O, it's no secret I love airplanes- and I always have. But i didn't pursue them as my dream- mainly because I'd heard you had to be a math genius to be a pilot.

Now that I'm older and wiser, I don't believe that.

What I do believe is that you have to know about angles, aircraft geometry, how to read a map, terrain association, time to distance, and things of that nature. Math- yes, but not trigonometry or calculus by any means.

I would love to be one of those guys flying the Boeing 747-400ER, thundering that bad boy down the runway at D/FW, enroute to Alaska or somewhere, on a routine basis. But, that'll never happen (unless I buy a flight simulator).

For those of you who are pilots- and I'm not saying the job is easy, but- exactly what math is involved in being a pilot???

PS- Peep this-

http://gizmodo.com/312735/man-builds...in-his-bedroom

 

my dads uncle has his pilots license, and his own plane..he said the only 'mathematical' thing he has to know is how much to turn to compensate the wind..or something like that

 

Yep, the way they were pulling guys up and strapping them to P-51's, P-47's, P-38's, B-17's, etc during World War II, I didn't think you'd really have to be a mathematical genius to fly an aircraft.

Unfortunately, this pearl of wisdom didn't form until after I skipped college and joined the Army as an enlisted man.

 

The big math thing would be fuel to time consumption and ground speed. Hence the round slide rule calculater. parents still fly and they still have the round slide rule. Just incase the caculator batteries and the gps fail.

 

While I am not technically a pilot (I stopped at 35 hours) I did go through ground school. If you can do basic high school math you have plenty of skills. Most of the math is already done for you and given in a tabular format. The vector math is very simplified and should not present a problem for you.

 

I used to fly some. I was IFRR rated. That is the acromym for I fly Railroad tracks.

Just look for a school in your area that offers ground school. in 10 hours, you'll be qualified to navigate a small plane.

 

You don't need to be a genius in math, but you do need basic algebra and geometry skills.

You need to be able to read with comprehension. There's a ton of rules you have to know and, you have to memorize your aircraft's flight manual and understand everything it's telling you. Are you willing to put in hours and hours of careful reading (with understanding)?

You need the ability to plan ahead (and I know that's redundant, I just can't get the thought across any other way). The pilots I know who died were ones that trusted in their quick thinking and youthful good looks to get them out of tight spots. The ones who lived and were victorious in combat were the ones who always had a plan BEFORE they got into the tight spot (and they didn't go into the tight spot if they didn't have the plan).

The same thinking applies for ordinary civilian flying. For instance, if you're flying in a canyon, do you fly down the middle or do you stay to one side or the other? Why? If you have an emergency, do you try to land immediately, or do you stop and think about what's going on first?

Can you focus on several things at once? Do you sweep over instruments and interpret what you saw later? Can you maintain control without concentrating on one thing? Driving and flying are two vastly different tasks.

Can you figure out what you did wrong after you've done it? Can you acknowledge that YOU were the problem? Have you learned the trick of playing back a sequence of actions in your mind to figure out what you SHOULD have done?

Can you visualize, through 3 dimensions, a point in space that you need to be in and then get your aircraft there with the correct airspeed and attitude?

There's lots of other considerations. These are just ones that come to my mind after about 3500 hours as an IP. Not everyone CAN learn to fly. I used to think a monkey could be taught to fly, but not anymore. Many people don't have the self-discipline to maintain the situational awareness needed to be pilots.

- Jack

 

You can always stop at a 7-11 to get directions and check your oil

 

Father was a pilot. he loved it. He actually passed of a heart attack while flying =/, but on a better note, i am seventeen, about to start my training this summer. cant wait.

 

Being a pilot is a risky career if you want to go civilian right now. People with nearly a hundred thousand dollars in debt are flying for regional airliners (COMAIR) for around $13 an hour. Ever since 9/11 aviation insurance went up astronomically causing many schools and airlines to go bankrupt, think malpractice insurance for doctors. The military is a financially safe route (where I'm at), however it's very competitive, especially with the crappy economy for civilian pilots, they're all joining the military to pay off debt. It's also the most picky due to medical screening, and has the most intense training, 25% of my class at my last training facility washed out.

However the military is also the most rewarding and FUN! Regardless if you fly fighter or cargo, you do things with aircraft that civilian pilots have wet dreams at night about. Math wise, it's not difficult until you begin IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), the hardest part about flying isn't math, it's the sensory overload of understanding the third dimension of altitude, that your not used to say when your driving your car. However if you've never flown then i highly suggest taking just one flight lesson, it's an eye opener to the madness.

 

My Dad was half way done with getting his license, then he got remarried...
Enough said.

 

Yep, I was "this" close to going to Warrant Officer Flight School, and becoming a helicopter pilot- Long story- but it would have been nice to be an Apache pilot. I've sat in the ****pit of an Apache and of an F-4 Phantom. The Phantom looked so simple- I think with a 2-hour block of instruction, and a day or two in he simulator- the average person would be ready for a solo flight. The Apache- No... Might want to make that a 2-day block of instruction, about 3 weeks in a simulator, then move to the real thing.

From what I hear, being a helicopter pilot is even more tedious than flying an airplane, due to the coordination required. Looking at the ****pit of the Apache- that might be true.

I know two ladies who are pilots, one flies single and two-engined props, and the other flies regional jets (G4's for millionaires, billionaires, and corporate executives).

The one who is a jet pilot was supposed to take me to Addison for a flight, but we've never gotten around to it. My homeboy is a pilot, the last time I talked to him he was rated on single and multi-engined aircraft. he went to school at Louisiana Tech. I haven't spoken to him in years, so I don't know if he ever made it to jets.

I'd just be happy with some real simulator training. I'm not looking to make a career change- just wanting to realize a lifelong dream. But, I hear ya- were I a military pilot, I wouldn't care if it was a B-52, an F-22, or a C-17, flying is flying.

 

There is a young man that I taught how to fly RC and some building skills on models. But anyway he is a corporate pilot now living in Richardson Tx. i see him when he comes home to visit. I just wanna slap him up side the head, He gets a little ****y. But he's a good pilot.

 

job security in aviation is as shaky as it gets. keep in mind aviation is the first to get the ax when the economy goes bad and last to recover when it gets good. i am not a pilot but i along with a pilot got cut lose last week. i had 22 years with the company.

washington is partying and we are sinking

 

That's funny that you can't say ****pit! LOL