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Training to Insure Safety
At Sky Chutes, we strive to promote a safe and fun sport. The training is
done within the guidelines of the ASC
(Aero Sports Connection) and
EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association)
organizations. No student pilot is ever left alone to attempt
training without an instructor near by. While no formal license
is necessary to fly any ultra-light plane, new pilots should
not attempt to teach themselves to fly.
There is a saying in the aviation industry, "There are old pilots,
and there are bold pilots, but there no old, bold pilots." Even
taking into consideration how simple these crafts are to fly,
there are inherent risks involved with any form of flight. Obtaining
the proper training greatly increases the safety factor.
The Learning Path
Student pilots are taught how to pre-flight check the craft, read
aviation maps, learn different weather patterns and the
possible implications of them, emergency landing procedures and
the physics of flight. When you are ready for your
hands-on flight training you will start by getting familiar
with throttle and ground steering control. You will then proceed
to canopy inflation and shut down procedures. Only after you have
become proficient at these ground handling techniques will you
advance to some flight time with a back seat instructor. The
instructor rides in the rear seat and is in constant
communications with the student through a helmet intercom. When
the instructor and student agree that he/she is ready for a
solo flight the student will fly while in constant radio contact
with the instructor on the ground. The instructor will be talking
to the student through the flight and landing. Following the
flight, the instructor will critique the student's
performance.
Solo Flight; Bring the Old Shirt
If the instructor feels the student is ready, a solo
flight will be granted without the requirement of radio contact.
It is customary to tear the student's shirt after a solo flight.
Students should wear an old shirt to be prepared to follow this
shirt tearing tradition.
Mark Bayer trained
Kevin Kochersberger, pilot of the 1903 Wright Flyer reproduction,
to fly a Powered Parachute. At the left is a picture taken
at the Blue Heron factory on the day Kochersberger soloed in
a Blue Heron Marathon.
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