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Curiosity Killed the Pilot

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You’ve heard of Curiosity killed the cat. But what about Curiosity killed the pilot?

Truth is, we pilots think we’re pretty cool. There’s a part of us that thinks we can basically do anything and get away with it. It’s a constant battle and struggle to keep these feelings in check.

Here are some examples of things that I am curious about, but I won’t try:

  • Do a landing with 20 knot tailwind
  • Land with a 40 knot crosswind (I’ve landing with about a 25-30)
  • Do a barrel roll
  • Do a loop
  • Do an engine out procedure from altitude and drift down and land somewhere
  • See how long I can go without oxygen at 18K
  • Load up with a 6 pack of 50 Caliber machine guns (like in a P51) and go mow down an abandoned train or something

In flight simulator, the beauty is we can pretty much do anything and get away with it.

What crazy stuff have you done? What would you like to day? Please share!


  • http://www.fsbreak.net Eric McClintock

    Sometimes I will load up a plane (The CS C-130 is a fine choice) to double or triple the weight limit, find the shortest non-dirt runway I can find, and see what the minimum distance I can take off is without clipping the fence.

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      HAHA! I think this post is the king of LOL comments. These are awesome.

      That’s a good one Eric. Makes me wonder if you’ve watched the movie ‘Operation Dumbo Drop’. One too many times.

  • Rick

    My latest curiosity was to see if I can hover the fsx f18! I fly in towards the tower in tower view about 10-20 feet off the ground dropping speed and raising the nose. With small amounts of power adjustments, you can get that sucker pointed straight up and hold it one spot!! I have been able to hover it for allmost 5 mins!! The amazing part is I havent crashed yet doing it.

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      How in the….. That sounds hilarious! Whenever I fly an F18 I try and do those really low passes with the gear down and everything, like the Blue Angels do. Man, that’s hard!

  • http://ehangar.net Timothy

    The first one sounds very interesting, but the last one sounds like the most fun!

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Agreed. Sounds awesome.

  • Carlos Zegarra

    I’ve tried too fly under the San Francisco bridge with the PMDG 737 but crashed all the times then took a Cessna 172 and tried to cross along the bridge at about 100kts over the narrow road from one coast to the other which may sound easy but believe it’s not. It’s like flying over a runway with walls at both sides ;-)

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      That’s actually a way awesome idea to keep people flying’ right over the runway’ on departure…. Make them fly that bridge!

      Very cool tip, Carlos.

  • Uwe Ehrenhöfer

    -doing an Immelmann with a CH53
    -doing a loop with a CH53
    -doing low level flight through “Via mala” (a very narrow swiss valley) with the CH53

    … an all this with my 2 year old daughter trying to push the buttons of my flight control system… :)

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Ha! I have little calico kitty, much like the one in the picture, and she is always getting in the way of my screen and stuff. For some reason whenever she walks across my Mac laptop, she steps on the track pad too. I don’t get it…

      Anyway, man, a CH53?! Those are some INTENSE maneuvers for that thing!

      • Uwe Ehrenhöfer

        Yes, indeed.

        But it is possible in RL, there are some videos on YouTube showing CH53 aerobatics…

  • http://aflightsimblog.blogspot.com Jon Monreal

    One escapade I’ve always enjoyed is landing on the Golden Gate Bridge or the Bay Bridge (the latter of which is incorrectly modeled in FSX, with traffic going both ways on one deck instead of having two decks).

    I think that’s a pretty good list of fun things that you can do in simulators that you probably wouldn’t be inclined to do in real life (depending on a person’s concept of risk vs reward).

    I’m interested: how do you feel about flying during the night or into known icing conditions?

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Jon, those are very great questions.

      Night Ops- In a way, I’m confused why pilots aren’t required to have an instrument certificate to do night ops. I’ve done some night takeoffs where I couldn’t see a dang thing. I’m talking 100% blackness. Also, there are lights and other visual illusions that can also give false horizons at night.

      With that said, I am instrumented rated and have enough night experience to be comfortable with it. The truth is that the lights of the city and the unbelievable milky way while suspended above the earth are some of the most special moments anyone can have as a pilot.

      Known Icing- Oh boy, this is a big subject… 3 points. 1. Icing is very rare. 2. Know your limits 3. Try it out. The last one could get you in trouble, so hear me out.

      Icing is a very rare occurrence. It takes the perfect culmination of circumstances to make it happen, but when it does happen, it’s very dangerous. Ice is heavy, messes with airflow, and if not for that, it’s just discomforting.

      Know when to turn around. See how fast it’s accumulated, and be ready to turn around if anything too intense comes up. Keep in mind that the further you get in, the further it is back out.

      Remember that icing doesn’t just magically appear. There has to be visible moisture, and usually the temperature has to be below freezing. With that said, it’s so rare. I fly IFR probably 60% of the time when I’m flying, and icing only exists maybe 5% of the time. With that said, it’s usually light.

      I’m VERY CAREFUL about what I will fly in and out of. There are great icing forecasts these days that have icing conditions for all altitudes, and they are usually way more safe than actually needed, but they’re a good indication. http://www.aviationweather.gov

      So, there’s the short answer…

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