Bobby Doss and Wally Mulhearn return to the mics after a break to tackle aviation myths in this episode of Behind the Prop. They dive into common misconceptions heard in flight training, around the hangar, and during checkrides, using a true false or it depends format to separate fact from fiction. Topics range from accelerated programs and school environments to DPE interactions and real-world decision making. The hosts explore whether accelerated training is always faster, how weather impacts learning, and the fine line between confidence and overconfidence on checkrides. They discuss crosswind components, alternate airports, and why some statements like there is always another airport can be misleading. Personal stories from both hosts add depth to the conversation about what really makes a successful pilot. The episode wraps with a lightning round covering myths like twin engines being safer, taking the written exam first, chair flying, simulators, parachutes, controller attitudes toward students, and where learning actually happens. Bobby and Wally emphasize seeking wisdom over opinions and invite listeners to keep questioning and learning in aviation.
Bobby Doss and Wally Mulhearn return to the mics after a break to tackle aviation myths in this episode of Behind the Prop. They dive into common misconceptions heard in flight training, around the hangar, and during checkrides, using a true false or it depends format to separate fact from fiction. Topics range from accelerated programs and school environments to DPE interactions and real-world decision making.
The hosts explore whether accelerated training is always faster, how weather impacts learning, and the fine line between confidence and overconfidence on checkrides. They discuss crosswind components, alternate airports, and why some statements like there is always another airport can be misleading. Personal stories from both hosts add depth to the conversation about what really makes a successful pilot.
The episode wraps with a lightning round covering myths like twin engines being safer, taking the written exam first, chair flying, simulators, parachutes, controller attitudes toward students, and where learning actually happens. Bobby and Wally emphasize seeking wisdom over opinions and invite listeners to keep questioning and learning in aviation.
00:00
Behind the Prop Intro
[Intro music and announcer]
01:16
Bobby Doss
What's up, Wally?
01:16
Wally Mulhearn
Hey, Bobby, how are you?
01:16
Bobby Doss
I am fantastic as always. It has actually been quite a while since we recorded. I married my daughter. We put two or three shows in the can a few, few weeks back, and I've been around the world a little bit. I'm sure you've been around the world a number of times, and we are back in front of our mics. This show will be out around Oshkosh, and, this year I won't be going. Are you going to Oshkosh this year?
01:46
Wally Mulhearn
I am, and let's clarify that.
01:46
Bobby Doss
You said, "I married my daughter." Oh, let's just, let's just clarify that. I gave my daughter away. There we go. She married to another man. There we go.
01:46
Wally Mulhearn
I knew what you meant, but-
01:46
Bobby Doss
That would be awkward.
01:46
Wally Mulhearn
Yeah, absolutely. Probably illegal in most states, but, yeah, it was a great time. I didn't cry nearly as much as I thought I was gonna cry. I think I was stoic for her. It was, I, I think it was one of those things now I regret for my friends who only have boys, that they're never gonna get that opportunity to give their daughter away. It's a very unique experience that you only get to do it if you have a daughter and she gets married. so it was very fun, very interesting, very beautiful, and, we're super excited for them and watching them get to grow up together. But today, aviation podcast, let's jump into aviation.
02:17
Bobby Doss
Today's show is gonna be called True, False, or It Depends, and we're gonna- I'm gonna pretend to be MythBusters today and kinda break down a number of things we hear and see throughout flight training, throughout checkrides, and try and bust some myths or maybe some statements that are too often thought of as true or too often thought of as false. Sometimes they depend, and we're gonna break these down. We have hundreds of ideas, so this'll probably be something we repeat multiple times out into the future. But I think every airport or every hangar, or every airport, people think there's a hangar full of experts. That's what I hope people think when they drive by United Flight Systems. But I would even say not everything our team says is always one hundred percent true. but we all know a guy or have met a guy who says he soloed in five hours, and if you can't do that, you're not Too much stuff like that that's said. I, I, I hear, "If you're, if you're not flying glass, you're not, you're not, you're not gonna learn how to fly correctly." just a lot of crap out there, Wally, and as a flight school owner who meets a lot of new prospects who wanna learn how to fly, they come with this, all these preconceived ideas. I'm sure people are so afraid of the DPE, and I know you really well, you're not a scary guy. So Let's bust some myths and let's start keeping this list somewhere too that we can share so we can keep a long list and let it grow and grow and grow. We're gonna have three parts today, but today's first part is flight training myths. This is my cup of tea. The, things that I think students hear or read on the internet and it's just not true. I could go on and on and on on all of these, but the one I hate the most is accelerated flight training is always faster. While they- You've been around a long time, has accelerated flight training much more than marketing? probably not.
04:18
Wally Mulhearn
I, and I would say that, most of the people that, I do, that I interact with, usually check rides. A lot of times, I, I'll, I-- people ask me, "Hey, where, where, where should I go to learn how to fly?" And I, I will say, "Well, h-here, you know, this is what I know." And, and I don't re-uh, I, I know you don't wanna hear this, but I, I don't just say you should go to United Flight Systems. I'll, I say, you know, here are a couple different options. The vibe at this flight school is this, the vibe at this flight school is this, the vibe, you know, and so forth. you know, there, there are some flight schools that you walk into, and it feels like a frat house, and Maybe some people want that, it's not what I want would wanna do. some flight schools you walk into and it, it's very corporate feeling, it almost feels like an accounting firm when you walk in. You know, and, and that's the other extreme, and, and I will say this, I think your flight school is kind of in the middle, where, where I-- if, if I were gonna run a flight school, that's kind of where I'd wanna be, or own a flight school, I should say. but I, I will say You know, I, I will, w-when I talk to people, almost every one of 'em says, you know, that are at accelerated schools, I'll say, "Well, they told me it was gonna be X months to get all my ratings, but it was X months plus four." You know, so it, it didn't work out. And of course, w-when they, when they put the, the sales pitch on you, they don't factor in weather, they don't factor in life, you know, maybe the, the three days before your Big milestone, whether it be a check ride or stage check or whatever, maybe, you know, you have a, a life event happen, you have a, a loved one that passes away, and you gotta go away for a week and it kinda puts you on the back burner, so, you know, they, a lot of times they don't really factor into that kinda stuff. It, it would be interesting To, if there are statistics, and I'm sure, some of the, you know, the, the, the national flight schools that have locations all over the place I'm sure they could tell you this, you know, I wonder if the person who's flying out of Arizona, where they don't ever see a cloud. finishes faster than the person flying out of Houston, Texas, or, or down, down in southern Florida, where, you know, thunderstorms are, are a thing, hurricanes are a thing. I'm sure that, that's part of it, but on the other hand of it, those people flying out of Arizona never get to fly into a cloud. And that's kind of important to be able to do that, so, you know, y-y-you, there's, there's good and bad to, to having to deal with weather.
07:49
Bobby Doss
Yeah, I think more often than not, we, we get phone calls and they say, "Do you offer an accelerated program?" And I, I normally enjoy that conversation because we can go about as fast as anybody wants to go. It's not normally the program that makes you successful, it's you and the school. Operating together to make you successful. again, we, we aren't normally the holdup with availability and all of that, it's the student's ability to take the information in, learn the information, not, not just at a rote level, but at an understanding, a deep understanding level that gives them the ability to be a good pilot. That's what you get, that's how you get through the programs or the ratings and become something like a CFI and start making money. Accelerated isn't five days a week, eight months in a row. That's not gonna get it done if, if you can't-- If I have a five gallon bucket and I pour it into a two gallon bucket, I won't no longer have five gallons in a bucket. I'm gonna lose a lot of stuff. So, normally it's about pace. I like to say most can be done in, in a year if they train two or three times a week, and that's pretty basic math. So, you don't have to go to an accelerate program, and I would say they're not bad, it's just not for everyone. So, they're not always better, I can say that myth is busted. and many people have finished at United Fly Systems with their- DFI in nine months. They were very dedicated, they were very good, they worked really hard, and they did a lot of work. It's not something that a school can do for you and get you through just because they have an accelerate program have you seen applicants that might have been pushed through and weren't ready for their checkride maybe because of an accelerated course or program? And by the way, I'll say some short stuff like "Bolty," that, that kind of makes sense, right? a one month CFI course, I don't like that 'cause I think the lowest common denominator in the room is gonna be the one who holds everybody up, but- For private and instrument and commercial, do you see people maybe getting pushed to go sooner because of an accelerated program?
09:49
Wally Mulhearn
Yeah, and I, I don't know if it's always because of the accelerated program, sometimes I think it there, there are external factors, whether it be, family, i.e., parents who are writing the check, And, maybe parents have a connection to aviation, and, they did this thirty-five years ago, and they know how it works, and they're wondering why it's taken you so long. that, that's, w- I, I guess that's code for Kids of airline pilots. Yep. You know, I, I, I see that, I see that, and a lot of times it's the applicant or the student themselves who are pushing themselves. And, you know, they're, they're trying to get in, you know, I, I, I all the time I get, my policy, is I don't schedule a check ride Or an applicant until they're signed off. I also don't schedule more than about two weeks out. So, you know, and, and, and different examiners do it different ways. Some, some guys will schedule two months out. I just gotta, Email or a text from a guy just a couple hours ago, and, he is telling me that he should be done in eight weeks, and would like to schedule his private pilot checkride. Well, eight weeks, I mean, he, i-if, if he's eight weeks away, you know, I, I don't know how often he's flying, but he maybe hasn't even soloed yet. Right. Possibly. and, and I, I said, "Yeah, sure I'll have, an opening in eight weeks, but when you're, when you're ready to go, let me know." There you go. I think it's all about you building a timeline for your life, whatever works for you, your budget. if Accelerate is part of that, great. make sure you are a good student and ready to hit the books and take in a whole bunch of knowledge really, really fast. Not, not what someone else is telling you you can do, make sure it's what you know you can do and how you wanna do it.
12:23
Bobby Doss
Myth number two, more flight hours automatically make you a better pilot. I, I hate the phrase time building 'cause I don't think time building's valuable. There is some training that is less instructional, right? Where you, you do, you do something like accumulate time, but that time building shouldn't be about building the time, in my opinion, 'cause you're wasting so much valuable time in the airplane that you should be doing something to learn Things, right? If, if you're gonna time build, you and a buddy getting in a plane and hitting the autopilot, going somewhere, landing once, turning around, coming back, and doing the same thing and landing a second time is not very valuable, and those hours don't make you a better pilot. I actually would think they would make you lesser of a pilot. I know I've met people that have eighty hours that I would get in the plane and go anywhere with them, and I know I've met people with four hundred hours that I wouldn't get in a plane with. so there's a wide vast variance there. What is your take on the myth, more flight hours make you a better pilot?
13:23
Wally Mulhearn
No, that's, that's just ridiculous. you know, more, more time on the football team makes you a better football player, so the guy that's been on the team for twenty years gets to be quarterback, you know? It, it just doesn't work that way. Right. you know, and, and you make an excellent point with the, the word or the phrase time building. I mean, we, we all use it and we, we maybe say it But, man, it's, it's not the time, it's the experience. we, we have an episode that goes way back, and this was back in the early days of behind the prop, and we, we called it, I believe the name of the episode was Mission Oriented Time Building. And, the, the, you know, I, I see so many applicants that come to me, maybe a private applicant, where they-- I look at their first cross-country Their dual cross country, and they went from airport A to airport B to airport C back to airport A. And then their first solo cross country, they went from airport A to airport B to airport C back to airport A. Same route. And then the next day, they did the same thing. And, and I just look at that, and, and I, I know the, you know, the instructors are afraid to send them to places that they haven't been to, but you know, I just recently flew to Rome, Rome, Italy. I, guess what? Until I was there, I had never been there. All right, and so, you know, that's what you have, you have resources for that. Your Czech instructor didn't have to go there and land with you first before you were allowed to go to Rome? No, no, no. You know what, the, the, the, the asphalt or the concrete felt the same over there. They, they talked a little- Was the white paint the same color? Yeah, the white paint was the same color. They, they talked a little funny. I had to get, get different kind of money, but the pizza Anyway, yeah, so it, I don't know, what, what would, what would you- More hours don't- More hours don't make you a better pilot. Oh, absolutely, absolutely it doesn't.
15:55
Bobby Doss
Number three, I'm flight training. Once you pass your checkride, you've mastered flying. I'll let you take this one, Wally.
15:55
Wally Mulhearn
there's, there's a lot of people that will say, I, I, I have probably used it. You know, the, the, the document that you get when you pass a checkride isn't a license, it's technically a certificate. It doesn't say pilot license on there, it says pilot certificate. But a lot of times what we say is You now have a license to learn. And, y-you know, you're, you're always learning. I'm learning. My gosh, I, I, every flight I'm learning something. And, you know, and, and you can learn from the negatives too. You can go, "Okay, don't, don't, don't do that again. That, that didn't work." but, Yeah, no, once, once you pass a checkride, you're, you're, you're just now, you're just in a different phase of learning.
16:55
Bobby Doss
Yes, you are correct. Let's jump to part two now. We're gonna talk about some myths related to the airplane and weather. we talked about it briefly in the introduction, but glass cockpits make you a safer pilot. Is that true?
16:55
Wally Mulhearn
No, no, not at all. I mean, glass cockpits, you could, you can make the argument that, you can make the argument the other way. b-b-both of 'em, both of 'em have some valid points to it, is what I'm saying. Right. glass cockpits are g-gonna give you more information. But sometimes more information becomes a distraction. Sometimes, it's, it's just, you know, I, I, I- When I see a, an applicant struggling on steep turns, it's usually because they're looking in too much. I see an applicant that nails steep turns, I'll look over at their eyes, and they're outside ninety percent of the time, as you should be.
17:56
Bobby Doss
Yes, I think that that information, it would be like if someone gave me the, the reason for life, and it was this big sheet of paper with a ton of information on it, but it was in Italian since you talked about Rome. that wouldn't mean anything to me. I wouldn't know the answer to the l-reason for life because I wouldn't be able to read it. I think a lot of people get real dependent on glass and then don't even understand some of the information that, that, that the screens are delivering to them or even know where to find some of the stuff in there. I think it's very, very important that you, you understand the systems you're using and glass doesn't mean safer, it, it could mean the other way around, like you said, and, and automated On top of that, gets real scary real quick, if you don't know how the automation's working.
18:57
Wally Mulhearn
Myth number five here, autopilots make flying easier. it, flying around for 12 hours, yeah, yeah, it does make it easier. But if the autopilot isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing, again, this is going back to knowing, knowing your technology and kn-knowing how your equipment is working. but I, I have watched many applicants get- In trouble by using the, an autopilot. you know, they, on an instrument checkride, you know, if, if they wanna use the autopilot, I, I will let them use the autopilot on one approach, and, and I just pay attention, I go, okay, well, you, you used it on approach number one, guess what? Number two and number three, we're not gonna use the autopilot. But I have seen them fighting the technology, you know, it's not doing what- What you wanted to do, and it's, it's really kind of funny, you know, the, the old definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, and it's, it's funny to watch people Press a button harder, you know? Okay, it-- that didn't work, so let me, instead of, a half pound of force, let me put two pounds of force on it. Okay, that didn't work, let me put five, you know, let's, let's really push the button hard. or Engaging something, it's not working, disengaging, engaging, it's not working, you know, shutting it off, turning it back on, shutting it off, turning it back on, and, you know Sometimes you just, just gotta get down to the, the raw, very basics of it.
20:58
Bobby Doss
Yeah, I think that it definitely reduces workload. But I think it can make the flying more complicated because of all that automation and, and, and you really have to understand it. I've never got a number to call, but the one time I was really worried about getting a number to call was when I didn't do the right thing. I didn't tell the autopilot to do the right thing, and I was just letting it go, right? I think that's a very slippery slope that could get you in a lot of trouble and possibly get you hurt. So don't, don't say it's always easier with autopilot, but I would say yes, the autopilot reduces your workload. Myth number six. Oh, good. Oh, you know, it, it just allows you to have a bigger, a wider view of things instead of being focused so heavily on attitude, airspeed, altitude. You know, maybe now you, you're able to look over there and look at your engine instruments, that, that sort of thing, yeah. Myth number six, if it's VFR, it's safe to go.
21:59
Wally Mulhearn
Well, you know, Defined VFR, VFR, I mean, you know, thousand and three. It could be, twenty-five hundred overcast and four miles visibility, and, That, that may not be real conducive to, a safe flight. Yeah, at, at 40, or we'll call it just for giggles here, 35 degrees Fahrenheit, that, that might be a really, really, really bad day. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know I-I'm sure it's happened to you. It happened to me on my check ride. I, I listened to the weather, I wrote it down, I, I, I walked out to the plane, I was in the weather. the DP was letting me- Dig myself a, a hole there, I think. And when I heard the weather, I wrote it on my knee board. I kept listening, I kept going. He, he actually asked me, "Did you hear what they said? And I said, "Well, yes, sir, I wrote it down." He goes, "You gonna fly with Mrs. Dawson that tomorrow?" And it was like 13 gusting 26, and, pretty much right across the runway. And I, I, I think, I think he saved me a, a really bad day that day, by asking that question. But VFR is not always safer. winds are brutal. I, I would say, I hate birds and I hate wind. Those have both cost me a lot of aluminum damage on aircraft, Bent. But you, you can't just say VFR is safe.
23:30
Wally Mulhearn
And even more so, I think where people get themselves in trouble, that I see around the airport is when it's VFR here and they send it, and they don't realize that it's not VFR right, right away from here, right? They, they just do the visual check, they're not looking at a bigger picture. And if you're gonna go to Galveston That's pretty close to Houston. If you don't live or never been to Texas, there's a beach about a thirty-five minute flight from where we're sitting right now. And That's a very different set of weather criteria that's probably going on at Galveston right now.
23:52
Bobby Doss
oh yeah, yeah. The waters there, there's a lot of wind. You just wouldn't say, "I'm, because it's pretty here, I'm gonna go to Galveston." I would do a lot of checking. lots of resources out there. I would say weather, in my opinion, is a weak spot for everyone. Would you say weather's a weak spot for most, most pilots that you meet in the private and instrument checkride days?
24:15
Wally Mulhearn
I would, and, I, I, it's still a head scratcher. It is really a head scratcher. I ask every single one of my applicants, and if you're gonna take a check ride with me, be ready for this one. I will ask, "What's, what's the, what's the weather at our destination or the airport we're gonna divert to?" And they'll read it off to me, and they'll give me a temperature, they may say the temperature is twenty-eight degrees, and I'll say, based on that temperature, at approximately what altitude is the freezing level? And, my goodness, the, the, the calculations that I watch my applicants go through You know, and, you know, the, the calculators come out and, and these are, these are algebraic formulas that they must be punching in there 'cause they're punching a bunch of numbers where, you know, I, I would, I would like to think that you could go twenty-eight divided by two and know that it's about fourteen thousand feet AGL. And I even tell them, I say, "Look, even if it's an odd number, just subtract one or add one. If it's twenty-nine degrees, make it thirty. Say it's fifty." Thousand feet, that's all I'm asking for.
25:20
Bobby Doss
Right. But, boy, they, they, they, they struggle with that one.
25:24
Wally Mulhearn
I, I had, I had a young man on a check ride years ago, this is probably about Eight years ago, and we were out of, Sugar Land, which is Southwest Houston, and I was being observed, my yearly observation, so the FAA was sitting in the back of the airplane, and, this was a private pilot checkride, and we take off, and we're climbing out, we're heading northwest on our cross-country. And, we flew right in a cloud. I mean, we flew into a cloud. And I, I, I took the controls and I kinda pushed the nose down and, and I, I probably, I don't think I said any inappropriate words, but I said, "What are we doing? And, he said, "Well, the, the ADIS says it's six thousand five hundred broken, and we're, we're about three thousand feet." I said, "Well, yeah, the ADIS is for like a six-mile ring. It's the airport, the, automatic terminal, terminal." and, it was, it was just mind-boggling that we just flew right into a cloud eye. I mean, unfortunately for him, the, the result was not what he wanted. but You know, that, that, I, I, that was just-- I can't believe that happened.
26:55
Bobby Doss
Yeah, it's crazy. you, you could see it, obviously, right? So he-
26:59
Wally Mulhearn
Oh, yeah. Visually flew into it.
27:02
Bobby Doss
Yeah. no bueno, no bueno. The next part we're gonna do is pilot judgment myths, and this is one that I'm pretty passionate about. I'm not so sure the first one's one that many people say, but I think I have heard it, and that's good pilots never cancel flights. What's your belief system on that one, Wally?
27:23
Wally Mulhearn
th-this is a little bit of a, I won't say slippery slope, but, I mean, if you've got a reason to cancel a flight, then cancel the flight. you know, the, a scenario that, that I, again, I'm giving away my checkride stuff, but, hey If you're listening, come take a check ride with me. I, I, I asked the applicant what our takeoff weight is gonna be. And then I, I'd say, okay, well, my friend just showed up and he weighs X, and it's now gonna put us just a little bit overweight. You know, maybe eighteen pounds, maybe twenty-four pounds. Notice the common denominator here is eighteen and twenty-four are both divisible by six. What weighs six pounds? Maybe a gallon of fuel, maybe. So, you know, I, I, I, the, the, the go-to answer for most of my applicants is, "Well, we just can't go." And, you know, that, that's an option, it absolutely is an option. but if you can figure out a way to go, you know, we wanna go, especially for my commercial applicants, 'cause, you know, we're, we're giving them a scenario where they are now a commercial pilot, they are gainfully employed, they are being paid to take these people from here to there. Now Obviously, we don't wanna crash, so, you know, that, that's where you've got to use your judgment. but, I, I've canceled flights.
28:55
Bobby Doss
I was gonna say your company probably has some rules, but If, let's say you were, in a jet and it said rear door open somewhere, I don't even know if that light exists, but I'm assuming even if you're a good pilot, you're not allowed to go if that light's indicating that the door's open.
29:12
Wally Mulhearn
Correct. Correct. Even if the door's closed, you visually inspect it, that sensor or whatever that is is like a hard no for your company and, and you as a pilot. Doesn't change your skill level, doesn't make you a bad pilot 'cause you canceled the flight.
29:27
Bobby Doss
So be safe first. Don't, don't ever send it 'cause you think that makes you a better pilot, please. we want you to keep listening to our show, we'll say it that way. Myth number eight, confidence equals competence. Again, I'll let you take this one because It's false, of course, but come on.
29:45
Wally Mulhearn
Yeah. Yeah. Confidence is actually a bad thing, in some of my respects, but what are your thoughts?
29:50
Bobby Doss
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, I, I, I think confidence is good, but overconfidence is bad, and where's that fine line? You know, I, I feel confident in making this, this flight. Now, there is a certain level of risk in every flight, you know? And there's a certain level of risk in driving down the road. There's a certain level of risk in going to a fast food place and getting food. you know, but overconfidence and, and I have seen, I have seen many, applicants who are, were just overconfident, you know? We're sitting there and I'm- Looking at the wind, maybe we're at an airport that has a north-south runway, and the wind is 2:40 at 17, gusting to 26. And, I, I will hint to the applicant, I'll say, "You're, you're good with that? " "Oh yeah, yeah, I'm good. " "Okay, alright. " There isn't a maximum cost-- there isn't a maximum demonstrated crosswind component that I would assume would be exceeded on any aluminum aircraft that has a single engine at twenty-six knots crosswind. a-and I just had one, though, I don't know, a couple months ago, and, we walked out to the airplane, and, we were in a Cessna. And, the wind was-- the way the airplane was pointed, the wind was coming up from the tail, and when he opened the door, that door almost came off. It, it, it slammed up against that strut, and, he looked over at me and said, "Maybe we should discontinue." And I said, "You know what? I think, I think that's a good call. I'm surprised you didn't do it earlier." and, and I don't know, I, I- Did he not understand what 17 gusting to 26 felt like? I mean, sitting in the office, it didn't seem all that bad. Of course, nice enclosed office, right?
31:55
Bobby Doss
Well, I do think that as pilots get more comfortable and they get more confident, it's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it's built with good judgment and preparation, and they're doing all the right things. Like you said, I'm confident, and I'm confident in flying to Dallas today in a single engine piston airplane, where I might not have been confident to do that early on in my flying career, but it's because of the experience that I've gained over time. When a solo- Student says, "I'd like to do a long cross country to Dallas. I think that that's a little bit more than they should bite off, for sure in any situation." Myth number nine, "There's always another airport." And this one's a little deceiving on the surface, but there's not always another airport that you can get to, so you might know there's alternates, but we both believe that av gas is very, very important to this thing that we do, and also very expensive right now, but the- You might not always be able to get to that other airport, and so if you make a plan, it'd be nice to know if you're gonna be able to get to that airport, that that airport's gonna be open, that you know the nothings. I think it's a slippery slope to say that I can always just get to another airport.
33:35
Wally Mulhearn
Yeah, absolutely. I, I thought I was gonna have the opportunity, it didn't pan out, but, a few days ago, I thought I was gonna have the opportunity to fly to Fiji from, San Francisco. That's out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There's nothing, there's nothing around there. And, and I was looking at it on the map, about an eight-hour flight from San Francisco, and, you- Fly past Hawaii and head towards Australia, and about eight hours later, hopefully you find Fiji. We ju-- I mean, we joke all the time flying to Hawaii. I mean, going to Hawaii, if you miss Hawaii, you're in trouble. You know, there's just not much out there. coming back, Hawaii back to the mainland, well, you're gonna hit, you're gonna hit land in a few hours. but, yeah, so there, there isn't always another airport.
34:30
Bobby Doss
That's a good one. I, I, and I was in Hawaii for my daughter's wedding, and I can remember thinking of about, thinking about the turnaround point and the stories that you've told and ta-telling other non-pilots in the plane some of the thoughts that we had. if you deviated three degrees for- Five hours, you're gonna miss Hawaii. That's a long way from Hawaii when you get there, for sure.
34:55
Wally Mulhearn
Yeah.
34:56
Bobby Doss
So let's wrap this show up with a little bit of a lightning round, Wally, and I'm gonna ask you some questions, and you get about ten seconds to answer each one of these, so not long-winded, just quick ones. myths that I've heard or comments that I've heard that, I want your take on them. So first one, twin engines are always safer.
35:14
Wally Mulhearn
Twin engines are twice as likely to have an engine failure than single engine airplanes. So, no, they're not always safer. single engine airplanes, if you lose an engine, there's, there's very little decision making, you're going down. Twin engine, you might be tempted to try to do something, and sometimes that may be a really bad decision. So, yeah, just, I mean, the, the, the math tells you that, and with two engines, you are twice as Likely to have an engine failure as you are in one engine.
35:45
Bobby Doss
And the only thing I'd add to that is that if you, if you're equally proficient There's, that, that might start the conversation about not necessarily more unsafe, but I would just bet that most multi-engine pilots that don't fly a multi-engine all the time are less proficient in that plane, which immediately makes you less safe, in my opinion. Number two, you should take the written exam before you start flying.
36:05
Wally Mulhearn
Oh, the-- This is like nails on a chalkboard. I mean, when I hear that, I just, I just, I cringe. you know, you're-- If, if you do that, you're learning by rote. and, and you're not, you're not really learning the material. I, I think, I think if you do it in concert with your flight training, you're gonna understand it better and you're gonna, you're gonna get more out of it.
36:25
Bobby Doss
Amen. Chair flying doesn't work or help you as a pilot.
36:29
Wally Mulhearn
Absolutely wrong, absolutely wrong. I, I've done a lot of, the majority of the multi-- the, of the flight training that I've done in the last many years is multi-engine training, and before, before we even will start an engine, we sit in the cockpit and, we go through The drill we call it, you know, what you're gonna do if you lose an engine, you know, there's, there's certain procedures, and we go over and over and over, and you don't have to just sit, be sitting in an airplane to do it, you know, the term chair flying, you could be sitting at your kitchen table doing it. So no, chair flying is, is really good.
36:58
Bobby Doss
Yeah, go watch those Blue Angels cheer fly, they do it three times a day, every day. Yeah, yeah. Simulators are just video games and they won't help my flight training.
37:07
Wally Mulhearn
Oh, absolutely not. I've got a little home simulator, set up and, it's, it's great. It, you know, and, and the, the more- The more advanced you get with simulators, the simulators that are at some of the flight schools, like the, the ones sitting in, in your front room at your flight school are, are incredible. you know, it's, it's just great because you can stop it if, if, if you are, the student, you're just totally confused, you can just hit a stop button and freeze it. you know, but you, you can get a lot out of a simulator.
37:35
Bobby Doss
A parachute means you can't crash.
37:38
Wally Mulhearn
Well, if you can't crash, why would you need a parachute? Well, I'd like to say that, I think that accounts for a lot of things that could go horribly wrong that will definitely help you, but if someone else hits you Midair, your parachute's not gonna do much for ya. there's a lot of things that can still-
37:55
Bobby Doss
Excellent point. Lots of things that can still go wrong. yeah. I, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a Cessna pilot center, but I'm a Cirrus pilot as well, and, I- I, I like the parachute, I like it as a available option, but, it, but doesn't mean I'm not gonna ever crash. Controllers don't like student pilots.
38:12
Wally Mulhearn
I couldn't be farther from the truth. I think, controllers actually enjoy, mentoring, if, if you will, if that's the right word. I think, you say st- on a student pilot, there's just an extra set of eyes, probably a little bit But, you know, you maybe instead of one mulligan, maybe you get two or three mulligans if you're a student pilot. No, I, I, our, our controllers in this, this country are great and, you know, at the local airports, even there, there's some controllers that kind of have a reputation and they're, they have a social media Following, of people who have posted things about them, but I'll tell you what, if you were out there and got in trouble, those guys are the ones that, that you're gonna want on your side. I know a whole bunch of them, and I've been to a whole bunch of towers and centers, and there's not one that doesn't wanna talk about aviation and help you be a better pilot. So that's just false, 100%. You only learn in the airplane.
39:20
Bobby Doss
No, you know, the airplane is a horrible classroom. The airplane is, a lot of times, very temperature-wise uncomfortable. It's noisy. there's a lot going on. It's a dynamic, place. so, you know, you can, you can learn a lot. You can learn a lot at, at, in your house, in your room by reading. you can learn a lot in the classroom at a flight school, in a briefing room, in the lobby talking to other people. Pilots. So no, you, you, you can learn anywhere. That's it, that's the, that's the lightning round. One of the things we love about aviation is that there's always opinions. Every airport coffee pot has an expert, every hangar has stories, and every pilot has advice. But the best pilots don't collect opinions or- Garner opinions, they collect wisdom, and I think if you ask questions, you seek for more information, you always try to learn, I just know you're gonna be a better pilot, and you're gonna probably meet a lot of smarter pilots. If you do that, come see me in Houston, and I'll do it with you. Love to have you. but don't forget, keep listening and stay behind the prop.
41:36
Behind the Prop Outro
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