting in a chair and you were to make use of the checklist you no doubt keep in your flight bag, you could conduct a flight from your own living room, or home office, or bedroom. Whatever works. 

If you’re uncomfortable or perhaps feel a bit weird for pretending to fly an airplane while sitting at home, I’d suggest you go to a room with a door and close it. That might help ward off your potential embarrassment for engaging in odd behavior around the house. 

Put your feet up on your imaginary rudder pedals. Move your hands to the stick or yoke, to the mixture and throttle. Note where the flap handle is. Test the carb heat control. It’s all there, in your mind and on your checklist. Now, let’s start this puppy up, taxi out, and take off to find some intellectual stimulation in a time of great boredom and unrest.

On start-up locate the oil pressure gauge. Remember why we’re looking at it and say the checklist item out loud, “Oil pressure is in the green.” 

Do the same when you do the run-up. Advance the throttle to 1,700 RPM. Actually do it. Move your hand to indicate the location of the Tach. Speak each item on the checklist as you run through it. “Right mag, 75 RPM drop. Left mag, 80 RPM drop. Back to both, Carb heat On, 100 RPM drop,” and so on right through the list. 

Moving your hands and feet requires you to engage your mind. Where is that gauge, that switch, that light? What should I see when I look at it? It’s all on the checklist and in your head. The more you follow through, the more familiar you become with the cockpit layout and the order of operations for any maneuver. 

The most powerful tool you have in flight is your knowledge of the aircraft, its layout, and its abilities. Chair flying at home can strengthen that tool very effectively.

You can configure the aircraft and takeoff. You can do slow flight and stalls and steep turns and simulated engine failures. You can do normal, soft field, short field, and crosswind landings. You can do as much as your imagination and the checklist allow for. And the more you do it, the more effectively your imagination will allow you to lock in on the procedures.

Covid-19 has undoubtedly created a problem for those of us who fly. But it’s not an insurmountable obstacle. In fact, if you look at it the right way, it presents each of us with an opportunity. We were just handed a boat-load of unexpected study time with no checkrides in sight. So, take advantage of the low-stress, high-impact value of chair flying during this down on the ground time.

Trust me. It works.