Page 31 - Sept 19 TNT

Jet Journal The Touch by Kevin Ware Iam sitting in the jump seat of a CJ2 brandishing my seldom- used CFI ticket and CE-525 type rating to complete a 61.55 ride for the pilot in the right front seat. It turns out that the pilot, Carolyn, let her second-in-command authorization run out a week ago and she and her husband John have a trip scheduled to the Midwest this week – not leaving much time for her to run back to FlightSafety where she normally does re-currency training. As an instructor, sitting in the jump seat gives you an entirely different perspec- tive than being up front and actively involved in the aircraft’s flight path. You have more time to carefully observe how pilots handle themselves, right down to the smallest detail. Most people can be trained to fly airplanes, but after spending my first 3,000 hours doing flight instruction, I came to realize that some simply have the “touch” more so than oth- ers, and Carolyn (like many women) is one of those. She did not start flying until well into adulthood, and only then (still with some hesitation) after her husband suggested she would be good at it. Yet, even though still considering herself a “fluffy” beginner, she seems to have mastered control feel in a way many pilots can only envy. I can see that none of her movements are sud- den or of wide magnitude. Her hand movements are also very purposeful, with her fingers landing directly on the control or switch she is after without any insecure wandering. This is usu- ally the case in pilots who have the locations of everything well embedded in their tactile memory (which in my observations, female student pilots seem particularly skilled). Another thing I notice is although she sits in the right seat, she is the Pilot Flying (PF), and in an understated but calm way is directive to the Pilot Monitoring (her husband John) who is sitting on the left. We do the usual air maneuvers like steep turns, approaches to a stall and slow flight, all of which she has no issues. Then, as part of the 61.55 check ride, Jet Journal September 2019 / TWIN & TURBINE • 29