In this episode, Bobby Doss and Wally Mulhern break down how modern pilot training is shifting from traditional classroom-heavy ground school to an integrated, hands-on learning model. They explain how United Airlines blends online study with simulator and cockpit-based training to help pilots connect systems knowledge directly to real-world procedures. The discussion highlights why using ground school materials that align with a flight school’s curriculum is critical to faster learning and reduced confusion. Bobby and Wally also address the gap between passing written exams and being truly flight-ready, emphasizing that knowledge must be continuously refreshed and applied in context. The episode closes with insights on teaching modern avionics correctly, using technology as a safety tool, and closing training gaps that hold pilots back on checkrides and in real-world flying.
In this episode of Behind the Prop, Bobby Doss and Wally Mulhern explore how pilot training can—and should—better integrate ground knowledge with real-world flying skills. Titled “From Ground to Sky: The Equal Journey,” the discussion challenges the long-standing separation between classroom learning and cockpit experience, arguing that true pilot proficiency comes from blending the two from the very beginning.
Wally shares insight from airline training at United, where modern programs no longer rely on weeks of traditional classroom ground school. Instead, pilots complete short, focused computer-based training at home and transition almost immediately into flight training devices. By learning systems, normal procedures, and abnormal scenarios while seated in the cockpit and actively manipulating switches, pilots gain a deeper, more durable understanding than rote memorization ever provides. This hands-on approach reduces disengagement and accelerates learning by tying knowledge directly to action.
Bobby contrasts this with common practices in general aviation, where students are often encouraged to “get ground school out of the way” before flying. He explains why this mindset is flawed, emphasizing that interacting with taxiway signs, runway markings, airspace, and procedures in real time creates understanding that flashcards and videos cannot. Ground knowledge, he argues, should be continuously reinforced throughout flight training—not treated as a one-time hurdle.
A major theme of the episode is navigating the overwhelming number of training resources available today. Both hosts stress that the “best” ground school is the one aligned with a student’s flight school and instructor syllabus. Using mismatched materials often creates confusion and slows progress, even if those alternatives are cheaper or more popular.
The conversation then shifts to the critical gap between passing a written exam and being ready for a checkride—or real-world flying. Wally shares checkride examples where applicants knew answers by memory but struggled to apply them in practical situations, particularly with weather minimums and airspace requirements. Bobby adds personal experiences where rote knowledge failed under real operational pressure, reinforcing the need for contextual learning.
The episode also addresses modern avionics training, clarifying misconceptions about navigation identification and encouraging pilots to properly use available technology, including visual identifiers and autopilots, as safety tools.
The takeaway is clear: great pilots are not just “good sticks.” They are aviators who seamlessly combine ground knowledge, judgment, and flying skill to make sound decisions in real-world conditions.
00:01
Behind the Prop Intro
Clear prop 773 Cherokee number two following twin traffic three mile final race straight in Runway two five join four mile final.
00:10
Nick Alan
This is behind the prop with United Flight Systems owner and licensed pilot Bobby Doss and his co host, major airline captain and designated pilot examiner Wally Mulhern. Now let's go behind the prop.
00:27
Bobby Doss
What's up Wally?
00:28
Wally Mulhern
Hey Bobby, how are you?
00:29
Bobby Doss
I am fantastic as always. Both of us have had some interactions that kind of brought this topic together for us this week. Today's episode is going to be called From Ground to Sky, the Equal Journey. And it is really about how we as pilots, teachers, instructors, schools can incorporate Ground knowledge that I think is seen very different across the board by students, schools and pilots and the flying together and how we can really seamlessly integrate them to take our student pilots, those training with us. From road knowledge to truly understanding the knowledge. Wally, you're going through another training at your airline. Do you sit in a two week Ground school for that training session or how does that work at a big company that's probably got this stuff figured out?
01:24
Wally Mulhern
Yeah, you know, it's I, I got the syllabus a couple weeks ago. I'm, I'm going From the Triple 7 to the 787 next month. And day one, we are in a flight training device. Now the way we separate things at United know we have simulators and then underneath the simulator is what we call an ftd, which stands for a flight training device. And it's in essence it's a simulator without motion. It does all the stuff, it just doesn't have the full motion. So you can't really hone your landings, that kind of stuff. But From a procedural standpoint, everything in there works. And day one, and just for the.
02:09
Bobby Doss
Math problem, that's like probably millions of dollars cheaper.
02:13
Wally Mulhern
Oh yeah, it's instead of 28 million, it's probably just 12 million for one of these things. But you know, looking at the syllabus, we have two days of @ home computer based training that we can do at our leisure. You can spread it out over 10 days if you want, but you know, two full do two six hour days to get it all done. Then you show up at the training center and within a couple of hours of meeting, you know, your sim partner, your instructor, you were in a flight training device back in the day. Typically you'd have a two week Ground school, you'd have one day on the power plant, you'd have one day on the hydraulic system, you'd have one day on the pneumatic system. And it was horrible. It was sitting in a classroom, it was boring. You.
03:11
Wally Mulhern
You knew you needed to know it. So you fought through it to try to, you know, understand all this stuff. But the way the training is now is instead of sitting at a desk or sitting at a table in a classroom and learning all this, you're sitting in a control seat of the airplane. You know, if you're a captain, the left seat, first officer, the right seat you're in. And we're talking about the electrical system. And not only are we talking about the electrical system, but we're going through procedures. These are the normal procedures, these are the abnormal procedures. Here are the emergency procedures. And this is what it looks like. So it's kind of a shift in training that's happened somewhere in the last, I don't know, 38 years. This happened this shift. And it's, it's more. Oh, God, it.
04:08
Wally Mulhern
Well, first of all, it's hands on. It's very hands on because you're flipping switches. So you flip that switch. Oh, when I flip this switch, that happens. So, yeah, it's different. It's, it's melting, you know, a melting pot of the Ground school and the flight training into.
04:28
Bobby Doss
One. And as a flight school owner, what I see or hear a lot is, and we talk about it, but like, hey, go study a bunch and take your knowledge test so all the grounds out of the way before you get started. That is such a bad recommendation in my opinion. In our opinion, I think we are going to learn so much by touching and being on the taxiway and understanding what the taxiway signs are, getting to an ILS area, getting to the hold short line. Understanding what all these markings mean because we are interacting with them is so much different than memorizing them through flashcards and something similar to flashcards. I think the Ground component has become such a memorization thing that it can't really become understandable knowledge.
05:22
Bobby Doss
And that's what I think the story is for today's episode is how do we change the way we go about it? How do students change their perspective of I don't want to do any Ground to. I want it to all blend together. We had a new application come through probably an hour before we started recording the show, where the young man that applied said, I don't want to just learn how to fly. I want to be the best pilot I can be. And it was Almost a picture perfect candidate for this type of training. It's not the boundary of no Ground. I want you to make me the best pilot I can be and I love that. And so we're going to break this down into three parts today as we always do. We're going to talk about navigating the sea of resources.
06:05
Bobby Doss
There's a million things out there. How do you know what to study, which one to use and which one to focus on? How do you go From rote knowledge to real understanding? We got plenty of stories to talk about that and we're going to tell all those stories in part three, the real world examples and some of the disconnects that Wally sees on check rides and that Bobby sees at the fly school on a regular basis. That hopefully if you take all this stuff to heart, will make you much better student and a much better pilot. Let's pray. Let's just jump right into navigating the sea of resources. Wally, is there enough books and things out there to get all this information to pass a checkride with you one.
06:46
Wally Mulhern
Day? It, it's overwhelming. There, there is so much stuff out there. I remember one time someone talking to me about a musician that we knew and I remember my friend saying, I think he's a pretty good guitar player. He owns lots of guitars. He's either really good or he's just got more money than he knows what to do with. So, sometimes just buying more stuff doesn't mean a whole lot. And unfortunately there's. Golly, there are so many resources out there. Online Ground schools. There's probably, I don't know, there's probably eight that we would call mainstream. You know, of course, I mean, you get, you got the kings. They're kind of the king of everything. But, but you know, you got, you've got all these other online Ground schools and it's a little bit overwhelming, I.
07:50
Bobby Doss
Think. And everyone always asks me which is the best one. And I would say the best one is the one that your instructor and your school is going to.
07:59
Wally Mulhern
Use.
08:00
Bobby Doss
Right. You know, I think that I see it all the time on Facebook. Excuse me, I see it all the time on Facebook. They say, what is the best, most economical Ground school? Well, I don't think there is such a thing because if your school uses Ground school A and Ground school B is $50 cheaper and you buy that and then it doesn't correlate with your school's syllabus and the way they teach, you've kind of made work a lot harder for.
08:28
Wally Mulhern
Yourself.
08:29
Bobby Doss
Yeah. Textbooks at schools. You know, there's textbook companies that sell textbooks to schools. You can't get the wrong textbook and then follow along with your math teacher or your English teacher. It's just not going to work. And so the right one is the one that your school or your instructor is going to use. It might be 4x3 aspect perspective and not 16 by 9. It might be high def instead of 4k. None of that's going to make you a better pilot. You need the material. Do you think like all the companies that are out there, Jefferson Gleim, the FAA material. How different is the material at the end of the day on how to fly? Turns around the.
09:15
Wally Mulhern
Point. Yeah, it's not different at.
09:18
Bobby Doss
All.
09:19
Wally Mulhern
No. So yeah, very.
09:21
Bobby Doss
Little. Someone's taken the FA material and spun it a little differently so that they can sell it instead of getting the free version. There is no value in a lot of that stuff. But I guarantee you, if your fly school is hung their hat with glime and their syllabus is glim and their books are glim and they sell the Gleim Ground school, by all means, I would say gleim is going to be the best solution for you. At United Flight Systems, we're a Cessna pilot center. We use all the Cessna stuff, the Cessna syllabus, the Cessna Ground school, and we use that with our students at United Flight Systems. You should use the Cessna pilot kit. There's no question that it's going to correlate better with your training than any other Ground school. People say it all the time.
10:10
Bobby Doss
Well, I already bought sporties before I came here. Can I just use Sporties? You want to save 295 bucks at this point and you think that's going to move the needle? That's going to be so hard and so distracting for you that you can't correlate these things, that it's not worth it. Hear your school, hear your instructor, know it. Don't forget there's a million books, a million YouTube videos, hundreds of different channels that are going to teach you most of the material exactly the same way. Because they've all met the regulations and they're going to teach it the same way. Don't drown yourself in all the material. Don't think you have to sit down and read the P. HAC From front to back to be a good pilot. Overlay it. Think about it.
10:59
Bobby Doss
If you're going to start taxing for the first time, go read a couple pages about Taxing. Ask your instructor to teach you some Ground school on taxing. Blend these things together and don't try to navigate the resources because you could never see everything that's been published on aviation. No.
11:17
Wally Mulhern
Way.
11:18
Bobby Doss
Exactly. Let's jump to part two, the road versus real understanding. I think this one hits home more for Bobby and Wally than any of these other components and things we would talk about today. Because we see it way too often someone thinks they're done because they passed their written. Wally, if I pass my written with a 78, do I have to talk to you as the DP about anything on that.
11:43
Wally Mulhern
Test? You do. We got 22% of stuff to.
11:46
Bobby Doss
Talk about, which sounds like a pretty big bucket of.
11:49
Wally Mulhern
Information. It is, it is. So yeah, I mean, as an examiner, we're required to review all the missed items. Now, to move back a little bit, your flight instructor is also required to remediate you on the things that you missed. He or she is supposed to go through and say, okay, we missed stuff on performance. Well, he's, they're supposed to go over performance with you. Now, having said that, a typical, let's say somebody missed a. Whatever. Let's say there are 15 ACS codes on your knowledge test report. Probably of those 15 codes, probably 10 of them I'm going to cover anyway. You know, a lot of people might miss a performance question. And, and the codes are very broad. It may say take off distance or take off performance. It's probably what it would say.
12:57
Wally Mulhern
Well, we're going to already talk of that, talk about that. So as I'm looking through that, I, I look at that and I go, okay, I don't have to do anything extra, but there are certain things, you know, I had one today that. Oh, gosh, what was it? Oh, it was basic med limitations that the young man missed. So we, you know, we spent a little bit of time talking about limitations of basic Med. So again, you know, the more you miss, the more extra stuff we might have to do on the oral.
13:35
Bobby Doss
Portion. So also I have a unique example where someone took their written Wally 22 months ago, and it's an instrument student and they made like a 93. How well do you think that rote knowledge From that 93 is still in their.
13:57
Wally Mulhern
Brain? Yeah, probably not very good, right?
14:02
Bobby Doss
Yeah. So I mean, the question always begs, because I took my written and am I ready for my check ride? Well, no, because Wally's still going to take you through whether I missed it or not. Whether I missed takeoff performance. Are we still going to talk about takeoff.
14:19
Wally Mulhern
Distance?
14:21
Bobby Doss
Absolutely. Still gonna have to look at these charts. Like that's I think the biggest aha that I keep trying to and stow upon new students is it doesn't matter if you knew what the runaway sign was 18 months ago, 12 months ago, 12 weeks ago, you still need to be able to know what that Runway sign is every time you taxi out. It's not like a one and done. And so how do you go From the rote knowledge and maybe temporary rote knowledge to truly ingrained? And it does take time, it does take experience. It does not take a score on a test that is above the green line. And I think it would best if our instructors and our schools were incorporating all of this knowledge as we go to make our pilots better pilots.
15:10
Bobby Doss
One of the best examples that I've had in my training career was my vision jet experience. Very similar to your experience was went to the school, sat on the Ground for a couple hours and then we are in a sit, what they call sit sim, again, non movement moving sim, very similar to what sounds like you had. And we are doing the things in the plane at the controls. You can't pull a parachute handle sitting at a conference table with 10 other people. It just doesn't work, doesn't make sense. Now they can hand you the handle and you can look at it, but until you're in the cockpit in the pilot's seat and reach up with your right hand to pull that down, it doesn't quite feel the same. And I think we need to be doing that early on.
16:00
Bobby Doss
Most of our students, we recommend a discovery flight. So then get excited. And then we quickly go From the minutiae of student pilot certificate to pre flight to other things to getting in the cockpit and learning what it's like to learn how to fly, how to make things work coordinated, how to use pitch, power and trim. That's how the fundamentals of learning begin. And we do it in the cockpit of the plane. But you have to seamlessly incorporate other things. That's a hold short line. That's a taxi sign that we're on. That's a taxiway sign of a taxiway that's over there. If you do that throughout training, you will become a better pilot. And if you think you pass the section on taxiway or Runway markings, you're probably not done.
16:50
Wally Mulhern
Yet. Yeah.
16:52
Bobby Doss
Absolutely. How does the real world, professional pilots, Wally, how do they examine or know you go From a Rote level of knowledge. Your CBT training you did at home to a level which means you understand it because it still can't happen in a week, I.
17:11
Wally Mulhern
Assume. No, no, but it's correlation. And I kind of go back and I think of being in elementary school a long time ago. Long, long time ago. And we'd have a math test. Let's say you're in whatever grade you are, where you learn multiplication. And you might have 20 questions or 20 math problems. There'd be 37 times 17, 29 times 43. And you had to figure it out, and you had to put the answer down. And at least for me, always at the bottom of that test were a couple of word problems. And everybody. Well, most people. I didn't. I always liked them. Everybody hated the word problems because this is how we take math and we actually apply it to the world. Now, let's take an easy thing.
18:13
Wally Mulhern
Let's say you got a family of four, and everybody in the family has two things. Two. Two coffee cups, for instance. You know, so you may say, okay, the. The Smith family has four people in the family, and each family member has two coffee cups. How many co. Coffee cups does the Smith family have? Well, I mean, that's a very simple word problem. We can all probably say, well, that would be four times two. The answer is eight. But somewhere we are losing the ability to take rote memorization, where back in the day we had to memorize our times tables. Everybody knew four times two was eight. Okay, but how do we now apply that to practical application? And that's where I feel like we're losing it in today's.
19:15
Bobby Doss
Environment. It's a great scenario. I think in my word problem, it was. And Bobby drops one of those cups, and it broke. Now, how many cups does the Doss family have, which. Whoa. You throw in a minus sign in there.
19:28
Wally Mulhern
Now. Yeah. Two minus one. Yeah, There we.
19:32
Bobby Doss
Go. Where does the parentheses go? That could be really hard for some people.
19:35
Wally Mulhern
Wally.
19:36
Bobby Doss
Yeah. Sorry if we blew your mind there. But it is so true, though. Like, there's no better training aid out there, in my opinion, that I think all of us have used if we've trained in the last 10 years better than Rod Rob Macchiano's cloud triangle. Like, there's probably. Everyone has seen it, right? It's the airspace, cloud distances. And it's this mathematical 5, 2, 1, 152. We probably all use that. But that is so rote. So bad that I have actually canceled a flight in the air. Came Back home because I didn't really understand cloud clearances. I was going to Brenham to play golf with my dad. I was in a plane. It was broken at best, but it was broken everywhere.
20:26
Bobby Doss
And I didn't think I could land at the airport because it was College Station, which is kind of a close, bigger airport with real atis, said that it was a thousand broken. I came home to the airport, didn't play golf that day, canceled my tee time. And my instructor said, could you avoided the clouds? And I said, well, yeah, easy. He goes, why didn't you go? I'm like, well, it's broken. He's like, well, it's golf airspace. All you gotta do is stay clear clouds. And I'm like, oh, man, I wish I was playing golf right now. So, yes, I knew all this stuff, but the practicality and putting it into practice totally lost my mind. I burnt a bunch of avgas, wasted a bunch of time, probably got the log 1.2.
21:16
Bobby Doss
But I flew in circles trying to hope that the clouds would clear because I couldn't put it into real world examples. And so let's talk about more of those. Wally, what recently happened on a checkride for you that made, you know, the student knew it wrote but could not put it into practice?
21:36
Wally Mulhern
Yeah. Well, let me go back to a check ride that I had probably eight years ago. It was out of a airport down at southwest Houston, and it was a private checkride. And the. The atis at the airport was saying something like 4500 scattered and we take off. And, oh, by the way, this happened to be my yearly FAA observation, so the FAA was on board. Not that it made a difference. It really didn't make a difference. But he was in the backseat. And we take off in about 800ft. We go into a cloud. Did I say 800ft? About 1800ft. We actually flew into a cloud. And I said to the applicant, what are we doing? This was a private pilot check, right? And his comment was, well, the ADAs said 4,500 scattered shouldn't be any clouds here.
22:39
Wally Mulhern
And boy, it was just, oh, my gosh. Of course, he got to come back a little bit later for doing that. But getting back today's scenario, so we. We're in. It's. It's January in Houston, and January and February are probably the two worst weather months for us here in Houston. We typically. We usually. We either have clouds or we have wind. We very seldom have a day where we don't have a lot of clouds. And it's not windy. But anyway, so being typical of the season, we had low clouds this morning and I showed it up at the airport to start a private pilot check ride. And we sit down at 8am and at the time I think it was like 300 overcast. And I said to the young man, I said, okay, what do you think? What do you think of the weather?
23:35
Wally Mulhern
And he goes, well, right now it's not good. And I go, yeah, see that? And I said, well, what's the forecast? He said, well, at 10am it's supposed to be 1800 scattered or something like that. He said, well, we won't be able to do the cross country portion of the flight, but it is definitely supposed to better. And so again, we haven't even started at this point. And I told him, I said, look, I am willing to start. We can start the Ground portion. And if we get to 10am and somewhere around 12, it was supposed to be really nice. I said, if it is 1800 scattered at 10am we can start the checkride by starting the landing portion.
24:25
Wally Mulhern
We'll stay in the traffic pattern and then we'll, you know, after we do our four or five landings, whatever is required, if the weather has come up, we'll head out to the, and do the high portion, the cross country, the stalls and all that. He said, okay, that sounds great. So anyway, we start the Ground portion gets to be about 10am and it had not come up the way we had thought it or the way it was forecast to. And now in the Ground portion, I asked him, cloud clearances. We, we hopped along on a sectional. I said, okay, what kind of airspace is this around Austin? He says, it's class Charlie. Well, separation requirements in Charlie airspace. 1000 above 500 below 2000 horizontal. Okay, what kind of airspace do we have over here in College Station? Well, that's class Delta. All right.
25:17
Wally Mulhern
What are cloud separation requirements in Delta? And of course, it's the same as Charlie. So he knew it. He knew the answer. So we got to the point where were done with the Ground and I said, okay. I said, what do you need for weather for us to start this check ride and go out and do our landings? He said, well, ceiling of a thousand feet. I said, so you'd be good flying a thousand overcast? And he said, yes. And I said, okay, how did you come up with that? And we through discussion, you know, it occurred to him that we're in class Delta airspace, so we need 1500. So we can be 500 below, but it took a little bit of, I'm not going to say convincing, but a lot of me making strange faces, like saying, really? We can really do that?
26:28
Wally Mulhern
And it occurred to me that he knew the answer, but he couldn't apply it to a practical situation. And that was kind of a light bulb moment for me. I'm thinking, wow, we need to learn. We gotta CFIs, we gotta figure out a better way to teach so that we can correlate this rote memorization, this 1,000ft above, 500ft below, 2,000ft horizontally. How do we apply that to real world.
27:00
Bobby Doss
Scenarios? Yeah, maybe help Bobby know that in golf it's just clear clouds and I can, as long as I can not touch a cloud, then I'm safe to fly and probably able to get to the Ground. It is crazy that this has happened for me over my 500 plus hours of flying, but it does take some of that experience. How do we continue to inject that and change that for our pilots when they're younger and very new at flying? It's these real world examples I just shared with you before we started recording a call I got today that I think is kind of the same thing, but a little bit of a different interpretation. The question was, and if you have questions, please send them to us.
27:42
Bobby Doss
We love to answer these questions on the air, but the friend of mine that asked this question said, hey, I've got a G3X in my airplane and I'm working on my instrument stuff and I'm confused. Everyone tells me I have to hear the Morse code when I put a nav in my nav radio, but my G3X tells me the identifier. Do I have to also listen to the Morse code? And I'm not a dp, I'm not a flight instructor, but I said I would bet that the ACS says you must tune and identify. And this is From memory, I'm guessing me and you did a instrument check, right? A long time ago. Wally? Yeah, what's the right answer there, Wally? What do I have to do? And is this fud, Is this bad teaching? Is this like misinterpretation? Is this rote knowledge?
28:36
Bobby Doss
Because everyone's always told me to listen to Morris code, everyone thinks I have to listen to Morse code. What's the right answer to that question?
28:42
Wally Mulhern
Wally? Yeah, the right answer is that you have to identify it. So if you have a way of identifying it visually without listening to it, that is.
28:51
Bobby Doss
Fine. Now, so can I do that on other.
28:55
Wally Mulhern
GPSs? Well, it depends. It depends. And I'll give an example of a Garmin 430 versus a Garmin 530. Garmin 430 is the little brother to the big brother. The 530 is a bigger screen. There's more real estate on the screen on a 530. So if I turn in a VOR on a 530, there's a space where they can put TNV for the Navasota VOR on a 430, there's not enough space on the screen to put it. So on a 430, the only way you can identify it is to, yes, go into the audio panel and listen to the Morse code. On a 530 you can see that it says TNV. So, I mean, there's an example of two very similar units, but you have to do them differently.
29:43
Wally Mulhern
Now, I think it's incumbent upon the CFIs to explain to the applicant or the student at that point, hey, your airplane, because we're In a whatever G1000 or 530, whatever, we happen to have a G3X like you mentioned in this airplane. This suffices for identifying that particular navaid. Now, if, for whatever reason, if were in an airplane that didn't have that, this is how you'd want to do it too. But you know, you're utilizing the equipment. That's like saying the airplane has an autopilot, but we're not going to use it. Well, if you got an autopilot, use it. I mean, that makes sense to.
30:27
Bobby Doss
Me. No question. And normally I tell people I'm not using autopilot, look at my flight line and flight aware. And I wasn't using autopilot when I definitely was using autopilot because no one can hold the line that straight. So use those tools for sure. But it is one of those things where I think people, it's not really primacy, but they just repeat stuff over and over again and it gets burnt into our brains that I have to identify it via Morse code. That's not necessary in this example, this one example, but it is necessary that you understand well beyond the rote knowledge of how to identify that the task has to be completed. And the task is tune and identify. Can identify visually, you can identify audibly, you have to identify. And I think that's the biggest.
31:18
Wally Mulhern
Piece. And I would say, I mean, this is how I would do it if someone told me, fly direct to the Navasota vor, I'm going to tune in the frequency which happens to be 115.9, I'm going to center the needle and I'm going to fly to it. And as I'm flying to it, I am then going to identify it. I so many times on trick or rides, I will have the applicant fly direct to a vor. And we're going the wrong way, by the way. And it takes a good five minutes to identify it. Well, we've gone five minutes the wrong way. So, you know, tune it in, center the needle, start flying to it and then kind of make sure that's a technique. A technique.
32:05
Bobby Doss
Sure. And I would say if you have a 530 and the screen's a little funky, it's not illegal to also use Morse code. Like you can do.
32:17
Wally Mulhern
Both. Like.
32:18
Bobby Doss
Correct. Maybe that's a good technique to be a really over the top pilot, that I'm going to use the visual cues and go ahead and identify with Morse code. Never hurts to have that backup. Backup. And I think I've always done it in the G1000 that I fly all the time, I tune both radios, right. I don't know if one of those antennas is going to stop working. I don't know if one of those receivers is going to stop working. Why not track both of them all the way there if I don't need the other one? Why not use both? Like, again, this is about learning and getting support From the group around you, From your instructors, your school. There's no reason why not to use both needles.
32:59
Bobby Doss
If you have both needles and be a better, have more backups and be a better pilot. No question. Any other real world examples or disconnects that you think of Wally as a dp? Everybody wants to hear what Wally's got to say. From checkrides to just learning in general where the Ground and the flying aren't seamless as they should.
33:20
Wally Mulhern
Be. Yeah, I hate to say it From a checkride standpoint. I mean, what I saw today happened on a checkride, but it also happened on a real flight. I mean, we were, we were going to go on a real flight. So think of it From that standpoint. This, this is real world stuff. This is, you know, we just. And, and I'm not sure what the exact answer is, but CFIs and students, you just got to figure out, rather than separating the Ground school and the flight stuff, I mean, we, it's all together. You know, back in the day. We used to have this term that if you saw a pilot that was really just a good, raw, stick and rudder type pilot, we would use the phrase he's a good stick or she's a good stick.
34:21
Wally Mulhern
And I laugh now that when someone says that's kind of like, boy, they really don't know the Ground stuff because that's really what it ended up being. Because if you knew both, you'd be called a good pilot. And I always wanted to be called a good pilot, not a good.
34:40
Bobby Doss
Stick. That is a great way to end this episode and say, let's all be good pilots. Let's seamlessly incorporate the Ground and the flying together. We know what the flying flight times are, we know where we all want to be, but get there with the Ground knowledge you need to be a great pilot and not a good stick. As always, fly safely and stay.
35:03
Nick Alan
Behind the prop thanks for checking out the behind the Prop podcast. Be sure to click subscribe and check us out online@bravetheprop.com behind the Prop is recorded in Houston, Texas. Creator and host is Bobby Doss. Co host is Wally Mulhern. The show is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to replace actual flight instruction. Thanks for listening and remember, fly.